Published December 11, 2000 Happy Holidays Photo by Debora Lockyer Steel Top performers attend Toronto awards bash by Keven Kanten Healing garden just a start by Marjorie Roden Native authors and issues reap awards by Paul Barnsley Bright lights, bright future by A.J. Bellegarde Community hopes to hit the airwaves by Stephen LaRose Aboriginal language highlighted in calendar by Yvonne Irene Gladue This is only a partial list of the stories featured in the December, 2000 issue of Saskatchewan Sage. If you are not receiving your own copy of Saskatchewan Sage, then you have missed all this information. Click here for Saskatchewan Sage subscription information. Top performers attend Toronto awards bash By Keven Kanten Sage Writer TORONTO Artists from Saskatchewan in the Aboriginal music industry nabbed some of the prizes at this year's Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards held in Toronto on Nov. 24. Mishi Donovan for Journey Home brought home the hardware for best songwriter. Red Bull for The Best of Red Bull brought home a best powwow album award in the traditional category. Sweetgrass Records won in the best drum songs album category with Best of the Best and in the best album cover design category, Little Island Cree/Dark Horse Studio won for Indian Country. The Music Industry Award went to Kelly Parker of Turtle Island Music. The awards presentation was part of an impressive evening of entertainment at the Skydome, including this year's winner of best female artist, Fara Palmer, who set the tone for the show with a strong performance of Pretty Brown. Fara acted as co-host for the awards show with Derek Miller, who is gaining a strong reputation as Canada's king of cool. The pure power of the performances, everything from traditional drum to modern rap, impressed audience members. Just when you thought the last performance just couldn't be beat, as were this writer's thoughts about Wayne Lavallee, on came another quality act. If any one artist established himself as a show stand-out, it was George Leach with his gritty electric blues. The evening closed with a high-energy performance by rap group Red Power. Healing garden just a start By Marjorie Roden Sage Writer MELFORT The Stardale Women's Group Inc. Foundation, located in Melfort, dedicated a healing garden to the city on Nov. 10. On hand at the ceremony were Sophie Keetnatch, Stardale's Elder, as well as Rev. Dan Young of the Covenant Church. Young represented one of the partners in the project, the Melfort Ministorial Association. A dedication plaque set on a large rock was unveiled. On the plaque are the names of all the partners in the healing garden project-Stardale, Plura (an organization comprised of the Presbyterian, Lutheran, United, Roman Catholic and Anglican churches that fights poverty) CanSask, and the Canada Millenium Partnership program. "We have a very large partnership, which is very much a part of community development, networking, and it's all about our motto -Breaking the cycles by creating the circles," said Helen McPhaden, program co-ordinator of Stardale. The healing garden is not yet completed. "We've got some trees, and that's about it, because we did not do the dedication until the fall. We didn't even really start building it until the fall." Much of the work in the garden has been done by many of the women who are involved in the education programs that Stardale heads up. With a mandate to empower women, much of the program includes training women in different craft industries, such as weaving both cloth and wicker. "Also with the park, we did beautiful willow work. We created beautiful willow arbors that are mounted in the ground, and willow benches that we'll bring back out in the spring. They're gorgeous. They're all woven. Even the willow instructor said it blew her away. "The girls made planters out of railroad ties, and we took three-foot rebar and hammered them into the ground, so it was an initiative!" Plans for the gardens foliage have already been decided. "We had already started the plants and seedlings back in the spring. What we did is, we ordered all the seeds (and) we started all the seeds here." Because of the lateness of the dedication, "we ended up moving them over to my house, which is down the street, so they could get lots of light," said McPhaden. "Because of the time frame, I dug out a garden, which is new for me because I just moved here, and (planted) all those seeds that took-they're all perrenials-we'll be moving them in late April or early May next year, so that's where it sits right now." "It's a healing prayer meditative garden. That's what it's supposed to be." The healing garden is just one of the projects Stardale is working on. "We're working on our weaving project right now. Thats funded through the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and it's called the Sacred West.... "Weaving is the second oldest profession in the world for women. If you check into any history, it is there, and it has survived, and weaving has helped women put food on the table, if you will." Part of the plan with this program is that, for many women with families, learning to weave would be a way that would enable women to become providers for their families. This way, they would have both a career to financially help with their families' needs, as well as a way to stay close to home so they could be there for their children. "The women attend weaving circles, and they talk, said McPhaden of the lessons presently being taught in Melfort. "The women have been making willow trays, and they're weaving one of a kind pieces to go on the bottom of the tray, with angels, Christmas trees, candy canes, whatever. They're beautiful, and we're baking cookies like crazy. "What we're doing is, we're putting these into