Dear Editor:
While out of power, Conservatives hailing from both founding parties worked apart, and then together, ultimately to fashion a single party and a set of policies designed to bring back to Canadians an ethical and accountable government. We said we'd do things better. We'd clean up the mess. We'd treat Canadians with the respect they deserve.

Dear Editor:
I am absolutely appalled by the recent article written by Ric Dolphin in the Feb. 13 edition of the Western Standard magazine regarding Dr. Colleen Klein. The magazine article quotes an unnamed Conservative source as saying that when her husband retires as Alberta premier, she'll be "just another Indian."

Dear Editor:
I understand people that say that one group does not speak on their behalf. But who defines who is Metis and who is not? Metis National Council (MSC)? Well, I don't think that includes every Metis in Canada. For myself, I could be represented by the Assembly of First Nations or the Congress of Aboriginal People. I think every Aboriginal should voice their own concerns and forget about politics and work together. We are creating walls between each group!

The people who value freedom of thought and expression were wrestling with some tough questions this month. Does freedom of speech mean we can say anything to anyone any time we want? Is there a boundary where freedom of speech ends and the promotion of hatred begins, and if there is what should be done if someone crosses the line?

Dennis Franklin Cromarty was born on Dec. 2, 1947 in Pickle Crow , Ont. a now non-existent mining town where his father, Isaac, worked in the gold mines. Both his parents were from the north. His father was from Big Trout Lake, his mother, Eila was born in York Factory but grew up in Big Trout. The couple had nine children. Dennis was the second youngest.

The Nak'askli Band in B.C. has become the first community to take advantage of a new Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) pilot project designed to help address the shortage of available housing on reserves across the country.

In November 2005, Nak'askli Chief Leonard Thomas announced the band had signed an agreement to take part in the On-Reserve Homeownership Loan Insurance pilot project. The project is designed to give people living on reserve an opportunity to access insured mortgage financing to buy, build or renovate a home.

Like many First Nation communities across the country, there is a housing shortage on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. But the situation would be more severe if the First Nation hadn't started working on ways to help address the shortage on its own, instead of waiting for government to fill the breach.

By the time we read these words, another federal election will have been wrapped up, and we will have counted the number of Aboriginal people elected as MPs on the fingers of one hand. This election's results should unite the Indian, Inuit and Metis people of Canada in one great drive to persuade this particular Parliament to tackle a major reform in its make-up: That of getting the nation's Aboriginal peoples properly represented in Parliament.

I've been studiously word-processing away on my first novel. My working title is A Contemporary Gothic Indian Vampire Story. I know what you're thinking. "Oh God, not another Indian vampire story!" In the last little while, I've done a lot of investigation into the topic and the most important thing I've come away with from all that research is that when I go out on a date with a woman, if for some reason there should be hickeys involved at any point, I can write off the whole cost of the date as a legitimate tax expense. You can do stuff like that as long as it's research.

Manitoba's teen fiddling sensation Sierra Noble had a very busy year in 2005, recording her first CD, Spirit of the Strings, performing during the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards and travelling to Belgium and France with the Aboriginal veterans for the Aboriginal Spiritual Journey and Calling Home ceremony. Noble, who will turn 16 on Feb. 20, spends much of her time promoting Metis music, dance and culture, and also volunteers her time to efforts to have the use of landmines banned around the world.

Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?