National Aboriginal Achievement Award winners announced

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Four residents of British Columbia are among 14 who will receive a National Aboriginal Achievement Award at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on March 28.

They are legal scholar Dr. John Borrows, Hesquiat conservationist Chief Simon Lucas, Vancouver physician Dr. Jay Wortman and Kootenay leader and entrepreneur Chief Sophie Pierre.

Borrows, 39, a member of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation (Ontario), will receive the law and justice award. Now the Law Foundation chair in Aboriginal justice at the University of Victoria's faculty of law, Borrows has taught more than 400 Aboriginal law students across Canada and brought an Aboriginal legal perspective to thousands of non-Aboriginal students.

He is the author of two acclaimed legal texts. He helped initiate the June Callwood program in Aboriginal law at the University of Toronto; he was the first academic director of First Nations legal studies at the University of British Columbia; and he founded the intensive program in lands, resources and First Nations governments at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto.

Borrows is currently teaching in Iqaluit, Nunavut, at Akitsiraq, the University of Victoria's law school satellite campus.

"It's the closest thing in North America to an Aboriginal law school. I am grateful to be associated with UVic in this venture," he said.

"There are so many impressive Aboriginal people working in law and justice. It is an honor to be counted among them."

Hesquiat First Nation leader and environmentalist Lucas, who has devoted his life to fisheries conservation, will be recognized with an award in the category of environment. Lucas played the lead role in integrating First Nations' knowledge and values into emerging modern ecosystem science.

"A lot of talks that I do are usually on environmental issues, whether it's about human species, or the forest, or the ocean, or the sky," Lucas said. "Usually what I talk about is what I heard in my early years as a teenager."

He said he was happy to receive the award, and added, "I think it means a great deal for my community."

Chief Sophie Pierre, who has led her people for the past 20 years and used economic development to improve her community, will be receiving the award in the public service category.

After a decade of planning and negotiating, the St. Eugene Mission Resort, worth more than $40 million, is now a reality because of her work.The resort includes a first-class 125-room resort hotel with conference and meeting facilities, which is designed with a Ktunaxa theme. Another feature is a Ktunaxa interpretive centre, traditional Ktunaxa tipi camp and the Ktunaxa arts and crafts centre.

Pierre has also fought for Aboriginal control over education, has co-chaired the First Nations Summit, and has excelled in business.

Metis doctor Jay Wortman said he feels very honored and humbled at receiving an award. He said he is being recognized for the work he did a few years ago in AIDS prevention for the Aboriginal community. He developed a teaching module on HIV testing for general practitioners that became a model for family doctors across Canada.

Wortman was behind the idea of the Dr. Peter AIDS Diary series on CBC.

He is a founding board member of the Native Physicians Association.

Now, Wortman is the Pacific regional director for the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada. "My work is all related to First Nations health," he said.

The awards are a special project of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (NAAF), established in 1985 by John Kim Bell.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the awards recognizing Aboriginal high achievers-126 so far.

Other National Aboriginal Achievement Award winners announced for 2003 are Saskatchewan Metis fiddler John Arcand (arts and culture); Winnipeg physician Dr. Judith Bartlett (health services); Alberta oil and pipeline expert Mel E. Benson (business and commerce); Regina engineer and entrepreneur Gary Bosgoed(science and technology); Saskatoon engineering student, athlete, actor and community volunteer Matthew Dunn (youth) Ontario best-selling novelist Thomas King (arts and culture); University of Lethbridge and Harvard lecturer Leroy Little Bear (education); Winnipeg community worker and language protector Mary Richard (community development); the N.W.T.'s Charles Edward Lennie (heritage and spirituality), and rock legend Robbie Robertson (lifetime achievement).