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Yvette Nolan is often told to get over past persecutions inflicted on her Native culture. But the Native artist says she cannot forget the abused and downtrodden around her.

So, she has decided not to get over it. The outspoken Yukon playwright is speaking out about the injustices she witnesses daily. With her direct style, Nolan boldly seeks to promote understanding and healing.

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What plebiscite?

The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council has a bit of a problem with B.C. In Focus, the citizen's group which is running its own unofficial referendum on the Nisga'a final agreement.

The tribal council issues a press release which advised the citizen's group to play the game by the rules, rather than trying to make up their own, saying if they don't like what the duly elected government is doing they should get ready to make a change in the next election.

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Canadian National has awarded three Aboriginal scholarships for 1999.

All three are from Western Canada: Russel Halpin, studying arts and sciences at Calgary's Mount Royal College; Suzanne Shukin, a student in the criminal justice program at Lethbridge (Alta.) Community College, and Gary Campo, a law student at the University of Victoria.

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The Ditidaht First Nation has come to the rescue of their salmon, decimated from decades of irresponsible logging practices.

Joining traditional with scientific knowledge, the Ditidaht Nation officially opened a spawning side channel where the Caycuse River once flowed.

Tsuk-si-tay (the place behind) is a 1.3 km-long salmon spawning side channel fed from an underground spring on the south side of Nitinaht Lake.

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Dear Editor:

The current dispute between the British Columbia government and the Native Indians over the logging of "Crown land" will probably end up in the courts. The first thing that the B.C. government will have to do is prove that it has the title to the "Crown land." This could be very difficult to prove, if not impossible.

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To:ske - It's true

The recent confrontations over Mi'kmaq fishing in the east and Native logging in British Columbia have shown just how strong the prejudices against our people run among the immigrants to our territories who call themselves Canadians. People show their true nature in times like these, and right now it seems that the heart of whiteness is a very cold and hard place. When it comes to attitudes about Indigenous people, this is a country with a pretty thin veneer of toleration hiding an ugly mass of racism.

Page 1

The third and final stage of the Alberni Indian Residential School trial has begun in Vancouver as the remaining plaintiffs fight for compensation from the United Church and the federal government.

The action, which began in Nanaimo almost three years ago, is expected to last until the summer of 2000.

Plaintiffs will tell the court what has happened to them since they left AIRS, and how the abuses they suffered there continue to affect them and their families.

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To:ske - It's true

These days, there's a lot of talk going around in the city about people like us. The talk is that people like us are close minded and brainwashed by the Indian Act; we're racists; we're backwards and insensitive. We are "internally colonized." We're from Indian reserves and we don't trust outsiders. Worst of all, we don't like it when Indians marry whites.

Page 2

After two days of grueling testimony in a Victoria courtroom, Art Thompson made an out-of-court settlement with lawyers representing former employees of the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS).

During the two days of testimony, the noted Nuu-chah-nulth artist described how he was "physically, sexually, and culturally assaulted" while a student at the notorious residential school.

Thompson's evidence against six former employees of the federal government- and United Church of Canada-operated school went uncontested by lawyers for the defense.

Page 2

Gordon Wilson, British Columbia's Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, says Gordon Campbells' plan for a province-wide referendum is insulting, unethical, and will force First Nations to commit acts of civil disobedience.

"To suggest he's going to hold a referendum without having a clear understanding of what the question would be, but that it's going to be loosely worded around equality, presupposes that the status quo provides some level of equity or equality for First Nations which is ridiculous," said Minister Wilson.