Award recipients honored at gala event

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The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards gala was held in Vancouver on Jan. 27 with local performers dominating the stage show that served to honor 14 Inuit, Metis or First Nations people who have excelled in a variety of areas and categories.

Comic performer Skeena Reece of Prince Rupert brought the house down with her unique take on the story of contact with the European "discoverers" of North America.

The Sto:lo Nation's CarrieLynn Victor and Theresa Point, known together as Rapsure Risin', gave an enthusiastic demonstration of their hip-hop talent.

Also on the agenda was Vancouver's Wayne Lavallee (Cree/Metis) who closed the event with a rendition of Savanna, a song off of his CD Green Dress, which won a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award in 2004.

Other performers included Shane Yellowbird, a country singer who hails from Hobbema. Alta. Yellowbird, whose new CD is due out this year, sang his single Beautiful Concept to an appreciative crowd.

This year's show was co-hosted by Lorne Cardinal of Sucker Creek, Alta., most familiar to us for his role as Constable Davis Quinton on the CTV sitcom Corner Gas set in Saskatchewan. He teamed up with his real-life partner Cherie Maracle to share hosting duties.

The theme of this year's awards show was transformation and executive producer Roman Bittman used the story Raven Stole The Sun, the tale of the creature that brings light to the people of the earth, as the basis of his elaborate set.

The story was also told through two performances by the Raven Spirit Dance Company. The Git Hayetsk Dancers were also used to good effect as a thread that held the show's theme together.

Coast Salish carvings and colors inspired the set design, which featured a grove of giant trees as one would see when visiting the forested areas of British Columbia.

The gala is produced by the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundaton. The black-tie affair hosts about 2,500 people from the Aboriginal community and corporate and public sectors. Among the dignitaries who spoke to those gathered that evening was Premier Gordon Campbell, who received a round of boos from the audience before and after his speech, a surprise considering the political turnabout he's done in the last year on issues surrounding Aboriginal people.

When questioned why Campbell had received such a response from some in the audience, Chief Mike Retasket of the Bonaparte Band said the First Nations leadership had done a poor job in communicating the premier's recent enlightenment to the grassroots members of their communities.

Guests found mingling before and after the show were Dr. David Suzuki, John Kim Bell, founder of the achievement foundation and former executive producer of the award show, and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine.

The award recipients honored at the event were Jane Ash Poitras (Arts and Culture), Dr. Herb Belcourt (Business) and George Tuccaro (Media and Communications). Jim Sinclair received the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Youth award went to Andrea Dykstra of Pictou Landing, N.S. Other recipients were Taiaiake Alfred (Education), Tony Belcourt (Public Service), Bernd Christmas (Business and Commerce), Gladys Taylor Cook (Heritage and Spirituality), Myra Cree (Media and Communications) Billy Day (Environment), James (Sakej) Youngblood Henderson (Law and Justice), Wendy Grant-John (Community Development) and Shirley Firth Larsson (Sports).