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The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation has announced the names of the 14 outstanding individuals who will be receiving National Aboriginal Achievement Awards during the 14th annual awards gala to be held in Edmonton on March 16, 2007.

This year's recipient in the arts category will be Joane Cardinal Schubert. The Calgary-based writer, curator, lecturer, poet, artist and activist has had her artwork exhibited across the country and in 1986 was elected to the Royal Academy of Art.

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A small but important piece of Metis history has found a new home as part of the University of Saskatchewan library's special collections

A poem, handwritten by Louis Riel in his Regina jail cell just weeks before he was hanged for treason, is now part of the library collection. Riel had written the poem to his jailer, Robert Gordon on Oct. 27, 1885.

Before coming to the U of S, the poem had been in the possession of Edna Robinson of Burlington, Ont. Members of Robinson's family had found the poem while helping the 89-year-old woman move from the family home.

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Note: Alfred Lennie passed away in Feb. 2006. We print this sacred story with the permission of his wife, Julie.

I was a trapper and guide in the Northwest Territories, 200 miles north of Tulita, at a place called Lennie Lake. I lived with my wife and daughter in a little log cabin, nestled in the bushes along the lake. Many times we would see wolf packs hunting and travelling out our window. I would take my rifle, load it with a few shells and shoot a few of them, until one day, when a lone wolf changed my life.

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Organizations wishing to initiate Aboriginal arts programs have a new source of funding to access.

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is offering $100,000 to be allotted by March 31, 2007. The maximum amount of money one organization can apply for is $10,000. Al Chapman, with the Arts Branch of Alberta Community Development, is hoping that Alberta Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development will add $50,000 to the pot.

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The humble man who changed history holding an eagle feather and uttering the word 'no' to the Meech Lake Accord recently encouraged Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation to stand strong in the face of substance abuse and dysfunction.

"Harper's most important message was for us to love each other," said Marie Kappo, Elder and Community Action Group (CAG) member, which invited the leader to the northern community. "He said we should help each other and have love in the families the way it was before. Being in residential school we missed out on love," she added.

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If it was Aboriginal, artsy, or awesome, you could find it at the 13th annual Canadian Aboriginal Festival held last month in Toronto.

You could get a tattoo at the trade show, learn about the ancient game of lacross, or be blown away by the by the floor-stomping, tongue-protruding dances of the people from the Land of the Clouds-the Maori-at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards

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At press time, Sweetgrass received the names of the recipients of the 2007 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards.

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Starting from Fort Calgary, a group of Metis citizens and political leaders led a Red River cart procession to City Hall, where the Metis flag was raised in honor of the history, and present day contributions of Metis citizens to Calgary. Following the procession, amid a large crowd of Metis, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal supporters, Alderman Rick McIver proclaimed Metis Week, spanning Nov. 13 to 19, for the city of Calgary.

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People warn Bernadette Iahtail that revisiting the "60's Scoop" welfare system will result in her "just opening a can of worms."

But the president and co-founder of The Creating Hope for the Future society knows healing is needed as a result of the damaging 1960's and '70's government practice of breaking up families to place children in often non-native foster homes.

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Media flocked to North Tallcree First Nation, 45 km south of Fort Vermilion, after loose dogs killed a five-year-old boy Nov. 16.

Immediately after the incident, the band office temporarily closed to allow community members the chance to grieve and ward off further inquiries.