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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.

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PRO BONO

Dear Tuma:

I had my eyes enucleated three or four years ago and have been experiencing excruciating pain ever since. I am getting the feeling that the doctor who did the surgery must have made a mistake. Is it too late to do anything? I'm getting really depressed because not only do I have to deal with my blindness but also the pain in my eye. I feel as though I'm getting the run around from this doctor.

Seeing Red

Dear Seeing Red:

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THE URBANE INDIAN

Not that long ago I was at a conference in Montreal on traditional knowledge, or as its affectionately known around our circles-TK. And as it drew to an end, we were all given a button to put on our jackets. It said "Mais avez-vous paye' l'artiste?" Translated it means "But have you paid the artist?" Deep, philosophical, almost religious words for a freelance writer like myself.

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Silver Wave Records' recently released album Many Blessings features 15 songs that showcase the diversity of today's contemporary Native American music, with styles and influences originating from all four corners of the Americas.

The songs on the CD run the gamut from New Age to jazz to rock melded with Native American rhythms, themes and soul.

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If you missed it the first time, don't miss it now. Richard Van Camp's The Lesser Blessed, first published in 1996 to rave reviews as a powerful first novel has been re-issued by Douglas & McIntyre.

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Sun on the Mountains, Book 1

The Story of Blue Eye

By Tyler Trafford

Thistledown Press Ltd., 2004

$18.95; 349 pages (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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Kinnie Starr might look delicate, but looks can be deceiving. During a recent show at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre she told the audience if they remained in their seats they would be "asked to leave." Everyone laughed, but they stood up as instructed, because they knew she wasn't kidding.

"I'm not known for being polite," Starr said in a pre-show interview. "I respect people, but I don't hold my tongue."

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In a classic case of irony, the community of Kwicksutaineuk First Nation, in which the water is undrinkable and the houses are unlivable, rests on the shores of a place called Health Bay.

Health Bay is located in a remote area on Gilford Island near the northern tip of Vancouver Island accessible only by float plane or boat.