Achievement award winners announced

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The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation has announced the recipients of this year's National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, including two recipients from Ontario.

Joe Jacobs from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory will receive the arts and culture award. He is a self-taught carver and sculptor. His pieces are in collections at the Museum of Civilization, the Joseph Brant Museum, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and the Royal Ontario Museum, among others. He currently lives in Lewiston, N.Y.

Thomas Dignan is also a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. He receives his achievement award in health. Dr. Dignan was a nurse before he became a doctor, and was the first president of the native Nurses Association and the founding member of the Native Physicians Association. At the time of his graduation (1981) he was the first First Nations person and the oldest to graduate from the Faculty of Medicine at McMaster University.

People from Canada's north seemed to receive the lion's share of this year's awards. Included among them is this year's community development award recipient Judy Gingell. She also hails from the Yukon territory and is a member of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation. Gingell has held the position of chair of the Council for Yukon Indians, and was the first First Nations person appointed as Commissioner for the Yukon territory.

Gingell is a current board member with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). Chambers also has an APTN connection. Her program Venturing Forth, a series that focuses on Aboriginal business, language, culture and youth, is in its fifth season there.

Bertha Allen will receive the lifetime achievement award. Allen is from the Gwich'in First Nation in the Northwest Territories. She is the former president of the Advisory Council on the Status of Women in the territory, and founding president of the Native Women's Association there. Allen also once held the top post of the national women's organization. She currently lives in Inuvik.

Lolly Annahatak is an Inuit from Nunavik, Que. She will receive the award in the social services category. Annahatak is a champion of the challenged, having had to break down barriers herself since she lost her sight at age 16. She was the first Inuk to earn a certificate in Northern Social Work and went on to get her bachelors of Social Work at McGill University where she develops and teaches classes.

Andy Carpenter Sr. is an Inuit of the Northwest Territories, born and raised in the Inuvialuit region. He will receive the environment award. Carpenter has devoted his life to conservation and sustainable use of wildlife by all peoples.

Sharon Firth is the sports award recipient. She is from the Tel'lit Gwichin First Nation of the Northwest Territories. She is perhaps best known for her Olympic games achievements, competing in skiing at four Olympic games beginning in 1972 at the Sapporo, Japan games.

Education category. Dr. Hampton became president of the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, now First Nations University of Canada, in 1991. He spearheaded the fundraising campaign to build the university's main campus. Hampton currently lives in Regina.

Dr. Gerald McMaster is a member of the Siksika Nation in Alberta, but has a greater connection to the Red Pheasant First Nation in Saskatchewan. He was curator of the Canadian Museum of Civilization from 1981 to 2000 and then was appointed as both deputy assistant director for cultural resources and director's special assistant for Mall exhibitions at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. In 2001, Dr. McMaster was the first Aboriginal person to receive the ICOM-Canada Prize for national and international contributions in museology.