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The Awasis Parent Advisory Committee and the Edmonton Public School Board will be hosting an Aboriginal education symposium on Feb. 28. The symposium will discuss the continuation of the Awasis program into the junior high school level.

Currently, Awasis, which is a program teaching Aboriginal culture, history and identity as a regular part of a public school curriculum, is only available at an elementary school level to students at the Prince Charles School.

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The idea behind Cross Cultural Days in Pincher Creek is to build partnerships and understanding between the Aboriginal culture and non-Aboriginal culture. This year's event, featuring a two day workshop conference, competition powwow and sporting tournaments, offered something for everyone. Unfortunately, not everyone showed up. Half of the target audience - the non-Aboriginal half - was poorly represented for the annual event

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First Nation chiefs from Alberta's Treaty 6, 7 and 8 areas want to re-write the book on band accountability.

In August of last year, the federal government announced it was distributing a 92-page handbook with more than 300 questions which Canada's First Nations were to answer. The answers would show how each band would handle accountability of administration, from financial accounting, leadership selection and the administration of social programs, to education and housing issues.

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Nicole Robertson was exposed to journalism at a very early age by her father who would faithfully watch the news and follow world events. Names like Knowlton Nash and Lloyd Robertson were familiar to her long before she made the decision to be part of the world of news media.

Her first real exposure to journalism came when she was 14 years old when she and a group of students were selected to attend a conference at a Native journalism weekend in Saskatoon. It was during this conference that Robertson decided to look into what journalism was all about.

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Members of the Beaver Lake Recreation Association believe they aren't being treated fairly by the Lac La Biche and Area Bingo Association.

Beaver Lake band administrator Joyce Steinhauer said the First Nation's members make up 20 per cent of the nightly clientele at the nearby Lac La Biche bingo hall, yet the Beaver Lake Recreation Association has never been allowed to work a bingo.

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Ashmont Secondary School made history last Nov. 25 as the official launch site of Canada's first independent, non-governmental bone marrow registry for Aboriginal peoples.

North of 60 actor, Dakota House, was one of the promoters at the launch and showed how easy it is to be tested as a potential bone marrow donor.

"I have three young daughters and I just thought of them maybe needing a bone marrow transplant some day," said the 24-year-old actor, who originates from Edmonton's inner city.

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An Alberta-based group, peppered with members from across the country, is reaching out to help Indigenous people, this year, a Mam-Maya village in Guatemala.

Transgenus International is hoping to raise $9,000 through the sale of calendars that are graced with images of the people who dwell in the village of Comitancillo, located in the western highlands of Guatemala.

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Winter is a time when people come trudging out from their homes, plow through the snow, and take in a round dance or two.

Round dances are now under way in earnest and one of the more recent ones at the Canadian Native Friendship Centre on Nov. 28 had about 800 people come and go. It was actually an excellent turnout given Enoch and Pigeon Lake were also hosting round dances.

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Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is not only one of the world's largest, best preserved buffalo hunting grounds, but last month it also became the latest area to receive designation under the province's Special Places 2000 program.

In a special ceremony, Environmental Protection Minister Ty Lund announced that the 1,800 acres surrounding the Head-Smashed-In interpretive centre, located west of Fort Macleod, was receiving a provincial historic resources designation under the Special Places 2000 program.

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Members from Headstart Programs across Canada have been selected to go on fact-finding missions to other communities offering the same program.

Of the 80 Headstart programs operating across the nation, and the 22 in Alberta, the Lac La Biche Regional Awasisak and Family Development Circle Association has been selected by Health Canada to swap ideas with the Headstart program in Buffalo Narrows, Sask. The Indigenous cultural exchange began on Nov. 16.