Jani Lambert is disappointed that her aunt’s dedication to teaching has not been recognized.

Lambert’s aunt, Mamie Bernard, is one of five teachers along with the principal and a teacher’s assistant, who did not get their contracts renewed for September 2010 at the Paul First Nation school. Benard has been teaching at Paul school for over eight years working on a year-to-year contract. She also spent two and a half years as vice-principal.

“My aunt is passionate. She works very hard and the kids are all very fond of her,” said Lambert.

Leanne (Crowchief) Sleigh offered her moccasins “for all those people who walked the path before us” after she shared her experience of attending Indian day school.

“Today I stand healed from the many hurts,” she said. 

But it’s been a long spiritual journey of accepting and trying to forgive both her parents and others in her community. It’s a journey that many survivors still haven’t embarked on and some talked about looking for their abusers on the street, wanting to exact justice.

World Chicken Dance Championships held

Officials with the Métis Nation of Alberta are refusing to comment on the defeat of a special resolution that, if accepted, would have seen more than half their members losing voting privileges in the organization.

Repeated attempts by Sweetgrass, both written and verbal, for an interview with MNA President Audrey Poitras have met with no response. Charity Sokolan, with MNA’s corporate communications, stated in an e-mail that “I have forwarded your request to President Poitras and our CAO.”

A Saskatchewan teenage hockey player and his coach have been honoured for their performances in 2009.

Aboriginal history has come alive on paper with the help of the creativity of young writers.

On June 15th, young Aboriginal writers from across Canada gathered with leaders and the local community at Regina’s MacKenzie Art Galley to celebrate the winners of a national Aboriginal youth writing challenge. This year’s Historica-Dominion Institute’s 6th Annual Canada Aboriginal Writing Challenge was a huge success, according to the institute’s executive vice president, Marc Chalifoux. The competition saw a record number of entries submitted from every province and territory.

On June 2, the federal government approved another $4 million federal grant to the First Nations University of Canada(FNUC), and shortly afterward FNUC officials met with Saskatchewan chiefs to approve concrete plans to restructure.

Just as the $3 million granted to FNUC on March 31, these funds come with a stipulation– they must go through the University of Regina and used solely on FNUC academic programming from September 2010 to March 31, 2011.

Within the extravagant and exciting atmosphere of the Whitecap Dakota Dunes Casino, Aboriginal graduates were honored at a banquet on June 5, after finishing a variety of post-secondary programs at the University of Saskatchewan.

Most of those gathered at the Dakota Dunes banquet room included the graduates themselves, First Nations leaders, post-secondary coordinators, and friends and family of graduates.

Using hands that were once tied, Sonia Wuttunee of the Red Pheasant First Nation told her story through an interpreter of the abuse she suffered at R.J.D. Williams School for the Deaf in Saskatoon.

Wuttunee, with twin sister Donna there to support her, was among 15 people to take part in an invitation-only sharing circle hosted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on June 16, the first day of the TRC’s inaugural national event, at the Forks, in Winnipeg.

Some children watch intently as snails perform a water ballet, while another youth exclaims “I just touched a leech!” For Ducks Unlimited Educator Heidi Juul, that’s what outdoor classrooms and initiatives like Project Webfoot are all about.

“Wetlands are in trouble,” she said. “And part of our program is outreach to children who can experience these types of wetlands. We have field trips and class presentations, and the kids have a lot of fun.”