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Education is our future ? says athlete

Old Sun Community College (OSCC), located on the Siksika Blackfoot Reserve, held its 1st Annual Graduation Honorarium Banquet at the Band's new Deerfoot Sportsplex Centre on June 10.

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PEOPLE

The Indian Association of Alberta's youngest ever President, Gregg Smith, 37, vows to be a leader who's in touch with his people.

Smith explains, "I think it's important to have personal contact with people because it helps to develop relations with them. I try to get out to communities (rather than) being an administrator and sitting in an office or flying around the country all the time."

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EDITORIAL

In the beginning . . . there was the White Paper in 1968, which proposed to blend Indians into society and ultimately do away with reserves.

Then there was the Red Paper ? in it Indians rejected the White Paper, maintaining they were citizens "plus" and the government owed them certain compensations.

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An Indian Health Services doctor has diagnosed three Navajos as having Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS.

The doctors said that two of the three have died within the last year. The third is still being treated.

The doctor has speculated that the victims may have contracted the disease through sex or blood transfusions. He doubts that the victims were affected by intravenous drug usage, another high risk group, since shooting drugs is rare among Navajos.

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Alwyn Morris, a Mohawk Indian from Quebec is in training for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He will be training for most of this summer in his kayak throughout Canada and United States.

Alwyn won a gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics for the 1,00 meter two-man kayak event.

Millions of television viewers may recall the proud moment when Morris held up an eagle feather at the winner's podium.

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The Sacred Circle Advisory Committee is concerned with a 40 per cent cut in Native education programs.

Funding has dropped from $610,000 in the previous fiscal year to $370,000 for the 1987-88 year.

A mediator for the Native education since 1982, the advisory committee is worried that non-Native resource people will be used to teach Native culture.

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A rally to protest new government policies over post-secondary education is to take place at the Alexander reserve in August.

The resolution was made after Edmonton Task Force leader Adele Arcand made a blistering attack on the new government policy which dictates that Treaty Indian students will only be funded for a maximum of 40 months, approximately ten semesters of university education.

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The decision to bar the media from last year's IAA annual assembly was a "mistake" says president Gregg Smith.

"We've got nothing to hide so why not let them in. I think we should be more open about our business," says Smith in an interview after this year's annual assembly.

The IAA annual meetings had traditionally been open to the media, however, last year a request was made to remove the media in order to discuss a Calgary Herald request to the government for the financial records of ten Alberta bands.

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A new federal government policy which transfers authority over Native programs and services to the nation's bands, has been criticized by the Indian Association of Alberta (IAA) as, in fact, retaining government policy, legislative and financial control ? placing it upon a three-man steering committee from Ottawa.

The designated committee has "more power than the minister of Indian Affairs, Bill McKnight," charges IAA official Peter Many Wounds Jr.

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Perry has been looking for his real mother for over a year now.

The 20-year old Metis was given up for adoption when he was only three months old. What is known about his real family is vague, but Perry says that he, along with a friend and member of Parent Finders, Ray Ensminger, will not give up the search until something is learned about his family.