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THE URBANE INDIAN

On July 12, an official Ontario inquiry into the death of Native protester Dudley George opened. Dudley was an unassuming Ojibway man who was better with a joke than with a political manifesto. From what I understand, he was not the type of man who made a regular habit of upsetting the status quo or rocking the political boat. He was more interested in visiting with his family than having guns pointed at him. That's easy to understand. But as the old adage goes, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. And it killed him.

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Emergency plans are like having insurance-preparing them isn't seen as being priority until you find yourself needing them.

Last summer, many First Nation communities in B.C. learned firsthand the importance of having emergency plans in place. The province experienced its worst year ever for forest fires. By the end of the summer more than 2,500 wildfires had been recorded.

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Keith Maracle has been working in construction all his life and has been inspecting houses in First Nation communities for close to 25 years. He's well aware of the problems that exist with on-reserve housing, and he and other inspectors have joined together to try and make improvements.

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Emergency plans are like having insurance-preparing them isn't seen as being priority until you find yourself needing them.

Last summer, many First Nation communities in B.C. learned firsthand the importance of having emergency plans in place. The province experienced its worst year ever for forest fires. By the end of the summer more than 2,500 wildfires had been recorded.

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Chief and council of the Fort Nelson First Nation are offering $100,000 for information that leads to a conviction in the 1997 murder of Loretta Capot-Blanc.

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On Aug. 14, Kathy King dedicated a garden to the memory of murdered women, those whose remains were found on Robert Pickton's pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C. and those whose lifeless bodies were callously dispatched to the fields and ditches surrounding Edmonton, Kathy's daughter among them. Cara King was found dead in a canola field in September 1997. Kathy wears Cara's picture on a pin fastened to her dress.

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Three national Aboriginal leaders were invited to the provincial premiers' preparatory session on health issues on July 28. Two others were not.

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Phil Fontaine, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) President Jose Kusugak and the Metis National Council (MNC) President Clement Chartier were invited. Native Women's Association of Canada President Terry Brown and Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) national chief Dwight Dorey were not. Dorey attended anyway.

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Another Andy is setting up shop in the Indian Affairs minister's office.

When Prime Minister Paul Martin revealed his new cabinet on July 20, Andy Mitchell was shuffled out of Indian Affairs to become the new minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, leaving Andy Scott to become the Indian Affairs minister.

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A program developed by members of the Assembly of First Nations' youth council is designed to help young Aboriginal people deal head on with the damages of the past.

It's called CEPS-Cultural, Economic, Political and Social-and it's intended to create a healthier next generation.

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A proxy from British Columbia squared off with the national chief on July 21 over the role being played by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in the compensation process for survivors of Indian residential schools.

The debate resulted in a public promise from Phil Fontaine to seek a "full and open apology from the prime minister" for Canada's residential school system and the abuses suffered by Aboriginal people who experienced it.