What took the Vancouver Police so long to capture Robert Pickton? Why weren’t the police more on top of it? What were the Vancouver Police doing during all that time?

These are but some of the questions Ucluelet local Greg Garley wants to see answered in the Pickton inquiry, which was announced earlier this month by B.C. Solicitor General Mike de Jong.

Garley was the foster brother of Mona Wilson, one of the six women Pickton was convicted of murdering and the last one he picked up.

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) announced 10 Aboriginal Student Scholarship Awards for 2010. Recipients ranged from Goose Bay, Labrador to Terrace, B.C.

The RBC has, since 1992, donated more than $1 million to 98 students in Aboriginal communities across Canada through a scholarship awards program designed to support Aboriginal youth at every stage of their education and assist Aboriginal peoples in economic self-sufficiency.

Amisk Housing Association is the subject of an RCMP investigation, and Umisk Housing Association could soon find itself following in Amisk’s footsteps. While the two associations share some directors, they are separate organizations.

Concerns with Amisk date back to 2008 and the way the organization managed its 96-unit urban Native housing projects.

It’s taken close to four decades, but a process has now been put in place that means the Mi’kmaq people in Nova Scotia will be consulted on activities in the province that have the potential to impact them. The agreement is the only one of its kind in Canada.

The Made in Nova Scotia Process was signed Aug. 31 between the Mi’kmaq, the provincial government, and the federal government.

The University of New Brunswick has awarded former Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Phil Fontaine an honorary degree. Fontaine was one of five individuals who were presented with honorary degrees at a ceremony held at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning on Sept. 23.
The event was called A Celebration of Canadian Spirit and it was held in conjunction with UNB’s 225th anniversary festivities.

Movie director James Cameron is walking a fine line between commerce and his environmental concerns. After a three-day visit to the oilsands in Alberta, and spending time with the Aboriginal communities affected most by the oil extraction activity in the northern part of the province, Cameron has called the mining efforts a great gift to Canada that requires careful management.

Cameron is the director of such blockbuster films as Avatar and Titanic, and recently called the oilsands a black eye on Canada’s image as an environmental leader.

The Far North Act has officially been passed into law in Ontario, but Aboriginal leaders believe it will only lead to uncertainty and unrest.

The Far North Act, which had been called Bill 191, went to its third and final reading in Ontario’s legislature on Sept. 23. The bill was passed following a vote of 46-26.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Mike Metatawabin issued a statement upon the bill’s passing.
“It is a disappointing day for all of us who spent tireless hours opposing Bill 191 as our opposition was obviously ignored,” Metatawabin said.

Pilot program launched
The Moose Cree First Nation will be the first community to benefit from a new partnership. The Ontario government and officials from the Right To Play program have teamed up to promote a healthy and active lifestyle for Aboriginal youth.

Jeff Ross eventually wants to return to the coaching ranks, but before doing that the 25-year-old has resumed his volleyball playing career.

Rod McCormick delivered his presentation on Indian Residential School survivors and their resiliency in front of a picture of St. Michael’s residential school at Alert Bay, B.C. The decrepit brick building stands at the centre of the small village and is still being used.

“It dominates the village. . . . It is the big centerpiece as you come into the bay,” McCormick told a roomful of journalists and academics at a presentation Sept. 24 sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Institute of Aboriginal.