Over the years, Canada has seen many Aboriginal leaders who have made a difference at the local, regional or national level, but few, if any, have made as marked an impact at all three levels, as well as on the international stage, as George Manuel.

Manuel was born on Feb. 21, 1921, a member of the Shuswap Nation of the Neskonlith Indian Band in British Columbia. He attended Kamloops Indian Residential School until he contracted tuberculosis at the age of 12 and was sent to a TB hospital located on the Stalo reserve near Chilliwack.

When internationally acclaimed Aboriginal film-maker Loretta Todd launched the Aboriginal Media Lab (AML) on Feb. 22, she screened a 1930s Hollywood movie called The Silent Enemy, a film that gives a fictionalized account of traditional life in Northern Canada. It featured an all-Aboriginal cast.

The film was accompanied by contemporary live fusion Native music, composed and performed by Russell Wallace & Friends and was presented at the new Vancouver International Film Centre & VanCity Theatre in Vancouver.

Opening for blues legend B.B. King was something musician Brock Stonefish never dreamed possible. It was only until it happened on March 11 at a sold-out show at the Mohican North Star Casino and Bingo in Wisconsin that he believed in it all.

"I can't even put it into words how I felt opening for B.B. King," said Stonefish, 21, "It's bigger than anything I could imagine. He is one of my musical influences."

Dear Tuma:
My First Nation hasn't had a meeting in over a year now. They aren't accountable to us members in any way, shape or form. Our chief and council are elected by Customary Election Regulation. I want to know how I can shut down the band office and make them accountable. I read it on the news all the time about First Nation members shutting down band offices, therefore I want to know the right way about going about this.
Militant Indian

Before explaining Qallunology, let us first briefly touch upon a respectable branch of academia called Eskimology: the study, by others, of Inuit traditions, customs, and languages.
Anthropologists the world over have earned eminent reputations, and compiled huge volumes of works from their studies of how Inuit live in all corners of the Arctic. Numerous universities and museums around the world possess great collections of Inuit artifacts and stories.

It's no secret that movies tend to be produced in cycles. No industry feeds on itself better than the film industry. Certain years have certain themes. Remember the year of Armageddon and Deep Impact when earth-destroying comets were box office boffo? And Dante's Peak and Volcano gave geological pimples a certain cache in Hollywood within months of each other?

Artist-Art Napoleon
Album-MIYOSKAMIN
Song-Buffalo Heart
Label-Independent
Producers-Zak Cohen and Art Napoleon

He independently released his first CD in 1996. Now 10 years later, Art Napoleon's long-awaited second CD entitled MIYOSKAMIN is now available.

The release concert for Napoleon's CD was held at Camosun College in Victoria, B.C. on April 15.

Organizers are raving about how events transpired as the Little NHL Tournament made its return to Sudbury.

This year's event, held March 12 to 16, marked the 35th year the youth tournament (NHL stands for Native Hockey League) has been staged.

Only a bilingual education system that allows Inuit people to become proficient in both English and Inuktitut can make it possible for Canada to keep a commitment it made in 1993 in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

Joe Nolan wants to be the next national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), so he can make the national organization more directly accountable to First Nations grassroots people.
The 51-year-old Garden River (Ontario) First Nation citizen announced his candidacy in early April. At the moment, he and incumbent Phil Fontaine are the only declared candidates.