As accountability questions arise again and plans for more rhetoric and political posturing are being prepared, let us try to keep things from getting silly this time around.

Knowing the world of Indian Affairs as well as we do, we believe this must all begin with someone saying the things that everybody knows but nobody talks about.

Elsie Knott made history when she became the first woman in Canada to be elected as chief of a First Nation. While that feat earned Knott a place in the history books, she chose to take on a leadership role not to make a name for herself, but to improve the lives of the people in her community.

Knott was born Elsie Marie Taylor in 1922. She grew up on Curve Lake First Nation, located just north of Peterborough in southeastern Ontario. At the age of 15, she married Cecil Knott and the couple had three children.

It was truly a wet and wild year for Jeremy Brown in 2005, who spent five months of it travelling the waterways of Canada, the United States and Mexico.

As the Aboriginal tourism sector continues to grow, so does the need for Aboriginal interpreters. These positions would be filled by people of Aboriginal decent who have the desire to tell the Aboriginal story and can do so in two new heritage sites, including Metis Crossing in northeastern Alberta and Blackfoot Crossing in the south.

Dear Readers: I must say sorry for not having any recent columns available. I will do my best not to have this situation happen again. My sincere apologies and here is this month's column.

Dear Tuma:
I'm looking for a lawyer and was told to talk to you. A family member is in jail and the Legal Aid lawyer is not working to get him out. Can you help out? How much does a lawyer costs?
Legal Aid Is Not Enough

Open the pages of any Arctic book or journal and the tortured spellings of Inuit names leap out like bad captions in a foreign language movie. To an Inuk reader, coming across such names in print is like having to negotiate, with great care and caution, through patches of brittle, treacherous, unavoidable rough ice.

Ponder this: You write something that explores a unique aspect of a culture or society in an interesting, fun and critical context. However, in the journey to bring that exploration to the masses, it first has to be filtered through a process that could potentially rob it of some of its originality and reality. It's called editing. You may have heard of it.

Artist-Andrea Menard
Album-Simple Steps
Song-Enough Room
Label-Independent
Producer-Robert Walsh

Andrea Menard gained many fans and garnered a lot of attention when she released her first album, The Velvet Devil, in 2002. The CD featured songs from her one-woman play of the same name and helped establish her as one of Canada's finest jazz singers.

The National Aboriginal Achievement Awards gala was held in Vancouver on Jan. 27 with local performers dominating the stage show that served to honor 14 Inuit, Metis or First Nations people who have excelled in a variety of areas and categories.

Comic performer Skeena Reece of Prince Rupert brought the house down with her unique take on the story of contact with the European "discoverers" of North America.

The Sto:lo Nation's CarrieLynn Victor and Theresa Point, known together as Rapsure Risin', gave an enthusiastic demonstration of their hip-hop talent.

The 2006 All Native Basketball Tournament in Prince Rupert, B.C. was one of the most thrilling in its 47-year history, as all four division finals weren't decided until the final minute of each game. And the best was saved for last, as Hydaburg, Alaska made a tremendous comeback to hold on to its senior men's crown, their sixth consecutive, tying the record held by Kitamaat, B.C.