The Office of the Saskatchewan Police Complaints Investigator has dismissed a complaint by Toronto-based actor Gregory Odjig.

Odjig had accused two members of the Saskatoon Police Service of targeting him because he is Aboriginal.

Odjig held a news conference on Nov. 9, 2005 during which he made allegation so misconduct against the members.

The provincial government will be consulting people in the north about whether a law that exempts northern employees from earning overtime pay for extra hours worked needs to be changed.

The Northern Exemption law, enacted in 1955, exempts employees working north of Township 62 from the hours of work and overtime provisions of the Labour Standards Act. The communities of La Ronge, Creighton and Uranium City and a 10-kilometre area around each community are not covered by the exemption.

The provincial government will be consulting people in the north about whether a law that exempts northern employees from earning overtime pay for extra hours worked needs to be changed.

The Northern Exemption law, enacted in 1955, exempts employees working north of Township 62 from the hours of work and overtime provisions of the Labour Standards Act. The communities of La Ronge, Creighton and Uranium City and a 10-kilometre area around each community are not covered by the exemption.

The teenager charged in a triple murder that took place on Montreal Lake Cree Nation on March 2, 2005 has pleaded guilty.

The identity of the 18-year-old, who was 17 when the crime was committed, is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The accused had orginally been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in connection with the killings but pleaded guilty to three charges of second degree murder on May 23.

Quinton Lloyd Bitternose is facing life in prison after being found guilty for the murder of Wayne Friday.

The 12-person jury in the case found Bitternose guilty on May 16. The first-degree murder charge brings with it an automatic sentence of life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.

Friday was abducted from a home in Regina on Nov. 20, 2004. His naked body was found on Muscowpeetung First Nation later that day. He had been beaten and shot twice.

Residential school survivors are one step closer to receiving their share of a $1.9 billion compensation package now that the federal cabinet has put its stamp of approval on plans for the pay out.

That approval finalizes the agreement-in-principle announced in November 2005 but the plan must be approved in nine provincial courts and a five-month opt-out period must pass before the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement will come into effect.

Despite having commissioned a report on "the pros and cons of membership" in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) on April 27, the board of directors of the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) decided they will not go it alone.

The decision was revealed during the spring legislative assembly of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) in Prince Albert on May 30. The AUCC had imposed a June 14 deadline on FNUC to provide proof that reforms recommended by a task force last year would be implemented.

The trouble-plagued Metis Nation-Saskatchewan (MNS) has suffered another blow with the announcement that the federal government won't be renewing its contract with Metis Employment and Training of Saskatchewan Inc. (METSI), the MNS organization responsible for providing education and training opportunities to Metis people.

Since 1999, METSI had been operating as an Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreement (AHRDA) holder under the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy, designed to improve access to jobs for Aboriginal people.

High school students in northern Saskatchewan have a new tool at their disposal to help them make plans for their post-secondary education.

The Saskatchewan Centennial Canoe Quest was the big winner when the 17th annual Saskatchewan Tourism Awards of Excellence were handed out in Saskatoon on April 6.
The centennial project, which saw 30 teams of modern-day voyageurs retrace an historic trade route along the Churchill and Sturgeon-Weir Rivers, took home two awards-best promotional marketing campaign for an event or festival with a budget over $20,000, and the Spirit of Saskatchewan Award.