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The Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) has voted to approve a multi-million dollar deal with the Vancouver Port Authority that will make way for participation in the port's megaport expansion.

"Almost 90 per cent voted in favour of the agreement," Chief Kim Baird said the morning after the Nov. 29 vote. About 85 per cent of the band's 330 members voted. "It was a pretty clear approval, that's for sure."

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People travelled from New York and Boston, from Toronto and Ottawa. They came from Alaska, from across British Columbia and as far away as Thailand. Organizers of the Healing Ourselves-Healing the Human Family conference held Nov. 18 to 21 in Vancouver were expecting 150 delegates, but saw more than 300 participants in Saturday's activities.

The conference, presented by Four Worlds International, the Squamish Nation and the Chief Dan George Memorial Foundation, offered a variety of workshops in all aspects of health and healing.

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The 13th annual Vancouver International Storytelling Festival entertained and delighted audiences from Nov. 19 to 21 and boasted a wide array of international voices and an excellent variety of Aboriginal storytellers and performers, including David Campbell, Wayne Lavallee, Skeena Reece, and Kinnie Starr.

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It's an intense role that would try even the most experienced of actors: a young soldier is convicted of raping and killing 23 women during a racially charged civil war, only to be rescued from the hangman's rope by a victim's grieving mother to become her slave.

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In the 2004 All Native basketball qualifying tournament, the back door was slammed shut by defending champs.

All four champions of the tournament held in Prince Rupert at the end of November went undefeated, snuffing any thoughts anybody might have had of a glory team rising from the losers' bracket.

And, despite losing two of the three finals they reached, the village of Kitkatla was the biggest winner, with three of their teams advancing to the big tournament in February 2005

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If Aboriginal languages are to survive and thrive, their usage can't be limited to the classroom. They must be used, read and heard in literature, in the arts and in all forms of media.

This was one of the conclusions that came out of a unique conference held at the En'owkin Centre Nov. 26 to 28 that brought together Aboriginal storytellers, writers, media professionals, performers, musicians and language advocates from across the country. Joining them were representatives from government and other agencies involved in funding language preservation efforts.

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A unique school on the Tsleil-Waututh Nation's main reserve takes in the toughest cases and comes up with remarkable results.

"These kids have been suspended from every alternative education program going," said Tom Wall, the school's principle and one of its teachers. "We tell them they have power over their own life."

In its second year, the Tsleil-Waututh school has 18 students, from kindergarten to Grade 12, and it teaches according to the standard provincial curriculum, but students get to set their own pace. And they get to choose what grade they're in.

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Smoke began billowing from the rear of Elizabeth Apartments in Prince Rupert at about 11 a.m. Nov. 10. Within an hour, flames engulfed large parts of the complex. By 5 p.m., the building was a write-off.

"I was inside the apartment by myself. I was getting ready to go the doctor when I looked out my bedroom and the flame shot out before me," said Clara Ridley, 55, who was sharing an apartment with her daughter, son-in-law, and their two young children.

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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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Less than two months after receiving the Order of Canada, Nisga'a Elder Reverend Canon Rod Robinson, a spiritual, community and political leader who successfully fought for self-government, died Dec. 1 after a lengthy illness.

Nelson Leeson, president of Nisga'a Lisims Government and close friend of the Nisga'a Elder, said that Robinson was a legend in his own time whose life's work left a legacy of hope, belief in humanity and a belief in the Nisga'a people.