Elegant gala event honours achievers in style

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The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation set up shop in Calgary April 4 to pay tribute to 14 accomplished members of the Native community in Canada.

The foundation's annual achievement awards gala was a lavish affair, bringing together a who's who of the Aboriginal elite and the corporate connected.

Playing host to the foundation's guests were legendary Tennessee singer Rita Coolidge and musician/actor Tom Jackson, a veteran of six of the 11 award shows the foundation has held.

"I'm always excited about doing the work, but there is a different kind of connection that happens in this community that is unlike other awards shows," said Jackson during a question and answer session with media at the dress rehearsal April 3. "It's not the kind of award that you get because you are the best singer in the limelight (for example). This award comes from the ground up and it maintains that integrity, and I think that's the most exciting thing about this process."

Jackson was also pleased that he was hosting the event that would honour his North of 60 co-star Tina Keeper. Keeper received the 2004 National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the arts and culture category.

Coolidge was invited to co-host after her performance at last year's gala in Ottawa, the 10th anniversary award show. She said that Canada is head and shoulders above the rest in the way it includes Aboriginal people when giving recognition for achievement.

"I can only speak for a U.S. citizen and watching Canada, the fact that Canada has had categories for Native music in the Juno awards for many years and then this event celebrates the achievements of people from all walks of life. You know, it has gone on for many years, and we are still struggling to get that together in the Native community in the United States. It feels like there is such a community here," said Coolidge, who described the gala as very elegant, adding that she had never worked harder on a show.

The well-heeled audience was treated to the duo's medley of Coolidge's hits from days gone by, The Way You Do The Things you Do and Higher and Higher among them.

Stunningly beautiful in a red gown for her performance of the 1930s' Harold Arlen classic I've Got The World On A String was the stunningly talented Andrea Menard, whose performance kicked off the evening. Menard later appeared in a sultry gold number for her rendition of the Gershwin hit I've Got A Crush On You, playing at the end of the song with a coy comment to award winner Basil Johnston ('Hey Baz, do you like jazz?') and to lifetime achievement award winner Andrew Delisle ('I will, if you will,' she said with a wink.)

For the "whisper-to-a-scream" crowd was a performance by Juno award winner and alternative rock artist Holly McNarland, who appeared with her band to sing Do You Get High.

At the heart of the evening were the award winners, and here the foundation struck a fine balance this year between honouring their achievements and thanking corporate Canada and government for its financial support to do so.

Video presentations that highlighted the lives of the award winners came in bunches of four throughout the evening and between musical performances, leaving the video histories of the lifetime achiever and the youth achiever until the end of the show.

A small complaint from observers, and this was no different than the complaints lodged in years past, is that there was no time between one video history and the next to properly acknowledge with applause the individual award winner. However, near the end of the show, each of the award winners was brought centre stage to receive an award. While the show's script did not allow for speeches from the recipients, with the notable exception of the lifetime achiever, one recipient (Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band in British Columbia) upon receiving his award couldn't contain his enthusiasm. He raised his fist into the air and yelle "Okanagan."

Lifetime achiever Andrew Delisle, former chief of the Mohawks of Kahnawake, came before the audience with a wampum belt draped across his arm. Flanked by current Kahnawake Grand Chief Joe Norton and national Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine, Delisle explained that the two rows of the wampum belt spoke about two nations travelling separately but in the same direction, and respect for that teaching would bring peace and prosperity to Canada and Native nations. He received a standing ovation for his message.

The evening ended on a musical high with Time to Say Goodbye performed by soprano Mavis Callihoo, baritone Carey Newman, and coloratura soprano Minda Forcia.

Forcia floated above the stage in a 10-foot-long white dress. She emerged from the centre of a water-encased-in-plastic sculpture, which was inspired by artist Susan Point, said the show's executive producer John Kim Bell. Point was also a recipient of a 2004 achievement award in the arts and culture category.

In his message to the audience in the gala program, Bell explained the set as a series of discs and circles, angles and planes. "They are tilted and juxtaposed to each other representing the journeys that one takes on the road to self-improvement and growth. As depicted in art and music, beauty is created through tension."

Maxine Noel, foundation board member, gala set director and Aboriginal design artist for the show, is given credit for having "taken Susan's stunning work and rendered it into the gorgeous shapes and colours that grace our stage," Bell wrote. One of Noel's paintings was presented to lead corporate sponsor CIBC in appreciation for this year's contribution of $100,000 to the foundation's scholarship fund, the presentation of which was made before the audience to foundation chair Bill Shead.