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There are three things in this world I would urge people never to be or do. The first two are unimportant, but the third definitely would include being a critic or reviewer in the Native artistic community. Because no matter what you may write, you can be sure somebody you know will not like it and make sure that you know they do not like it. Or they will never talk to you again.

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Meganumbe

Every year around this time we have to deal with turkey fat. We eat so much Christmas turkey, mashed potatoes and pie, so as not to have the ability to buckle our pants. Well, this year not only is there fat, but there are a lot of junk gifts that I'd like to give back, or throw away. I'd consider a trade for some of those micro-fibre waistbands they hand out at Ottawa cocktail parties. I'll keep my new TV for now.

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It has been a short time since my little cousin, Eric, died in a car accident. As with many who have passed on in similar circumstances, he did not have to die.

Eric was a passenger in a van heading home after a party. The intoxicated driver lost control of the vehicle and it rolled over. My cousin, who was not wearing his seat belt, was thrown from the van. He died instantly when his body slammed into the pavement, crushing the back of his skull and breaking his neck. Just like that, Eric became a statistic.

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We got some help this month when some hard, verifiable financial information about the AFN was 'slipped under the door in a plain brown envelope.' Such leaks are the essence of journalism, because people in positions of power and influence will lie to us if they think they can get away with it. We've seen that. And without the kind of assistance we receive, there's no way we can ever know if we're getting the straight goods and all of those goods.

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After a meeting of the board of directors in Winnipeg in early December, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's 21-member board of directors has decided to let their news staff come up with a new look for news and public affairs programming.

Sources say the board rejected the plan of the man they retained to perform an analysis of the news and public affairs department. Jeff Bear, a Maliseet veteran of the television industry, declined to comment when contacted by this publication.

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After eight months confined to a hospital bed, Robert Cardinal, 32, still is in too much pain from burns inflicted by an arsonist to speak to Windspeaker about his future. To his family, though, he has acknowledged that he knows he will never be the same fit family man who expected to attend the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology this fall to study computer drafting.

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The request for a sentencing circle by two Saskatoon police officers convicted of dropping a Native man off on the city's outskirts on a frigid winter's night was harshly rejected by a provincial court judge on Dec. 3.

Four days after making that determination, Mr. Justice Schiebel rejected the officers' application for a conditional sentence and imposed an eight-month jail term on both men.

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A new Native women's group, established in mid-November, is setting up shop in Ottawa.

Pam Paul, former executive director of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), is the president of the new National Aboriginal Women's Association (NAWA). Carolanne Brewer, who recently resigned as staff legal counsel for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), is working for the new group. Jennifer Sinclair, recently laid off after working as a policy analyst for the AFN for four years, is also on board as vice-president.

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The minister of Indian Affairs sounded a little defensive when he discussed the recent federal budget with the Native press during a conference call on Dec. 12.

As Native leaders responded to the budget by saying they had been expecting far more after hearing the promises made by the prime minister during last January's Speech from the Throne, Minister Robert Nault defended his government's spending decisions.

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The Assembly of First Nations is going through a difficult and at times painful reorganization after reductions in the funding it receives from the Department of Indian Affairs forced the layoff of 70 employees.

As federal government adds more support staff and hires consultants to advise the Indian Affairs minister in his public relations war with the AFN over governance, the AFN is forced to downsize and is faced with the task of finding creative ways to do more with less.