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It's 11 a.m. in Anywhere, Indian Country. The meeting was supposed to have started two hours ago. Half of the people expected haven't even bothered to show up yet. Someone titters nervously about "being on Indian Time again, I guess."

Nobody laughs. Jokes about Indian Time are wearing thin. An annoyed band administrator and two Tribal Council types announce "they have more important things to do with their time" - and leave for appointments elsewhere.

So what exactly is Indian Time?

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It's a time-worn story. One that's been screamed from the rooftops, and has fallen upon deaf ears almost since the time of first contact with European society. The plot centres around disparities between the quality of life for Aboriginals and that of the population in the rest of Canada. The latest chapter comes from the Canadian Institute of Child Health, in the form of a profile on the health of Canada's children.

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The new president of the Native Women's Association of Canada is pressing the federal government for funding which would do justice to its status as Canada's fifth national Native political association.

Although NWAC has been a national voice for Native women since 1974, its influence is now being recognized, said Janis Walker. With this recognition should also come the resources necessary to allow NWAC to do its work.

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Insulin-dependent diabetes has been linked to a combination of five genes that act in concert with each other, and people who inherit these combinations of genes are highly likely to develop the disease.

This discovery may enable scientists to determine who is at risk and who will be spared the complex disease that runs in families.

"It's very exciting news," said Ken Farber, executive director of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International in New York City in an interview with the New York Times.

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Approximately $1 million will be spent over the next three years on a project designed to help heal Manitoba Natives who attended residential school.

Two healing resource centres are in the works to combat the devastating effects 12 major residential schools had on the lives of thousands of Aboriginal people.

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A new study by the Canadian Institute of Child Health reports that many Aboriginal children "live in dire circumstances," and do not enjoy the same level of health as the rest of Canada's child population.

The Health of Canada's Children, released Sept. 27, reports the social and economic conditions under which Aboriginal children live result in poor health for many of the 350,000 under 15 years of age in Canada today.

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Gambling charges have been dismissed in Saskatchewan's Bear Claw Casino case.

Judge Wallace Goliath threw out the case when the Crown failed to show that the defendants, the White Bear Indian Band and a U.S. gaming consultant, set out to break the law.

White Bear Chief Bernard Sheppard said the band is considering whether or not to re-open the Bear Claw casino or negotiate gaming regulations with the province. If they do re-open, Saskatchewan's Gaming Minister Eldon Lautermilch promised he would again lay charges.

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Australian Aboriginals have reached a land claims agreement with their government. In contrast, Canadian Natives are lucky to even be able to afford adequate housing.

These are two perspectives urban planners from across the world heard at the recent Habitat '94 conference held in Edmonton. Habitat '94 is the annual gathering for members of the International Federation for Housing and Planning.

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Standing face-to-face with a female polar bear protecting two cubs and wrestling that bear to save yourself and your family is the stuff of Arctic legends.

And if that's case, then Rankin Inlet Elder Moses Aliyak is a living, breathing legend.

On July 19, 1994, Aliyak, his wife Simona and grandson Kuuk were at their cabin outside of Rankin Inlet when the most dangerous of all Northern creatures paid them a visit.

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New Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau is no Rene Levesque, said Matthew Coon-Come, Grand Chief of the Council of Crees. Parizeau may be taking on the responsibility of Native Affairs as did his Parti Quebecois predecessor, but he hasn't taken the best interests of Aboriginals to his heart, Coon-Come said.