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When the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, many people across Saskatchewan didn't just ring in a new year, they also began a year-long celebration of the province's 100th birthday.

The province officially turns a century old on Sept. 4, but celebrations are planned for throughout the year to mark the occasion.

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Aboriginal women and girls are encouraged to enter Canada Pageants Corporation competitions, including Miss Pre-Teen (age seven to 12), Miss Teen (age 13 to 19), Miss Canada (age 20 to 26), Ms. Canada (age 27 and up) and Mrs. Canada (age 21-56). Community service and hard work are the criteria for winning.

The competitions exist to provide personal and professional opportunities for women and to showcase their accomplishments.

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Youth today face many obstacles and tough decisions in their day-to-day lives. On Dec. 16 a group of more than 250 students gathered in Yorkton to listen to the words of someone who has been exactly where they are today, and knows the price to be paid when the choices made are the wrong ones.

"I lived the life I talk to the kids about," said Lee Robert Mason, who is with Youth Warrior Programs based in Vancouver. "Drugs, alcohol, crime, gangs, I did it all."

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Sturgeon Lake First Nation is appealing a recent court judgement that struck down a provincial government policy requiring band approval before First Nations children in care can be put up for adoption.

The Dec. 10 ruling by Madame Justice Jacelyn Ann Ryan-Froslie of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench found that the province's policy contravened the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by limiting the rights of First Nations children.

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After four years of attending classes in Iqaluit, Nunavut, law students in the Akitsiraq law program of the University of Victoria, travelled to the campus on Vancouver Island for the first time to attend classes and conduct research in the law library there.

The law program is the first of its kind in Canada. The program is unique in that it offers a professional education in law by taking the education to the place where people live rather than have them come to the university.

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A new scholarship will help ground young Aboriginal artists in the fundamental skills of Northwest Coast art while exposing their work to millions of people.

The YVR Art Foundation, known for outfitting Vancouver International Airport with the work of prominent Canadian artist Bill Reid, is offering an annual scholarship of up to $5,000 to help young Aboriginal artists develop their skills in traditional or contemporary Northwest Coast art.

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The Vancouver School Board is celebrating the beginning of a process to reach an Aboriginal Enhancement Agreement designed to increase the success of Aboriginal students.

An enhancement agreement is a commitment between a school district, the local Aboriginal communities and B.C.'s Ministry of Education that highlights the importance of academic performance and the necessity to include Aboriginal culture and languages in educational programs.

The Vancouver Aboriginal Council is also involved in developing the agreement.

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On Jan. 17, Canada announced that $7.8 million will be spent over the next four years to deliver training and skills development for Aboriginal people in the Vancouver construction industry.

Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State (Sport), Stephen Owen, made the announcement at the Squamish Nation Recreation Centre on behalf of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSCD).

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The thing about being on band council is you're expected to be an expert in everything.

Solve the housing problems on reserve, the health problems, find everybody a job, create wealth for the community.

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Most people are on the run from something in the past, something they wish could have been different. Few, however, are trying to escape their very being.

It's a tough concept for most people to comprehend, but Harold Eustache knows the anguish all too well. He spent more than 50 of his 67 years trying to deny who he was, but in the end he finally accepted his reality and found peace.

Eustache is Secwepemc, a member of the Shuswap Nation, and for most of his life he wished more than anything that he wasn't.