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On Aug. 8, Aboriginal lawyer Gary E. Corbiere, 41, drowned in Lake Simcoe in Ontario while out on his boat. He had a cottage on Georgina Island and travelled frequently to the mainland to work in Toronto.

His body was found on Aug. 12, and a memorial service was held in Newmarket on Aug. 16, followed by a funeral in Sault Ste. Marie on Aug. 19.

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On Sept. 6, Harry W. Daniels passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Daniels was many things to many people-an actor, a storyteller, a teacher, an author, and a politician. But the accomplishment long-time friend Tony Belcourt believes Daniels was most proud of was his work to have the Metis people of Canada recognized in the Constitution.

Belcourt, now president of the Metis Nation of Ontario, first met Daniels 36 years ago and remembers that he demonstrated the tenacity that would help to make him a strong leader for the Metis people.

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Drew Hill, the founder of environmental and energy consulting business The Abor Group (TAG) has inspiring words for all First Nations people.

"We can do it."

While working for Indian Affairs, the Six Nations of the Grand River man watched multi-million dollar projects contracted out to non-Native firms and became frustrated seeing the money flow through the reserves, but not stay in the communities. That prompted him to make a change.

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You can find a little bit of home-with an upscale twist-the next time you visit the nation's capital. Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro is about to celebrate its first anniversary. Located on Murray Street in Ottawa's trendy Byward Market, the restaurant is owned and operated by husband and wife team Phoebe and Warren Sutherland.

Phoebe is a James Bay Cree from Mistissini Lake in northern Quebec. Warren was born in Jamaica but moved to the United States when he was a teenager.

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When you think of Aboriginal food, what comes to mind? Bannock? Pemmican?

Many people might be surprised to discover that many of the foods we consume each and every day have Aboriginal roots, and were being cultivated and consumed by America's Indigenous people long before the first European foot was set on this side of the Atlantic.

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

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A new student data system being brought online by Saskatchewan Learning will help the province and First Nation departments of education to ensure all school-aged students are in school and are getting the programs and supports they need to succeed.

The new system will include data on all school-aged children in Saskatchewan, both on-and off-reserve, but it's unclear whether all First Nation schools will want to take advantage of the new database.

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A two-year study has revealed high levels of contaminants in the wild meat and fish consumed by the people of Grassy Narrows and Wabauskang First Nations.

One hundred and eighty samples of animals that include otter, beaver, muskrat, moose, rabbit, deer, marten, jackfish and pickerel were collected. Lab results for 93 per cent of the samples collected show high levels of mercury, arsenic, cadmium, lead, tin or other heavy metals.

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Not much has changed in Kelly Lake since the CBC did a 1993 documentary exposing hard living conditions in their community and the lack of essential services, said Lyle Letendre, president of the Kelly Lake Metis Settlement Society. Except more Elders have passed and the people who remain are more disheartened.

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NASIVVIK

Harry Daniels, Metis leader and spokesman extraordinaire, has passed away. I was blessed to know Harry well, and associated with him excellently during the Aboriginal constitutional conferences of the 1980s. The defining ingredient in our relationship was the sharing of a lot of intense non-seriousness, in the backdrop of solemn business itself; of defining, and defending, Aboriginal rights in the nation's Constitution.