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Dear Editor:

As a Two-Spirited Catholic I feel extreme embarrassment and disappointment over the recent decision by the Vancouver archdiocese to ban VanCity from its schools because of their open support of the queer community. Obviously Archbishop Exner is quick to point out the "intrinsic evil" of the homosexual act while omitting the greatest Christian teaching, love.

If you love, then you don't judge, you don't condemn, you don't marginalize and above all-you don't persecute!

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Duane Ghastant' Aucoin says he is changing the way society regards two-spirited people, one person at a time.

But if his multimedia film debut, Kichx Anagaat Yatx'i: Children of the Rainbow, is any indication, things are going much better than he thinks.

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On Oct. 27 and 28, a training seminar called the First Nations Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) for First Nations and Aboriginal Communities will be held at the Hampton Inn in Vancouver. The two-day course will cover First Nations Emergency Services, Defining Stress Terms, Psychological Response to Stress and Group Debriefing/Diffusing.

The program is open to anyone who works in First Nations. It offers frontline workers methods of intervention in traumatic situations.

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Two young Aboriginal women entered a provincial jail some years ago. Both were to serve sentences of less than two years. But as with many young Native women, they carried a great deal of anger with them and were far from being model prisoners. The punishment for their anger was additional years added to their sentences in maximum security.

When they formed a close friendship that offered them the only solace in their lives, they were separated.

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The Federation of Aboriginal Foster Parents (FAFP) celebrated its seventh annual general meeting in new offices on Sept. 20. Business of the day was signing deals to work with other organizations, electing a new board of directors and honouring foster parents.

The backdrop to the meeting was a provincial government social service system in the midst of a massive three-year reorganization, and the issue of high numbers of children in government care, with levels comparable to residential schools in their day.

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On Sept. 21, the 18th annual Vancouver AIDS Walk celebrated another record-breaking year. Following the Stanley Park walk, throngs of participants relaxed in the September sunshine enjoying a free concert by local legend, Nearly Neil. The awareness table belonging to Healing Our Spirit, the B.C. Aboriginal AIDS/HIV Society, nestled close to the stage, giving Society workers a great view of the action.

Geraldine Trimbel, Healing Our Spirit community development co-ordinator, took time away from the post-walk celebration to talk to Raven's Eye.

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Building environmentally sensitive, affordable housing was emphasized at a housing symposium and trade show held at Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa at Harrison Hot Springs from Sept. 15 to 18.

The theme of the symposium was "Housing Ourselves," and it encompassed designing, building, renovating and managing housing.

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A ceremony at Bella Bella Sept. 28 marked a major co-management agreement between the Heiltsuk First Nation and the government of British Columbia.

The agreement, covering the 122,998 hectare Hakai Luxvbalis Conservancy Area, is the first of its kind on the Central Coast.

The Heiltsuk people were represented by Chief Ross Wilson and Hereditary Chief Harvey Humchitt. Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection Joyce Murray signed the acreement for the province.

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Aboriginal people with disabilities now have a single source for referrals to health services, medical equipment, employment and other information relating to disabilities and health.

The B.C. Aboriginal Network on Disability Society (BCANDS) recently received a contract to institute a pilot project that sets up a 1-800 telephone line for advocacy and referral purposes. The service is available to First Nations, Metis and Inuit people with disabilities, whether they live on- or off-reserve.

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VANCOUVER-The University of British Columbia's department of continuing studies has teamed up with the Institute for Aboriginal Health to offer a 10-month program to train Aboriginal health care administrators.

The program is the only one in British Columbia targeted specifically to Aboriginal people. It is designed to meet a demand for trained administrators that results from the transfer of health services from the federal government to First Nations. People are needed who know how to set up programs and manage all facets of health care resource allocation.