Great job this year with awards

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As publisher of Windspeaker, I usually don't write a publisher's statement unless I feel very strongly about an issue. Last year I used this space to express my concerns about the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards and how creative license was taken with Aboriginal culture, as well as other concerns.

After attending the 1999 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards on March 12 in Regina, I felt that I had to make a comment on this year's show and let John Kim Bell and the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation staff know they did a great job this year.

In making my comments last year, I hoped that the situation would improve this year and that the foundation would refocus the tremendous efforts that are made to showcase the incredible capacity of Aboriginal people.

This year's set was beautiful and featured a lush rain forest, complete with a stream. The lush vegetation was so realistic it felt and looked like you were in the forest in northern British Columbia. Great detail was paid to the totems, masks and carvings. The set was so beautiful, there was a gasp from the audience when the curtain lifted.

All of this year's winners were outstanding individuals and just listening and watching the video clips of these great Aboriginal role models was inspiring.

The program was refreshingly different from past years and featured Michael Greyeyes and Jennifer Podemski, two bright stars with great futures. The talent was outstanding and the cultural component was handled with the proper respect.

The highlight of the evening for me was the Aboriginal Youth award winner, 'Alika LaFontaine. He was amazing and will be a fantastic role model for young people.

It would have been great to see more young Aboriginal people in the audience and maybe next year some of the corporate sponsors will designate some of their seats specifically for Aboriginal youth. The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards is a powerful vehicle for motivating and inspiring Aboriginal youth.

I still want hear from the award winners. I realize the time restraints that are in place for television, but if the winners could say a few words to the audience and be edited out for the television program that would be aired it would be great.

Let me say again, John Kim Bell and his staff did a great job on this year's show, and I left the evening feeling proud to be an Aboriginal person and this is what the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards should be all about.