Alberta Sweetgrass

Weaving together traditional Aboriginal teachings and conventional HIV/AIDS educational materials, the Tipi of Courage educates young people to deliver messages about prevention to their communities through presentations and artistic expressions at community events, powwows and educational institutions.

The Tipi of Courage was established by the Aboriginal Working Group of the Red Cross…

The newly created cadets program on the Sunchild and O’Chiese reserves is facing a major stumbling block.

The program, a partnership between the Rocky Mountain House RCMP and the two southern reserves, is modelled after the successful program in Hobbema.

In operation for only eight months, the Sunchild O’Chiese program was attracting an average of 33 youth each week.

“The…

The Kipohtakaw Education Centre on the Alexander First Nation is an exciting place to be these days. The students planted 25 gardens in earth boxes throughout the school early in November to participate in a two-year study by the community and the University of Alberta which will explore the state of children’s health and encourage them to eat more nutritious foods.

“We were interested…

It’s not every day a teenager can explain the ins and outs of a computer program. Rarer yet, that a girl in her last year of high school gets the chance to design her own interactive virtual environment, complete with scents, that has the potential to be used in patient rehabilitation.  But Ashley Brown, a 17-year-old Métis student from Elnora, did just that.

Brown was one of 60…

Thailand’s state oil company’s recent purchase of 40 per cent minority shares in Calgary-based Statoil Canada’s Kai Kos Deh Seh oil sands project near Fort McMurray brings a new Asian investor to the Alberta oil sands. PTT Exploration and Production Co. paid $2.28 billion in a deal set to close early in the new year. Foreign investment in the oil sands, such as the Thai government’s, and…

Carrie and Darrell Langevin, owners of the small business Mother Earth Essentials grabbed onto a life changing opportunity by stepping into a world of dragons.

Earlier this year, the Cree Métis couple from the county of Lac St. Anne decided it was worth a shot to bring their Aboriginal-based, 100 per cent natural ingredient bath product line to the CBC hit show Dragons’ Den, which gives…

Showcasing larger business ventures at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce in October presented a golden opportunity for the Piikani Nation, said Kirby Smith, resource development manager.

“Not having adequate exposure points for the local community is a bit of a barrier,” said Smith. “More could be said about people’s experiences, that is, the human capacity for small business, trades,…

Work of Métis Nation logo designer featured
Local Métis artist Ray Lambert, who designed the Métis Nation logo, showed deer and moose antler and soapstone carvings at Yvonne Jobin’s Moonstone Creation Gallery and Giftshop in Inglewood during the Nov. 5 opening. Work by Lloyd Pinay, April Mercredi and others was also featured. April Mercredi’s colourful multi-media creations…

Alberta cities gather to look at homelessness
The Seven Cities of Alberta hosted the Road Home Conference on Homelessness, Nov. 15 -17 in Edmonton. The conference featured two and a half days of sessions from leading experts and practitioners in the areas of homelessness and related services, including a half-day session about a national forum on homelessness. Keynote…

Use of traditional knowledge from the Aboriginal populations helped garner the Canadian National Committee for International Polar Year 2007-2008 the 2010 gold medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

“Understanding the traditional knowledge of the northern Aboriginal people allows an opportunity to capacity build stronger community-based monitoring of the environment in the…

A partnership between six Alberta First Nations, Alberta Health Services and Health Canada is focused on sharing information to improving access to health services in those communities.

Tribal Chief Ventures Inc., a collective of six First Nations, launched the unique initiative in 2009 with the objective of building partnerships, addressing jurisdictional issues and improving access to…

A book by an Alberta judge chronicling his time behind the bench and his experience with First Nations people has been met with criticism by the current administration of the Stoney Nakoda First Nation.

In Bad Medicine: A Judge’s Struggle for Justice in a First Nation’s Community, Judge John Reilly claims that mismanagement of funds by the Stoney Nakoda First Nation chief and council…

Protecting the woodland caribou in the northeastern part of the province is going to take longer than anticipated by both First Nations and environmental groups who have launched court action.

The federal government has already been granted a 15-day extension through the mutual consent of all parties involved.

“The case is in federal case management,” said Susan Smitten, director…

NAAF winner at Portage College
Vernon Auger, 31, from John D’Or Prairie on the Little Red River Cree Nation, is the recipient of $1,900 from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation as part of its bursary and scholarship program. Auger, a Portage College Native Cultural Arts student, sent in photos of his artwork including mukluks and paintings of the Northern Lights…

Métis Nation of Alberta president Audrey Poitras is “very disappointed” with Justice Ted Fisher’s findings in a Métis harvesting case that had the potential to bring about sweeping changes.

Instead, in a verdict that took over an hour to read in a packed Medicine Hat Provincial Court on Dec. 1, Fisher’s 11-point decision found almost entirely against the argument put forth by Métis…