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Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

By Gordon Reid

Fifth House

39 pages (sc)

$12.95

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in southern Alberta is one of the oldest, largest and most well-documented buffalo jumps in North America.

For more than 10,000 years it was a 'world center' for Paleolithic hunters, nomadic Plains tribes and members of the Blackfoot Confederacy.

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American book author Tony Hillerman has another literary hit on his hands and it's got a Canadian connection. Hillerman, who grew up in rural Oklahoma among Pottawatomie Indians, has written Skinwalkers, a mystery novel recently premiered on PBS Television.

Canadian Adam Beach plays one of the main characters, Officer Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. Beach is well-known to viewing audiences, having starred in recent top box-office attractions such as Windtalkers and Smoke Signals, as well as in the television programs Lonesome Dove and North of 60.

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Nathaniel Arcand of North of 60 and American Outlaw fame is a busy man. The Edmonton-born actor will be seen in early December in the CTV's Literature Series movie called 100 Days in the Jungle, the real-life story of eight pipeline workers kidnapped in Ecuador in 1999. In February he'll be seen in a Warner Bros. remake of the Lone Ranger (Arcand plays Tonto). In March he has a role in the Hallmark production called Wildfire 7. He plays the role of a smokejumper called (eh-hmm) Red. (It must be funny south of the border.)

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For 34-year-old Tammy Crier, a healing circle ceremony held on Nov. 1 gave her an opportunity to close the books on her father's wrongful conviction for murder and his difficult life and death after his incarceration and release.

Wilson Nepoose was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Marie Rose Desjarlais in 1987, but was released after five years in jail when the family convinced the courts to reopen the case.

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Kathleen McGuire grew up in an orphanage and several foster homes and says the experience hindered her ability to be a child. So now she's making up for lost time with an alter-ego she's developed called Smokey Hontus.

Smokey is an 89-year-old First Nation woman who tells it like it is and makes everybody laugh at life's little truths.

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A handful of people braved the winter weather Nov. 16 to attend a memorial in a downtown Toronto park to honor the Native women missing in Vancouver and the hundreds of others missing across the country.

Amber O'Hara is the organizer of the event and the Toronto representative of Vanished Voices Never Again, an international group that attempts to raise the public's awareness about the missing women's plight.

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Editors note: Cheam First Nation member Ernie Crey, 52, is waiting for final word that his sister Dawn, 10 years younger, met a violent end at the Port Coquitlam farm where the remains of many other women have been found. Crey said the evidence already at hand makes him fear the worst. He discussed his feelings with heart-breaking directness during an interview with Windspeaker on Nov. 19.

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Germany is a complex and ancient country, one locked in tradition and memory. Its people, once tribal back in the days of the Roman empire, now bask in a culinary world of breads, sausages, and beer... actually, come to think of it, not that different from most Native communities. But within their unique Teutonic culture are contained many societal nuances and unique behavioral practices that might befuddle your average Aboriginal traveler, should they find themselves in that central European country.

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Dear Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to applaud the First Nations leaders across Canada who have taken a firm stance against the Canadian government and its legislative agenda in regard to First Nations people, including the First Nations Governance act (FNGA).

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Dear Editor:

Anyone who has picked up a newspaper in the past few years is aware of the calls for accountability in First Nations communities. Partly in response to these criticisms, the federal government introduced the First Nations Governance act (FNGA).