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Melody Mercredi, 23, from Vancouver, is this year's National Metis Youth Role Model in the career advancement category.

She completed her bachelor's degree in opera performance at the Vancouver Academy of Music last year.

"I sing because nothing else is more fulfilling. I have always loved to sing and have always loved a challenge.

"Opera is by far the most difficult genre to sing. To sing opera requires great technical ability, vocal stamina, a good sense of character, and the most important ingredient-passion," said Mercredi.

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For six years, the Seventh Generation Club has been helping British Columbia's Native youth stay in school and acquire the good habits necessary to lead productive lives and become community leaders for their people. If the financial support shown at the Sheraton Wall Centre on April 25 is any indication, the program and Native youth have a healthy future.

Last year, the annual celebration and gala dinner raised $20,000, and preliminary estimates put donations from this year's $200-a-plate dinner and silent/live auction at close to $30,000.

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The chef at Liliget Feast House and Catering found out what it was like to be wined and dined himself in Italy this year, and says the experience was so great he wants to go back.

Felix Parnell, a Haida from Massett, went overseas to demonstrate his cooking prowess to an international group of chefs in February.

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The Gathering of Nations was held April 25 to 27 at The Pit in Albuquerque. The three-day event included the Miss Indian World contest, Indian Traders' Market and North America's biggest powwow.

As the people entered the Pit, they were pleasantly soothed with live music from Robert Tree Cody who played the Indian Flute and by Primo and Mike who won at the American Music Awards.

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University of Victoria law student Kinwa Bluesky competed in the Miss Indian World contest last month and was chosen as the runner-up. For Bluesky, the best part of the contest was the fact that she participated.

When Bluesky was 11 years old, her mother Janet Kaponicin brought her to the Gathering of Nations Powwow where they watched the Miss Indian World contest. Kaponicin said, "she was so impressed at the Miss Indian World that she said, 'When I grow up, I'm going to come back here'."

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If the opening reception for Kaxlaya Gvilas is any indication of its popularity, the exhibition running at the Museum of Anthropology through September 2 promises to be extremely well attended.

Jennifer Webb, communications manager for the museum, said the reception held on April 23 was a great success.

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Several Alberni area elementary schools' children poured out of buses and into the Tseshaht longhouse April 22 to witness a cultural celebration by HahoPayuk students.

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Dear Editor:

There are at least 50 ballots a day being mailed in to Chief Councilor Judith Sayers' office at the Hupacasath band office as well as 20 to 30 walk-in deliveries per day. Judith is quite pleased with the results to date.

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New and mid-career visual artists and artisans in British Columbia may be eligible for grants of $3,000 to $5,000 to help them develop their skills. A total $56,000 is available to assist visual artists and artisans to explore a new technique or a process that expands their artistic horizons. This is the sixth year for the Visual Arts Development Award program (VADA), which is financially supported by the Vancouver Foundation and run by the Contemporary Art Gallery. Proposals are evaluated on their quality and merit.

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An exhibition of works focusing on the use of boxes or containers in First Nations cultures opened at the First Nations Creations Art Co-operative on April 9 and will remain open until June 4. It is called Sacred Containers.

The exhibit will highlight traditional bent wood boxes; wood boxes; leather boxes; contemporary boxes; and woven cedar boxes.

Artists' interpretations of the meaning of boxes in the traditions of numerous First Nations cultures, including the Tsmishian, Thaltan, Northern Tuchone, Ojibwe and Cree will be featured.