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Organizers hope to 'Bridge the Gap' year round

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Calgary Native Awareness Week organizers have their sights set on making the seven-day extravaganza a year-round event to promote aboriginal culture in southern Alberta.

It's a vision they hope will be recognized throughout North America.

Native awareness week co-ordinator Robert Laboucane said his group wants to turn their efforts into a world-class operation similar to the famed Calgary Exhibition by the success of last year's Native and non-Native communities.

Alcohol has taken its toll

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Thirty-two years ago my family suffered the first of many losses of human life to alcohol. Although it was not a direct result of alcohol, one of my brothers died attempting to appease an alcoholic. He accidently shot himself while hunting ducks for hangover soup.

Canada's shameful treatment of Lubicons known to whole world

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Windspeaker Staff

"You should be ashamed Canada for what you're doing to the Lubicon Cree of northern Alberta."

That's the message hear around the world as our federal government is admonished for its treatment of Native people. And it's not just from left-wing radical do-gooder groups that pounce one very social injustice.

Many international religious denominations have come out in full force to condemn the injustices committed against Canada's aboriginal people by the federal government.

Friendship Center still waiting for budget details

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The Slave Lake Friendship Center hopes recent federal budget reductions don't cut into its core funding, says executive director Peggy Roberts.

She's still not sure if her center will be affected by the Feb.20 cuts because final figures haven't been given to the national friendship center office.

"Our staff is several years behind in cost-of-living increase," she said. "(And) we have two years left on our mortgage."

If the cuts hit the core budget, the staff of 12 will have to be reduced and priority will be given to paying off the mortgage.

Native affairs' committee is long overdue, says IAA's Louis

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A Native affairs' caucus committee set up by the province to address political concerns on a provincial level is being viewed with a critical eye by Alberta's top Indian leader.

But Roy Louis, president of the Indian Association of Alberta (IAA), is frustrated the City of Edmonton hasn't go a similar plan going on the local front.

The six-member provincial committee was announced April 25 by Ken Rostad, minister responsible for Native affairs.

It will be chaired by Ponoka-Rimbey MLA Halvar Jonson.

Siksika Nation tunes in o CFWE

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The installation of a transmitting dish as given Native radio to residents of the Siksika Nation. It's also given residents of the southern Alberta reserve an opportunity to develop their own programming.

Siksika Nation received the first transmissions from CFWE-FM in Lac la Biche on the afternoon of April 23, CFWE is a counterpart of Windspeaker in the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA).

Akwesasne violence claims two lives

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The military and police were sent onto Akwesasne reserve last week to quell further violence after two Mohawks were slain during a week of sporadic gun battles.

But police intervention may have increased the tension between the volatile Mohawk communities split over gambling.

Pro-gambling supporter Arnol Edwars, 32, and anti-gambler Matthew Pyke were found shot to death after separate gun battles which forced many band members to flee the reserve and take refuge with relatives in nearby towns.

Decision unlikely to hasten settlement - Lennarson

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Negotiations for the Lubicon Indian Band are skeptical UN support will help them end their 50-year battle for land and compensation.

The United Nations human rights' committee called on the government of Canada last week to resolve its longstanding dispute with the Lubicon of northern Albert whose culture and religion have been threatened by the stalemate.

But band negotiator Fred Lennarson said he's not satisfied with the decision which he termed as "vague" and "unbinding."

UN refuses to take sides in Lubicon land-claim dispute

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A United Nations human rights' committee has come down squarely in the middle of the Lubicon Lake Band's long-standing land claim dispute with the federal government.

The committee did find Canada in violation of Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. But it attached blame to the Lubicons and the federal government for not settling the land claim.