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Sun on the Mountains, Book 1

The Story of Blue Eye

Tyler Trafford

Thistledown Press Ltd., 2004

$18.95; 349 pp. (sc)

Not since I devoured saga after saga by that great chronicler of the American West, Zane Grey, 45 years ago have I enjoyed a story of the wide open spaces so much.

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ALERT BAY-Namgis First Nation and the Whe-La-La-U Area Council of northern Vancouver Island are criticizing an RCMP investigation and coroner's inquest into the February 2003 death of Lorraine Jacobson.

Jacobson was shot to death on Feb. 28, 2003 by Cst. Russ Channin in Alert Bay. The inquest concluded the first week of October.

Namgis and the council say the entire process lacked independence and they can't trust any findings where police investigate police.

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Harley Desjarlais, the president of the Metis Provincial Council of British Columbia (MPCBC), has been suspended by the organization's board of directors, though the reasons for the suspension are not clear. A notice appeared on the MPCBC Web site several days before the MNC was scheduled to attend a special session with the first ministers on Health in Ottawa. As president of the MPCBC, Desjarlais was also a member of the five-person Metis National Council (MNC) board of governors. At the national level he held the health portfolio for the MNC.

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The media is a very powerful tool.

Whether it is in the form of television, movies or the Internet, just to name a few, it has the ability to shape our perceptions of the world and colour our views of the people around us.

In the video Expressions of Aboriginal Youth, three youth seize the opportunity to use the camera to express their frustrations over the racism they have encountered throughout their lives as they embark on their own quest to find pride in their Aboriginal identities.

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Jill Paquette's self-titled debut album garnered awards for Outstanding Christian Recording and for Outstanding Aboriginal Recording at the 2004 Western Canadian Music Awards on Oct. 3.

The emerging artist beat out the likes of Burnt (Project 1-The Avenue); Kimberly Dawn (I'm Going Home); Eagle & Hawk (Mother Earth); and Wayne Lavallee (Green Dress) in the Outstanding Aboriginal category.

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On Sept. 23 the First Nations within School District No. 58 attended a signing ceremony and feast marking a new Aboriginal education enhancement agreement (EA).

The gymnasium at the Coquihalla Middle School in Merritt was set up to accommodate approximately 80 school district staff and several Aboriginal groups.

The EA involves all five local bands and the Metis association, as well as the Upper Similkameen First Nation from Princeton.

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The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) is taking a new approach to providing technical training to the province's First Nations, bringing both training and the technology needed to use it out to the communities and letting the communities call the shots.

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The future of natural resource development will be the hot topic during the fourth annual Resource Expo at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver. From Nov. 7 to 10, Aboriginal, business and government leaders will come together to discuss the future of mining, energy and forestry on Aboriginal lands.

Hosted by the Native Investment and Trade Association (NITA), the event provides an opportunity to explore potential business opportunities in each of the three sectors.

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Twenty-one bands in the Sto:lo Nation celebrated an addition to their land holdings on Oct. 23, a reserve that they will share jointly and equally.

Deanna Honeyman, leasing officer for the Sto:lo Nation lands department, said "This is probably one of the first times something like that has actually happened, that 21 First Nations actually got together to have one parcel of land be added to their reserve as joint owners."

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Gerald McMaster, a Siksika member who grew up on the Red Pheasant reserve in Saskatchewan, occupies a senior position at the newly opened National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in the United States capital city.

Previously, McMaster was the curator-in-charge of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Que. He is also a well-known artist.

Now, as special assistant to the director for mall exhibitions, McMaster has opened the doors for other Canadian Aboriginal people and communities to be a part of this ambitious American project.