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Three prominent Alberta Native artists are receiving plaudits for the artistic concepts which they have perfected in their work.

Artistic ideas being used by artists Alex Janvier, Jane Ash Poitras and Joane Cardianal-Schubert are paralleling current artistic issues in international art circles, says the curator of

Canada's Museum of Civilization.

Gerald McMaster cited the three as artists whose approaches to Native imagery in their work are also ideas being discussed within the international art world.

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Raging rivers caused the evacuation of more than 100 Driftpile band members from their homes Saturday during a weekend of heavy rainfalls.

The incident was reminiscent of last year's devastation which left one band member dead, said Driftpile Chief Clifford Freeman.

The river has receded and the people have now returned to their homes.

"But now we have to look at what kind of flood prevention can be done," Freeman said.

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Jim White says he was one of the lucky ones.

He doesn't feel lucky because he found his way off the dead end streets of Edmonton skid row district, or because he was able to realize he was killing himself with alcohol before it

was too late, He doesn't feel lucky because he landed a good job with the city.

White says he's lucky because he found a way to direct other Natives away from same problems that almost destroyed his family.

He is now helping Native children understand there's more to life in Edmonton than they think.

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Five or six Native deaths in The Pas area were improperly handled by RCMP and local police, The Pas Indian Chief Oscar Lathlin told a Manitoba inquiry.

Lathlin repeated earlier statements that the murder of Helen Betty Osborne, unsolved for more than 15 years, would have been handled differently if she had been non-Native.

RCMP lawyer Hymie Weinstein accused the chief of being prejudiced against non-Natives.

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Canadian Natives will run from Manitoba to Illinois to deliver a petition to Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The Run for Human Rights is scheduled to begin in late August and participants will arrive at Jackson's headquarters in Chicago on Sept. 17.

Run coordinator Terrance Nelson said the run is planned to promote the fact that the United States and Canadian governments are exploiting Native lands and resources and still

fail to recognize Aboriginal rights.

Soviet Union and European journalist will accompany the runners to publicize Natives' plight.

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A group of Manitoba Native leaders presented a letter to Buckingham Palace last week, urging the Queen to get involved by helping to bring post-secondary education to Canada's

reserves.

"We. The first nations of Manitoba, together with our breathen first nations across Canada urgently request Her Majesty the Queen...to join us in protection of our sacred treaty

rights," the chiefs wrote in the letter.

They were in London for a brief visit while attending an United Nations convention of Aboriginal leaders in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Environmentalists have set up another potential roadblock to stop the Alberta government from building the Oldman River Dam.

In a new lawsuit, the Friends of the Oldman group alleges the Crowsnest River is being ruined by related efforts to improve fishing.

They claim the provincial Public Works Department is fouling the southern Alberta river with a fish enhancement program to offset losses expected when the Oldman Dam floods

three river valleys downstream.

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Alberta's chief medical examiner says medical personnel should be involved at a death scene investigation though he admits that's not always the case, a provincial inquiry heard

Wednesday.

Dr. John Butt told the Rolf Commission investigating a series of Blood Indian deaths he believes a death scene should be investigated by both police and medical experts.

"Forty per cent of these death are medically related," Butt told inquiry Commissioner Carl Rolf. "There are only five per cent of the deaths that are generally of interest to the police

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An outbreak of whooping cough at Wabasca area has finally been brought under control, says the local doctor.

However, it's been at least a month since there have been any cases of the dreaded, childhood illness, said Dr. Vishay Dunraj.

"It's definitely settled down," Dunraj said.

The outbreak had parents in the area and from the nearby Bigstone reserve concerned, he said.

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Anger and grief stemming from the early deaths of several local residents has spawned a major attack against drug and alcohol abuse in this community.

Calling Lake becomes only the second mobile treatment program to be held in Alberta.

The O'Chiese reserve in west-central Alberta was the first reserve in the province to hold such a program in 1987.

"Very definitely, they saw fantastic outcomes on their reserve in terms of numbers treated. Their follow-up rates were extremely favorable," said community spokesman Kris Robins.