the trays, and we're going to hand deliver locally and Purolate the rest next Monday, and that's our way of saying thank you." Some of the partners who will be receiving the trays are SaskEnergy, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, Mental Health, RCMP, and Prince Albert Counseling and Mediation services. "They supply us a counselor one day a week," said McPhaden of the Mediation services agency they work with. "So once again, it's our motto, breaking the cycles by creating the circles. Stardale operates a centre where counseling and education programming are offered, said McPhaden. "There's access to computers so the women can come on and do a resume, or they can do research, or they can e-mail people, or play, whatever it is they want to do. We're networked with Melfort interagency, and we share resources. We're front-line workers." But Stardale doesn't just touch the lives of the women of Melfort. In fact, the program touches many more people, on a much broader scale "We're networked throughout the province, and we're a hub throughout Canada so that other organizations are now modeling our work, and that's how come we're having a workshop [next February]." Native authors and issues reap awards By Paul Barnsley Sage Writer REGINA Aboriginal writers and books touching on Aboriginal issues dominated this year's Saskatchewan Book Awards. Almost 500 Saskatchewan bibliophiles gathered in Regina on Nov. 24 to discover who the winners would be. Saskatchewan Book Awards, Inc., a non-profit, charitable organization made up of volunteer book lovers, handed out awards in 12 categories at a gala dinner. For the first time ever, the most prestigious award-or book of the year-ended in a tie. The two-member panel of jurors (authors Rudy Weibe and Kristjana Gunnars) found they couldn't decide between Patricia Monture-Angus' Journeying Forward: Dreaming First Nations Independence and Trevor Herriot's River in a Dry Land. Monture-Angus was still excited by the honor when she was contacted at her University of Saskatchewan faculty of Native Studies office on Nov. 30. "It was a tie, but that's cool," she said. "I don't mind that at all, because he was short-listed for a [Governor General's Award]." The list of winners shows there was a decided First Nations flavor to this year's awards ceremony. Monture-Angus said that was a plus for her. "It was certainly, absolutely, a First Nations presence at the awards, so I felt very comfortable sitting there in the crowd and I don't usually feel comfortable at those kind of events," the Mohawk author said. "I was quite nervous about going for that reason, but it was a really enjoyable evening. I was very, very calm until they said my name. Then I started shaking," said Monture-Angus. "This was the first award that I've ever won for writing," she said. "That's part of the thrill about it because what I really wanted to be when I was a little girl was a writer. So when I published my first book it was kind of like, 'goodness, maybe I am a writer.' I've always wondered about the academic thing. I mean, I'm writing academic books; does that mean I'm really a writer? But when you get book of the year, it's kind of hard to dispute with yourself anymore that you're not really a writer." Known nationally as a tough-talking authority on Native issues, the accomplished former law professor admitted- surprisingly-that she still doubts her own abilities. "Even still, even after three university degrees and, I guess, a number of successes- I don't want to sound like I'm arrogant but, you know, I get a lot of strokes in my life. I get a lot of slaps, too, for that matter- underneath it all there's still that . . . lack of confidence that comes from growing up in an environment that told you you were no good 'cause you're an Indian," she said. "So winning the book award had kind of a bitter-sweet quality, because I was still really thrilled but at the same time there was that little voice inside saying, 'Are you sure you deserve this? Are you good enough for this?' It's still there. It's not gone. And I think it's really important to talk about it because if it's impacting on me and my life that way . . . you know, I'm a tenured, full professor here at a Canadian university. Imagine what it does to my students. Or go back another layer. Imagine what it does to people who are contemplating the idea of being a student. It just, to me, exposes the consequences of that oppression and that colonialism and that racism." But she admitted that her success could inspire others to follow. "If winning an award like that has any substantive meaning, that would be the one," she said. Even the book of the year co-winner's work, a portrait of the land and people of the Qu'Appelle Valley by non-Native Trevor Herriot, had an Aboriginal component to it, said Joyce Wells, executive director of Saskatchewan Book Awards, Inc. "He said one of the themes of the books was healing the rift between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the region," Wells told Sage. "It was remarked by everyone that the Aboriginal theme was noticeable this year." University of Saskatchewan Native Law Centre research director James sakej Henderson and his co-authors Marjorie L. Benson and Isobel M. Findlay earned the award in the scholarly writing category with their legal textbook, Aboriginal Tenure in the Constitution of Canada. Henderson took home his second award of the night, along with co-author Marie Battiste, for Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage, a look at why United Nations covenants have not been able to protect Indigenous rights in Canada. Federal treaty negotiator Tom Molloy's The World is Our Witness, an account of the process that produced the Nisga'a Final Agreement, won the non-fiction category.

