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Arguments in the appeal of the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS) trial concluded the last week of January in the Vancouver law courts.

Lawyers for seven AIRS survivors as well as the federal government and the United Church of Canada were arguing over perceived faults in B.C. Supreme Court Justice Donald Brenner's decision of two years ago.

"The United Church was the first to appeal, claiming they were not liable for the things that happened at the Alberni Indian Residential School," said Peter Grant, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs.

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Four residents of British Columbia are among 14 who will receive a National Aboriginal Achievement Award at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on March 28.

They are legal scholar Dr. John Borrows, Hesquiat conservationist Chief Simon Lucas, Vancouver physician Dr. Jay Wortman and Kootenay leader and entrepreneur Chief Sophie Pierre.

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SECHELT-The Sechelt First Nation saluted 14 of their youth on Jan. 15, for achieving a place on the honor roll at the Chatelech Secondary School. The reserve school now is rated tenth on the list of most challenging academic schools in Western Canada, but it wasn't always that successful.

Chief Garry Feschuk told the assembly gathered to honor the students that community co-operation and support are responsible for the success of the school.

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Ahousaht Elders Frank August Senior and Edwin Frank Senior have something in common: a love for seal meat that they were raised on. Both men who have hunted in the area since childhood have noticed disturbing changes in the seals near salmon farms: the seals are sick.

"I noticed about two years after the farms got here the seals around them started getting skinnier and skinnier," observed August. "We used to just go up Tofino inlet early in the morning to get a seal but now they're too skinny and they move slow."

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VANCOUVER-An alarmingly high rate of asbestos has been identified at the construction site of a salmon farm at Ocean Falls on the central coast. The Heiltsuk First Nation, the Sierra Legal Defence Fund and the David Suzuki Foundation say tests have shown the levels are 10 to 30 times higher than allowed in most municipal garbage dumps.

The construction site in traditional Heiltsuk territory north of Bella Bella was formerly the loction of a pulp mill.

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WHITEHORSE-The Carcross/Tagish, Kluane and Kwanlin Dun First Nations got approval from Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Robert Nault on Jan. 28 to amend the timelines for completion of their land claim agreements.

The Carcross/Tagish and the Kluane First Nations now expect to conclude their agreements by March and begin the ratification process by mid-March and mid-April respectively.

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Prince Albert's 2002 Citizen of the Year, Bernice Sayese, has certainly earned the title as the busiest woman in Prince Albert. And she also has the distinction of being one of only a handful of women, as well as the first Aboriginal woman, to win this award.

Known to the youth of Prince Albert as "Mama Bear," Sayese was honored at an awards dinner at the Prince Albert Travelodge on January 24. She was nominated by her daughter Shauna who felt that, because Sayese never blows her own horn, it was time for the City of Prince Albert to blow it for her.

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The University of Saskatchewan (U of S) is currently hosting three Australian students from the University of Canberra (U of C) as part of its first-ever Aboriginal student exchange.

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Two Aboriginal women were among this year's recipients of Saskatchewan Healthcare Excellence Awards (SHEA), given out in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the province's health industry.

Marie Haviland and Myrtle O'Brien received their awards at a gala held at the Delta Regina Hotel on Jan. 31.

Haviland, from Muskowekwan First Nation, is health director at Touchwood Agency Tribal Council. "I design and develop health programs for our bands: Day Star, Gordon, Muskowekwan, Kawacatoose, Fishing Lake," she said.