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Fort Chip gets a new road

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FORT CHIPEWYAN - A long-awaited winter road between the towns of Fort Chipewyan and Fort McMurray will begin construction at the end of September.

An announcement was made August 27 by Transportation and Utilities Minister Al "Boomer" Adair and Fort McMurray MLA Norm Weiss. "The provision of a southerly winter road will be one of the most significant events in the development of the community of Fort Chipewyan," said Weiss.

How housing co-ops work

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Following are the steps for developments of co-operative housing provided by Communitas, a resource group for housing co-operatives.

1. Apply for seed money from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

2. Ten people incorporate as a co-op under provincial legislation.

3. Perform a feasibility study to see if it will work financially.

4. Apply for a final commitment from CMHC.

5. Apply for financing.

6. Buy and renovate, or build housing.

7. Members and board take trainings.

8. Hire a part-time manager.

Metis housing co-op sought

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A small group of Metis people is taking steps to start a Metis housing co-operative in Edmonton,.

A meeting to present the concept has been set for October 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Canadian Native Friendship Centre in Edmonton.

The Wo-Te-Na Housing Group was created after Muriel Stanley Venne was approached by the owner of a west Edmonton housing complex who suggested that the Settlement Sooniyaw Corporation, of which she is general manager, buy it for Metis people in Edmonton.

AFN boycotts meeting

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OTTAWA - The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is boycotting this week's round of meetings on the constitution to protest the fact that none of the organizer's main items of concern are to be addressed.

"We were not given sufficient reason to believe that if we attended this meeting, it would be worth our while," says AFN National Chief Georges Erasmus. "We had to make it very, very clear that we're not satisfied with the process."

Teacher is a powwow dancer at heart

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During the Canadian prairie winter season, Pat Deiter is a teacher, a parent, a spouse and an ordinary resident of Regina. But once summer comes and the powwow trail beckons, she becomes an avid dancer and attendee at cultural gatherings around her home province.

Deiter is a professor of a course in Pan-Indianism at the University of Regina.

Dance honors courage of the steelworkers

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Jerry McDonald remembers that rain had just begun to fall when he and his fellow ironworker, Dennis LeBorgne, emerged from a 60-foot pit at Ground Zero. A few hundred firefighters, police officers and rescue workers were gathered around. They were saluting the "man basket" attached to a crane where a firefighter lay covered by an American flag.

The two Mohawks had just cut through rod and rebar, with tons of steel hovering above them, to remove him from the rubble.

Metis style fiddling showcased

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Some call him the master of the Metis fiddle. Some call him a legend. But whatever you call him, 59-year-old John Arcand from Saskatchewan has polished his fiddle skills to an exemplary degree.

Arcand's father taught him to play the fiddle when he was six. And six years later he was playing for the Red River Jiggers, square dancers, and dance troupes.

Arcand has also written more than 250 original tunes that are played across Canada and the U.S. He is an active promoter of fiddle music, especially of the Red River tradition.

Aboriginal youth welcome the world

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Aboriginal Catholic youth from across Canada will be joining with thousands of other young Canadians as they welcome the world to Toronto for a celebration of the Catholic faith.

From July 22 to 28, the city will play host to World Youth Day 2002, with more than 350,000 registered participants from 150-plus countries expected to take part.