Bright lights, bright future

By A.J. Bellegarde
Sage Writer
REGINA

Stages Model and Talent Agency holds the Saskatchewan-wide Fresh Faces Model Search every year. It's a chance for good-looking guys and gals across the province to gain international recognition in the world of professional modeling.
This year, for the first time since the event began in 1989, the winner is Aboriginal. Fourteen-year-old Desarae Eashappie from the Carry the Kettle First Nation just west of Regina won this year's title.

Desarae said she entered the contest on the advice of a talent scout from Stages Modeling.

"A friend and I were standing in line at the exhibition and a scout (from Stages) came up to us and asked if we had ever tried modeling. She told us we should enter."

Desarae did enter, but her friend did not. The entry involved sending in pictures to Stages along with an entry form. From all of the entries received, 89 contestants were chosen as semi finalists. Out of that group of 89, 33 were chosen as finalists to compete on Nov. 4 in Regina, in front of international agents from Japan, Taiwan and Korea, as well as a representative from the well-known Ford Model Agency out of Toronto.

The day of the final judging started early for Desarae. She had her hair and makeup done at 8 a.m. By four o'clock, the group of 33 finalists was narrowed down to nine. When her name was announced at the end of the day, Desarae said she couldn't believe it.

"I was so excited. I was nervous and tense all day long, and it was finally over," Desarae remembered with a laugh.

Part of her prize package for winning the competition was a shopping spree, modeling lessons and a professional photo shoot. She will also compete in the Faces West Model and Talent Convention in Vancouver in November 2001.
At 5'6, 95 lbs, Desarae is petite-she wears a size 0 or 2. She said winning the competition has given her a boost of confidence.

"Before, I wasn't really happy with my size because everyone was bigger than me, but now I'm more comfortable with myself."

The middle child and only girl in a family of five children, Desarae said she doesn't do anything special to get herself ready for school.

"I don't wear any makeup, and all I do is brush my teeth and wash my face in the morning to get ready for school."

Modeling is not the only thing that Desarae is interested in. She's attends school at the Nakota Oyate Education Centre on Carry the Kettle, where she is active in sports and with the junior chief and council as well.

After winning a province wide model search, where does she go from here? In January, an international agent from Italy is coming to meet her. She also has a photo shoot booked with a professional photographer from New York in March.
"I personally hope I go a long way with this. But I just see myself as a normal girl. I blend in with everyone else."

Kathryn Barnett, the director of Stages Model and Talent Agency said Desarae is anything but normal.

"She has great potential. I've shown her pictures to a lot of agents and she has generated a lot of interest already. She will have to wait a little while until she matures physically, but she has a great future ahead of her."

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Community hopes to hit the airwaves

By Stephen LaRose
Sage Writer
OKANESE FIRST NATION

About five years ago, William Yuzicapi was just floating the idea. During a meeting of File Hills chiefs and councils in Lebret, Yuzicapi casually mentioned that a community radio station for the File Hills-Balcarres area might be a good idea. It would be a way to broadcast powwow music and other compositions by Aboriginal recording artists. Maybe Elders could have their stories and legends recorded, saved in the station's library, and broadcast on the air at times.

By next September, that could be a reality, as the Okanese First Nations prepares to apply for a license to open its station.|

The new station will become an important listening post for First Nations people in the district, said Yuzicapi, the general manager of the new station.

"I just casually mentioned it to her in passing during that meeting in Lebret. She thought it over for a couple of years, and said 'put some numbers together.'
"Over the summer the chief and council wanted to make this into a reality. Since I was the one who headed this up in the beginning, they asked me to head it up full-time."

