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The following article is excerpted from A Sharing With Those Who Know, a book being written by former Windspeaker editor Dianne Meili to commemorate elders from the 10 different nations in Alberta. The collection of interviews and poetry, accompanied by color photographs will serve as a lasting record of the lives and wisdom of our beloved old ones, who embody the best of what it means to be an aboriginal person. Meili is the great-granddaughter of Victoria Callihoo, a well-known Cree elder born in 1860 in the Edmonton area. Her book will be published in 1991.

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Of all presentations heard during the four-day Poundmaker's "Healing our Youth Conference" none touched the soul of the issues facing adolescents like the dream performance by a group of inner city youth.

The Inner City Drama Club's 30-minute play touched on the realities of prostitution, drugs, education, peer pressure and suicide in a funny, sad, scary manner that tugged on the emotions of everyone who watched. Even stronger than the message give by the group was the group itself that represented the strenghts, hopes and dreams of all young people today.

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Forty-five-year-old convicted killer Wilson Nepoose of Hobbema says he's "doing life for a crime I didn't commit."

The attorney general's department is still "looking at " a letter from investigator Jack Ramsey, which says Nepoose, of the Samson band, is innocent and has already spend four years rotting in prison for nothing.

Nepoose's family also says he's innocent - and wants a retrial.

"We're still looking at Mr. Ramsay's letter," says an information officer in the AG's department. "We have been receiving a number of documents and will reply soon.

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Olympic champion Alwyn Morris has few good feelings about his country after the crisis at Oka.

It's a long way from the 1984 Summer Olympics at Los Angeles when he held an eagle feather high above his head as he became the first Canadian Indian to strike gold at the Olympics

Now he hangs his head when he thinks of the treatment of Indians on his Kahnawake reserve at the hands of Canadians, the Armed Forces and Quebec provincial police.

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Willie Littlechild's bid to become Indian affairs Minster has drawn support from an unusual source - the Liberal side of the Senate.

Sen. Len Marchand, a B.C. Indian and former Trudeau-era cabinet minister, says he thinks the time is right for a well-qualified Native to be given the portfolio.

And Littlechild, a Hobbema Indian who is the Tory MP for Wetaskiwin, fits the bill, says Marchand. "Willie would make a good Indian affairs minister."

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There's some myth going destroyed in Indian country.

Not too long ago the mythology of the Indian went far beyond the legends and folklore revealed in books and movies. The extended mythology of Native people included as much caricature as it did history. The image of the stone-faced, wagonburning, horse-thieving, pop-ping-up-from-behind-hills Indian was as familiar a part of popular culture as Dick Tracy's watch.

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When, oh, when will the Lubicon Indians finally be able to call their land home?

This most thorniest of land claims disputes would be a good starting point for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney if he's really serious about finally dealing with Canada's Native people in good faith.

It will take more than appointing an Indian chief - Walter Twinn of the Sawridge band - to the Senate to set the record straight.

Only when the Lubicon claim has been settled will these people be finally able to live in peace.

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A provincial water rights "mistake" could help the impoverished Peigan Band in southern Alberta join the ranks of oil-rich First Nations.

The nearly completed $350 million Oldman River dam is worth millions of dollars annually in water royalties to the Peigans, says Alberta Liberal agriculture critic Nick Taylor.

The Peigans simply outsmarted the province a decade ago when they signed an agreement with Alberta and Ottawa giving the band the right to any water above what was used downstream at the time, he says.

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The Siksika chief and council recently unveiled a $6,000 granite logo, which will be the centrepiece of the new council chambers.

A Calgary sculptor reproduced the Siksika logo on a nine-foot piece of granite at a cost of nearly $6,000. The circular, one-ton stone came in two pieces and was laid in the council chambers earlier this summer.

The impressive piece of art is round and will be the focal point in the chambers, which is also circular.

Page 2

Natives don't think much of cops, the courts, and the prison system - even when Natives are the victims of crime.

And most of those polled in a recent Indian Association of Alberta survey of 32 Alberta bands had firsthand experience with the system - 40 per cent as victims and 57 per cent as offenders.

A strong majority felt Natives "are less likely to receive a fair trial than non-Natives," says the survey completed earlier this year by an independent company with no ax to grind.

Most Natives don't think the public cares.