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Do you have questions about treaties, powwows, or Australian Aborigines? Check out www.aboriginalconnections.com for answers. Rob Wesley, originator of Aboriginal Connections, describes his search engine (web directory) as "an online navigational guide to information and web sites concerning the Native people of North America and the Indigenous people of the world."

And, Wesley is poised to make a leap from cyber space to the business world.

"Aboriginal Connections has truly become a passion of mine," said Wesley. "I realized that this is the type of site that people would use and keep coming back to. If your search produces no results, a shortcut is provided to various search engines helping you to locate what you want."

He started Aboriginal Connections as the web site for the Native Access Program for Engineering at Lakehead University and upgraded it to its current directory status in 1999.

With a monthly visitor rate of 3,000 to 6,000 visitors, Aboriginal Connections has already attracted a lot of attention.

Wesley said most of the visitors to the site are from the United Stated but people from some 60 countries have logged on. There are currently 1,875 Native sites listed in this directory and it can be linked to by more than 500 other sites.

Wesley would like to expand the services of Aboriginal Connections into a business directory, email directory, forums (bulletin boards), web advertising, job advertising for employers, calendar of events, biography-portfolio site, chat services and more. He has a business plan in the works because the site is at the stage where it must create revenue in order to grow. He will consider any projects that he can develop in cooperation with other organizations.

"Users have left many great compliments via the electronic guest book," said Wesley. "They usually say how useful the site is."

Though the site is doing very well, Wesley still has improvements in mind. A web server machine and more sophisticated software would allow for a significant increase in database size and faster results in searching capabilities.

"In the coming months, Aboriginal Connections will be adding more features, which I'm sure will make the site better and ultimately provide a greater resource for information and entertainment to a worldwide audience."