Yuzicapi's name may not be familiar for southern Saskatchewan radio listeners, but his baritone voice certainly is recognizable. Better known by his on-air name of William Alexander, he was a familiar broadcaster on Regina AM radio stations throughout the 1990s, with a term as the Lebret Eagles' marketing and communications co-coordinator sandwiched in between in 1994 and 1995.
Yuzicapi says the plans would have remained little more than a pipe dream without the efforts of Chief Maryanne Daywalker Pelletier and members of the Okanese First Nations council.

"Okanese is probably one of the most progressive reserves in Saskatchewan, business-wise," said Yuzicapi. "In the past five years, we've gone through a lot of scenarios, a lot of proposed budgets, and a lot of numbers.

"The band's application is currently before the CRTC, who, if they approve, will officially approve the station's call letters and broadcasting frequency before the station takes to the air.

It usually takes the CRTC from six months to a year to review and approve a new broadcasting license, he said.

"But since we're First Nations and also a community radio station, we have to jump through the same hoops (as a commercial company applying for a radio station license) but it might not be as intensive."

For example, any company setting up a commercial ratio station must go through a public inquiry. However community radio stations instead will meet with a few commissioners face to face.

"And since there's no one else in the Balcarres and File Hills area applying for a community radio license, there won't be much official opposition."

The new station will broadcast on the FM band, thanks to picking up used equipment from an Ontario FM radio station that is upgrading their equipment.
"A commercial radio station is run by its owners, and it's run for a profit. In a community-based radio station, the community will run the station," said Yuzicapi. They do that through having volunteers perform on-air duties, selecting records, and doing community and fundraising events. "Anybody can come by and volunteer to do a show," he says. "There's going to be a lot of Native music, a lot of powwow music. That's to be expected because File Hills will be our major broadcasting area.

"One of our mandates is to promote new talent, whether that would be powwow music or more contemporary style singing. If they have a CD they can come in and drop it off, and if our listeners like it, it can make it onto the play list."

In addition, Yuzicapi plans to have station volunteers record stories, legends, and oral histories from Elders in the File Hills area in order to preserve their messages for other generations. There are also plans to have Aboriginal language lessons broadcast on the station, so those who understand the Cree language and those who want to learn the language can hear it over the airwaves.

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Aboriginal language highlighted in calendar

By Yvonne Irene Gladue
Sage Writer
SASKATOON

Each individual tribe was given a unique language to keep and pass on to the generations to come, said Darlene Speidel, director of Cultural Resource Development Publications. Language, above all else, she said, is the key to regaining and protecting Aboriginal culture.

The Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre's 2001 calendars feature eight languages-Soto, Lakota, Nakota, Dakota, Dene, and the Y, TH and N dialects of the Cree language. It is hoped that the calendars will help Aboriginal people retain and rejuvenate their distinct cultures.

The centre first published its language calendars in January 1995. They feature the Aboriginal words for each month and its English translation (eg. Witehi Wi in Dakota means Hard Month Moon and is used to represent the month January). The Aboriginal term for each day of the week is also represented.

"Set up for people who don't know their language fluently, there is a chart in the back," said Speidel. "We purposely did not put the English translation on each month of the calendar, because we felt that people would use it instead of trying to learn their language," she said.

In the back of the calendar is a map with the communities marked where the language is used, and charts for the Aboriginal language's alphabet, for individual number terms (one to 31) and special days of the year, like Valentine's Day and Christmas Day.

"It is a learning tool for the people who want to learn the language. It is a way to reaffirm to the people that it is a positive thing to know your language," said Speidel. "There are many functional uses for our languages in today's modern day society."

While putting the calendar together, the centre found that it was much more complicated than it was first thought.

"When the centre first undertook the project, we thought that it was going to be much easier than we discovered it actually was. We had some difficulty getting the consensus for language terms for this calendar," said Speidel. "We approached a lot of Elders. One of the problems we encountered while doing the calendar was the holidays. Most of the holidays were Catholic holidays like Good Friday or St. Patrick's Day. For some of the new holidays that we had to find words for, [like National First Nations Unity Day] we worked with the Elders to come up with most of the terms," she said.

Each month of the calendar features a picture of an animal or a significant time of the year that the Aboriginal people use to describe the month.
For more information about the calendars, call (306) 244-1146 or email:info@sicc.sk.ca

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