A storm of protest has greeted the jailing of an Algonquin leader who defended his territory against a uranium mining exploration company.
Bob Lovelace, former chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and a negotiator in recent mediation talks with the Ontario government, is a political prisoner, said AAFN spokesman Jack LaPointe.
The provincial government failed to consult his community before licensing Frontenac Ventures's activities on unceded Algonquin territory that is currently the subject of negotiations with Ontario and Canada.

Audit into Indian Affairs pending

Support to Aboriginal students at the Okanagan College will be coming from Health Minister George Abbott with a $302, 000 in funding.
The funding will support two programs with $49,000 going towards increasing the number of nursing students of Aboriginal ancestry and improving the quality of nursing care in Aboriginal communities.

Following a landmark year, where two Treaties were signed and approved by both First Nations and Government, the B.C. government is promising to continue to make progress.
"History has taught us that we all move forward by moving beyond the positions that have held us back." said Lt. Gov. Steven Point in the Throne Speech.
"That is the essence of your government's effort to build a new relationship with First Nations."

The young female police officer doesn't get it.
"I graduated from OPC (Ontario Police College) right beside those OPP officers," she says.
"I have the exact same training, I do the exact same job, why can I not have the exact same supplies and detachment and equipment that will keep me safe and the community safe?"

Craig Benson's involvement with child welfare didn't end when he became an adult, and now that his children are in care he plans to work hard to provide for them, change his life, and stay hopeful he will get them back.
For 31 year-old Benson, growing up as a permanent ward of the government meant rarely seeing his home, Alexis First Nation.
He grew up in foster homes and in youth care facilities, he said. At a workshop last weekend, hosted by the Creating Hope Society, Benson began to look even deeper at how his life is still being spent in the government systems.

First Nations Child and Family service agencies will begin to receive an initial $15 million from an agreement with the Department of Indian Affairs set to be released this month.
The agreement was signed last April with the federal, provincial governments and First Nation leaders in Alberta. The funding is supposed to help First Nation Child and Family deliver their newly adopted Alberta Response Model as part of the province's input to the agreement.

On Nov. 28, 2007 the members of Saskatchewan's Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) suffered a great loss when former chief James Miles Venne passed away.
Venne was born at Hall Lake, Sask., just west of La Ronge, on April 14, 1918. His father, Roderick, died when Venne was still a young child, and his mother, Annie, did all she could to care for her children on her own. Then the opportunity arose for Annie to send her children to All Saints residential school, where their ability to be fed would no longer be dependent on whether or not she had been successful in trapping rabbits.

The latest Canadian census report says Aboriginal people are the youngest and fastest growing population in Canada and many organizations believe that Aboriginal people may be the answer to the skill shortage in the trades and particularly in construction.
"We knew the skill shortage was coming and now it's here. It's such an advantage, this skill shortage, for Aboriginal people wanting a well-paying career," said Kelly Lindsay, president and chief Executive Officer for the Aboriginal Human Resource Council (AHRC).

The Lloydminster Native Friendshop Centre (LNFC) extended an open invitation to the Lloydminster community to attend five cross cultural workshops held from October 2007 to January 2008.
Doris Lewis, LNFC community and cultural resource worker, explained that "the goal of the workshops was to help close cultural gaps and foster a powerful exchange of traditional knowledge and understanding."
"We are hoping to see Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultures coming together.