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Problem gamblers now have another option for treatment in northern Alberta. The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) opened a residential treatment program at the Northern Addictions Centre in Grande Prairie on Jan. 3.

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Alberta's much loved Lt. Gov. Lois Hole passed away on Jan. 6 leaving a legacy of caring and compassion in the province and some large shoes to fill for the next person appointed to the position by Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Hole was known as much for the hugs she gave as she was for the work she did to promote libraries and literacy. She was a great friend to the Aboriginal community, and arguably the only lieutenant governor since Ralph Steinhauer to embrace the Aboriginal community and their issues.

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The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has received a submission from the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) in an appeal involving the sexual assault of a 12-year-old Cree girl.

The judge granted the organization intervenor status in November. The women's association argued on behalf of gender equality rights under Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"It was never applied at the trial level so we want to make sure that they do take it into consideration," said Beverley Jacobs, NWAC president.

BANGKOK, Thailand-A village of 181 people was saved from the Asian tsunami because of an ancient lesson passed along the generations. The Elders of a community known as the Morgan sea gypsies say if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity. When the sea drained from some of the beaches along the southern coast, some Thais went out to pick up the fish left behind, but not the gypsies. They fled to the mountains of South Surin Island, saving themselves from the giant waves that killed 150,000-plus people on Dec. 26.

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The Horse Lake Thunder must keep winning some playoff games if they have any hopes of seeing former National Hockey League star Theo Fleury in their lineup this season.

The Thunder, a senior team in Alberta's North Peace Hockey League, signed Fleury, a Metis, in early January.

But just hours before he was set to play his first game with the Thunder versus the host Grande Prairie Athletics on Jan. 6, Hockey Alberta ruled the 36-year-old Fleury would be ineligible to suit up for the team.

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Alberta instituted a smoking ban in all provincial jails on Sept. 30, 2004. At the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Institution, located on the northeast edge of Edmonton, that ban has been extended to include the burning of Sweetgrass.

Andrew Reid says that decision means freedom of religion is now something reserved for only the non-Aboriginal people in Alberta's correctional facilities and he's made up his mind to do something about it.

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Andy Scott picked the coldest day of the winter so far to pay his first visit to Alberta as minister of Indian and Northern Affairs.

Though the temperature in Calgary was the equivalent of minus 40 Celsius with the windchill, Scott got a fairly warm reception from Alberta chiefs during a press conference on Jan. 12 because he was there to announce more than $7 million in economic development funding.

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There are no Indian cliches in this comic strip; you won't see the noble savage clad in buckskin and feathers with his hair blowing in the wind.

Instead, Lynn Johnston, the creator of For Better or For Worse, invented the realistic yet fictional Ojibway village of Mtigwaki to show life as it is in the far north, where children love cookies and families live in houses with heat, electricity, Internet access and satellite TV.

Union of Ontario Indians Grand Council Chief John Beaucage loves For Better or For Worse.

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NASIVVIK

Canada's Constitution recognizes three collectivities of Aboriginal people by name-Indian, Inuit, and Metis. Each of these names has a history, a fractured regard by others, and a present-day political correctness. Political correctness is not always respected and sometimes even deliberately assaulted, so it seems worthwhile to look at the integrity of these identifications.

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Pro Bono

Dear Tuma:

Recently, my home was broken into and they caught the young punks that did it. I was hoping to go to court and see them get jail time but the judge said that they were young offenders and needed rehabilitation. Why do we coddle these punks who know we will give them a slap on the wrist when they do wrong. I say "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." A little old time hang 'em high justice will protect us from the little thieves, but the Young Offenders Act prevents us from doing anything to these little "Oliver Twists."