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As a reasonably avid reader and writer I am always aware of the power of the written word. Words have a unique power due to their ability to transcend time and space and convey messages to people in every aspect of life. I remember a vivid example of this power in the film Black Robe, when an Indian chief is amazed a French voyageur can interpret the symbols in a book to immediately carry a message to another voyageur nearby without saying anything. But would this incredulity be considered a genuine response by the Indian chief?

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"I was drunk."

It's an excuse recently legitimized by the Supreme Court of Canada, and used successfully as a defence by an Alberta man last week to beat a charge of assault against this wife of 11 years.

Carl Blair of Leduc spent 30 hours in November 1993 on a drinking binge with

a buddy. When his wife came to pick him up, he severely beat her in the head and face resulting in her hospitalization. Blair didn't dispute the charges but argued he acted "like

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Canada will continue to fund the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples even though its final report may come too late to be of any use.

Indians Affairs Minister Ron Irwin said the report will be received in early 1996, past the mid-point of his mandate. Any recommendations the commission will make will be difficult to implement because of the time lines, he said.

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Money for nothing. That's what the federal government said they spent and got from some Native groups under the $8 million Intervenor Participation Program for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

The IPP report released last week shows 14 Native groups who received funding to make submissions to the commission either never delivered reports or submitted incomplete work for consideration.

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The Reform Party's Aboriginal Affairs Task Force is set to begin its cross-country tour of Canada in Manitoba this month, and is seeking the counsel of First Nations members.

The task force will examine Aboriginal and treaty rights, self-government and land claim issues and develop policy for the Reform Party. Manitoba was chosen as a starting point for the task force, because of concerns raised by some Aboriginal groups in that province about the proposed dismantling of Indian Affairs, said task force chairman Bob Head.

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The Minister of Indian Affairs is a trend-setter, according to Reform treasury critic John Williams.

Minister Ron Irwin has started the ball rolling with extremely generous cash and land settlement to Natives and he's starting an expensive trend, Williams said.

The minister should leave cash out of Native land settlement deals and negotiate only in the services Ottawa is willing to provide, said Williams.

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Delegates of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations have elected Blaine Favel of Poundmaker First Nations as their new chief.

Favel replaces Roland Crowe of Piapot First Nations, who has headed up FSIN since 1986.

Favel, 30, is the youngest person ever to hold the organization's top position. He won convincingly over Crowe Oct. 20, garnering 418 of the 630 ballots cast.

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Opponents of Alcan's Kemano Completion Project in northern British Columbia have gained the support of the province's Liberal leader of the official opposition.

Gordon Campbell has called upon the NDP government to shelve the hydroelecric project.

The project would see water diverted form the Nechako River Reservoir to the Kemano powerhouse, significantly reducing water levels on the Nechako and Fraser Rivers.

First Nations oppose the project, saying risks to Chinook and sockeye salmon stocks in B.C.'s rivers are considerable.

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The new PQ government in Quebec City has made its first offer to self-government to first Nations, but Native leaders are reacting with skepticism.

"It's like a jigsaw puzzle," says Jacques Kurtness, chief self-government negotiator for Quebec's 12,000 Innu. "We want to see the entire picture before we give our agreement or not."

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Counsellors and social workers in this close-knit northern community are bracing themselves for a wave of mourning following the deaths of eight local Inuit hunters in the frigid waters of the Arctic.

Ten men on a walrus hunting expedition plunged into the ocean on the evening of Oct. 30 when their boat capsized in gale-force winds. Two survived, clinging to the wreckage of the boat for three days before being spotted by a federal search party.