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It's summer in Indian Country and I've spent much of it visiting with the most wonderful, friendly and respectful people in Alberta, enjoying tea made beside a campfire, and listening to their stories.

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The history of Aboriginal people at Rossdale Flats in Edmonton, the site of the Epcor plant, is being collected from people throughout the province. The Rossdale Flats Aboriginal Oral Histories Project, funded by the City of Edmonton and Alberta Heritage Resources Foundation, is to be completed by December 2003.

The stories being taped concern the time before and during the fur trade when Aboriginal people made encampments along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River and traded with the Hudson's Bay Co. and the Northwest Company.

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Phil Fontaine is once again the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).

His July 16 victory over Six Nations of the Grand River Chief Roberta Jamieson was secured when about half of those who had voted for former National Chief Matthew Coon Come on the first ballot chose not to follow his wish that they switch their allegiance to Jamieson.

It was the second major defeat of the day for the incumbent.

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Plans for a memorial to be set up at a recently discovered burial site at Edmonton's Epcor plant are underway.

Lewis Cardinal, the chairperson of the Edmonton Aboriginal Urban Affairs Committee, said the committee still does not know what type of memorial it will be, but it will commemorate the graves of the people that have been identified as buried there.

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A proposed 40 per-cent hike in fees for long-term care is raising the temperature at the Native Seniors Centre in Edmonton.

Centre outreach co-ordinator Elsie Kruger said the seniors met with provincial New Democrat party leader Raj Pannu at the centre on July 16. He talked about how the hike will affect the residents if new legislation is allowed to pass.

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The weather was perfect for a celebration and people frolicked in the sun by a lake that could only be described as breathtakingly beautiful.

The Cold Lake First Nation's 23rd annual Treaty Days celebration was held at the English Bay campground on July 11 to 13. Hundreds of people took part, enjoying the weather, the food and the competitions, which included among other things canoe races, a pie eating contest, a bottle sucking contest, and a tug-of-war.

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The town of Fort Chipewyan in northern Alberta paid tribute to Sister Archange Jeanne Brady on April 7 after her death at the age of 73 on April 3.

Sister Brady, a Metis originally from the St. Paul area, came to Fort Chipewyan in 1950 shortly after she became a Grey Nun. She spent the next 34 years working at the Holy Angels Residential School, now the Bishop Piche School, and was made an honorary chief by the Cree and Chipewyan Band Councils. She was also given the Cree name Anah ka sakihat awassissa, the one who loves children.

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Editorial

When one understands the Canadian parliamentary system, it is not hard to believe that Canada's Indian peoples, were, for the first time, permitted to vote in 1960.

It was also in 1960 that Canada's first residents were allowed to openly purchase liquor without fear of being prosecuted by the courts or of being severely reprimanded by the lords of the reserves, the Indian agents.

It was a gallant act initiated by the federal government to permit Canada's Indian peoples to exercise their democratic rights: to vote an purchase alcohol.

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Indian Affairs Minsiter John Munro, Chief Leo Pretty Youngman and band members from Blackfoot Reserve at Gleichen, Alberta, signed an agreement April 6, for compensation of $1.675 million because of unkept obligations from a treaty signed over 104 years ago.

The federal government has agreed to give the band the financial compensation for cattle they did not receive along with other Treaty 7 bands over a century ago. At that time starvation, disease and seasonal hardships made it almost impossible for the Blackfoot to raise cattle.

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Provincial Minister Responsible for Native Affairs Milt Pahl told AMMSA in a telephone interview that he is personally committed tom resolving the outstanding land claim of the Lubicon Lake Indian Band.