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While the number of B.C. youth being incarcerated has declined, the proportion of Aboriginal youth in custody has more than doubled, according to a recent report.

The report, released by the Child and Youth Officer for British Columbia last month, says the number of youth being incarcerated overall has dropped from 400 in 1996/97 to 134 in 2005/06. But Aboriginal youth are now seven times more likely to be incarcerated than their non-Aboriginal counterparts, up from three times more likely in 1996/97.

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On April 25, more than 500 people gathered on Coast Salish territory at the Vancouver Art Gallery to show their support for the protest at the Six Nations community in southern Ontario near Caledonia. The rally was intended to serve as a deterrence to further police escalation against the Six Nations protesters.

On Feb. 28, members of the Six Nations community set up a camp to protest a housing development being built on their territory, land formally recognized by the Crown in the Haldimand Proclamation (1784) as Six Nations territory.

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Johnny Tootall, the latest film by award-winning filmmaker Shirley Cheechoo, has received a lot of praise since it was released last year, but not a lot of people have had an opportunity to see the film. That should all change soon, with CHUM TV set to broadcast the movie sometime within the next year and plans to sell copies of Johnny Tootall online.

The 93-minute film debuted at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto in October 2005 and has been making its way through festival circuit ever since.

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The Canada Council for the Arts has launched a new pilot program designed to give young Aboriginal artists an opportunity to learn from Elders while providing Elders with a way of passing on their knowledge to the next generation.

Grants of up to $20,000 will be awarded to Aboriginal arts organizations selected to take part in the program. The organizations will choose an Elder to work with youth, then the Elder will help choose the young people he or she will work with.

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The Office of the Saskatchewan Police Complaints Investigator has dismissed a complaint by Toronto-based actor Gregory Odjig who 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 an allegation of misconduct against the members.

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Red Sky Performance's new dance creation Shimmer is scheduled to have its world premiere on June 6 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

The work, commissioned by the Canada Dance Festival is a collaboration between artists from Canada and the Torres Straight Islands of Australia.

Shimmer was conceived by Red Sky artistic director Sandra Laronde, who also directs the piece.

Actor, dancer and choreographer Michael Greyeyes served as co-choreographer, along with Australia's Albert David.

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The recent flooding that has forced the evacuation of most of the residents of Kashechewan First Nation may also serve to speed up the process to relocate the community.

News reports state that Ontario's Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay supports a plan to move the reserve to higher ground 30 km further up the Albany River from its current location. Because it is located on a floodplain, a dike has been built around Kashechewan to keep the water at bay but it is no match for the rising waters that come when the ice breaks up each spring.

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Maurice Vellacott has resigned as chair of the Commons Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

The Conservative MP for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin was a controversial choice to chair the committee because of his support for two Saskatoon police officers convicted of unlawful confinement in 2004 after dropping an Aboriginal man off on the outskirts of the city in sub-zero temperatures, but it was his suggestion that Supreme Court judges believe they have god-like powers that put him in a position where he was forced to resign.

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The Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres (OFIFC) will be receiving $1 million from the province to help pay for renovations to 23 friendship centres across Ontario.

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Joseph Boyden's First World War novel Three Day Road has earned the author the Canadian Author Association MOSAID Technologies Inc. Award for Fiction.

Boyden, who divides his time between Northern Ontario and Louisiana, is of Irish, Scottish and Metis heritage. In Three Day Road, as with his previous book, a collection of short stories entitled Born With a Tooth, he explores his Aboriginal roots, populating both with strong Aboriginal characters.