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The National Aboriginal Professional Artists Training Program (NAPAT) is helping emerging First Nations artists get back to their roots while getting their art work out into the world.

Developed by the En'owkin Centre, an Indigenous post-secondary institution in Penticton, the program provides career development to professional Aboriginal artists and is one of a kind in Canada.

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Ahousaht youth and men paid tribute to the women in their lives with a mark of respect that has become an annual event. Mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers and anyone playing a role as mom were invited by Ahousaht's youth and men for two feasts and a day of rest from the kitchen.

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Canada's first and only Aboriginal Mothers' Centre may have just turned a year old, but it is growing fast and strong.

The brainchild of founder and executive director Penny Kerrigan, the centre was built according to best practices from mothers' centres in Europe, and it is unique in its sophisticated sustainability development plan.

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The University of British Columbia's new Aboriginal health research institute, B.C. ACADRE, officially opened on May 21.

The B.C. ACADRE name is an acronym for Aboriginal Capacity and Developmental Research Environment. ACADREs are Aboriginal health research institutes set up by the federal government through the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples Health (IAPH), which is one of the 13 institutes making up the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The CIHR has set up other ACADREs in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba.

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"This has been a personal journey to bring back some of our traditional cultural activities. Our people have used resources from the land to make tools to provide for their families. It is still to be understood through our Indian stories about how we are to utilize our natural resources."

With those words, Upper Nicola Indian Band Chief George Saddleman celebrated the completion of a three-year journey, one in which he rediscovered the traditions of his ancestors while finding how much they can apply to life today.

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Tla-ook Adventures, owned and operated by 25-year-old Gisele Martin and her partner, Doug Wright, provides dugout canoe tours with a strong Nuu-chah-nulth flavor. The 34-foot Sa-sit-qua-ees carved by Gisele's father, Joe Martin, was launched four years ago. He eventually gave the canoe to his daughters, Gisele and Marie-France.

Seeing a promising opportunity, Gisele Martin and Wright applied for a business loan from Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation and launched a cultural tourism venture based in Tofino.

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The University of British Columbia confered an honorary doctor of laws, honoris causa degree on Chief Robert Joseph of the Kwagiulth Nation on May 26.

Chief Joseph has become a leader for his people, having overcome hardships including separation from his parents in early childhood and having gone through residential school.

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With 50 speakers and presenters, 37 workshop sessions and approximately 350 delegates, the National Aboriginal Hepatitis C Conference was a unmistakable success. And with the alarming number of Aboriginal people infected with Hepatitis C, raising awareness is key to reducing the numbers. According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), Hepatitis C infection among the province's Aboriginal people is seven times higher than the national rate.

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Three students from Hazelton Secondary School teamed up to compete in the national E-Spirit Business Plan Competition held in Halifax in May and sponsored by the Business Development Bank of Canada. Their project entitled Hiking Gitksan History Ltd. won the bronze award. The competition encourages Canada's Aboriginal youth to experience entrepreneurship through hands-on learning. Cecilia Morgan spoke for the team, which also includes Khymlhyn Yunkws and Anthony Vickers.

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Wet and cold weather wasn't enough to detract carnival organizers from staging the water balloon toss at the Gitxsan First Nation's inaugural Family Fun Night.

Held in conjunction with the declared International Family Day on May 15, hundreds of community members poured into the Gitanmaax Hall for frivolities.

The hall was large enough to accommodate the event, yet small enough to offer a constant swarm of activity for more than two hours.

Twenty-one booths with food and games meant there was plenty to do at the festival.