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Alcohol treatment program championed by chief

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The O'Chiese reserve (69 km northwest of Rocky Mountain House) opened a mobile treatment program, designed to help alcohol and drug abusers overcome their addictions, on July 8.

The treatment will be conducted in a camp setting on the reserve where 30 band members have agreed to be a part of the program. For the first week of the month-long program, the band members will be asked to stay in the camp, returning home in the evenings after the first week is up.

Old Sun graduation

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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.

IAA leader keeps lines open to people he serves

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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."

Three Navajos diagnosed as having AIDS

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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.

Indian athlete in training for the 1988 Summer Olympics

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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.

Cutbacks worries education watchdog

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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.

Arcand attacks education plan

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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.

Media boot called a mistake

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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.

Transfer plan not enough for 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.