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Nishnawbe Aski Nation chiefs met to outline their vision and prepare a plan for governance of NAN communities at their winter assembly held Feb. 25 to 27.

NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy said the meeting had an excellent turnout: 42 out of 49 chiefs and six proxies showed up.

"We presented the basis for our nationhood, which is what we call traditional governance-it's a framework that outlines our philosophy, our values or principles."

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Either the infamous 1969 White Paper is still alive or the central agencies of the Canadian government have just decided that enough is enough-or both.

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Giving a voice to urban Aboriginal people is the goal for a new council being formed in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

On May 5, the membership of the Aboriginal People's Council of Toronto (APCT) will vote for 18 people to represent them in discussions on a variety of issues affecting them.

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A conference sponsored by the Ontario attorney general's victim services division was held in Little Current Feb. 20-21.

The police education awareness workshop was designed to improve communication between frontline officers and community social service agencies.

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TORONTO-Business leaders, government representatives and savvy youth with business interests from across Canada were invited to the National Aboriginal Business Summit that was held in Toronto Feb. 19 and 20.

The summit is held to foster Aboriginal participation in the Canadian economy and enhance business partnerships.

Three themes dominated this year's summit: Building Partnerships, Building the Entrepreneurial Spirit, and Building the Investment Climate. Delegates had many opportunities to talk about their individual business successes.

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Treaty 3-Native and environmental groups from across the country have finally been given standing by NAFTA on the softwood lumber issue this month. Among them, the Grand Council of Treaty 3, a member of the Indigenous Network of Economies and Trade (INET), and Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (Treaty 9) have made presentations before both NAFTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the issue. Western First Nations in INET, along with the Sierra Club of B.C. and the Dogwood Initiative, also based in B.C., are part of the protest wave too.

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Artist Jim Logan was born in New Westminster, B.C. in 1955, but has worked across Canada throughout a brilliant career creating and promoting Aboriginal art. Currently a visual arts officer for the Canada Council for the Arts, an arts funding body, the Metis man of Cree ancestry has resided in Ottawa since this latest appointment.

"The human family has been a divided family for a long time," he said. "My hope is that my works are successful paintings, each being little stones in the big bridge of understanding between two peoples."

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The Ucluelet, Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations, in partnership with the Coulson Group of Companies, have completed the first stage of negotiations with Weyerhaeuser in their bid to be the successor logging contractor for the Sproat Lake Division.

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Celebration 2010 and Cap Folk 'n' Roots Series offered up an incredible evening of entertainment on Feb. 28 when they presented St(lmexw "Xw(lm(xw "The People" --A Celebration of Song.

Held at the Capilano College Performing Arts Theatre, the event was part of a province-wide campaign from Feb. 14 to March 8 to showcase the province's creative culture in support of the Vancouver/Whistler Olympic games bid.

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Another Aboriginal Club office at Okanagan University College (OUC) is open, and the priority of the students running it is to raise funds for students in need.

The Aboriginal meeting place at the North Kelowna campus opened at the end of December.

"Students are planning to have the new Aboriginal centre blessed in late March by a local Elder," said Lyle Mueller, First Nations education co-ordinator at the college.

The Aboriginal Club held a fry bread, bannock and hotdog sale Feb. 27.