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Over the years, British Columbia has offered up its share of great Aboriginal rodeo cowboys - Kenny McLean, the late Bob Gottfriedson, brothers Ben and Jay and sister Mellisa Louis, Shawn Henry, and Jack Palmatier just to name a few. Now, Shane Marlon Williams of the L'il'Wat First Nation could be ready to add his name to this list as his star rises at the rodeo.

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The plan this year was to have teams from as far away as northern Ontario make the trip to Prince George for the fifth annual All-Native Youth Hockey Tournament.

Organized by the United Native Nations - Local 112, this year'?s tourney used five ice surfaces and attracted 34 teams from around British Columbia. Out of province teams were listed in the preliminary schedule, but as the three-day event began on March 31, it was all teams from within the home province who took to the ice.

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Aspiring Aboriginal songwriters will have a chance to showcase their best efforts during the first North American Aboriginal Songwriting Contest.

The contest is open to Aboriginal people of Metis, First Nations, Inuit or Hawaiian heritage who are residents of Canada or the United States.

All songs entered in the contest must have original music and lyrics and must not have been previously published or performed in public or recorded for commercial purposes.

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The Ministry for Children and Families in British Columbia is looking for Aboriginal people willing to open their homes to Aboriginal children in care.

With 30 per cent of the children in care in B.C. of Aboriginal ancestry, the numbers of Aboriginal families to care for them are falling short.

Stan Parenteau is deputy director of Aboriginal services in the child protection division of the ministry for Children and Families in British Columbia.

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A magnificent thunderbird constructed of Baltic birch and powder-coated aluminum soars above a serene pool lined with river rocks and full with a West Coast canoe. They adorns the newly opened international passage of the Vancouver International Airport.

The thunderbird is Hetux, the creation of artist Connie Watts, which took six months to complete, employing Jason Godding as production assistant, as well as Greg Simpson, Chris George and Jeff Williams.

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Life here on the western edge of this beautiful country called Canada is untypically quiet - too quiet. Indian Country is getting ready for a hot summer. (Yeah, I know, so what's new?)

The New Democratics are taking their last gasps at running this province into the ground. Every other province in Canada is getting its financial house in order and moving towards balanced budgets. The NDP in B.C. seems to think that it can spend their way out of a depressed economy. It didn't work in Ontario under Bob Rae's NDP government and it won't work here.

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TORONTO - The Royal Ontario Museum unveils a new exhibition of art and culture from the Heiltsuk Nation on June 21 in the museum's Gallery of Indigenous Peoples.

The exhibit features works by present-day artists, and artifacts from the museum's anthropological collections of orthwest Coast art. The exhibition includes an historical overview with a discussion of the impact of European contact on the Heiltsuk people.

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The Healing Our Spirit B.C. First Nations AIDS Society and the Ktunaxa/Kinbasket Tribal Council hosted the fourth annual Aboriginal HIV/AIDS conference in Cranbrook on March 26 to 29. The conference theme was Honouring our Children and Families and its primary objective was to promote cultural awareness and create supportive networks for families infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

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The languages of Native people living in British Columbia will be both celebrated and promoted across the province this fall as the province holds Aboriginal Languages Day on Oct. 14.

In a proclamation by the provincial legislature, the government recognized 'the important contribution of Aboriginal languages in British Columbia to the culture and heritage of the province.'

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VICTORIA - Nuu-chah-nulth history and culture are being celebrated at the Royal British Columbia Museum with the exhibit 'Out of the Mist.' But you have to be quick to catch it, because the exhibit closes on May 31.

In conjunction with the exhibit, a number of cultural events have been held, allowing the Nuu-chah-nulth people a chance to bring information about their people to life for museum visitors.