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Softball player Linus Lucas Jr. from Port Alberni received the 2003 Premier's Athletic Award at the B.C. Sport Hall of Fame and Museum this past June 16. The award recognized his accomplishments during the 2002-2003 athletic season.

Lucas Jr. achieved top pitcher, top batter and most valuable player status in the 2003 Western Canadian Championships where he took home a gold medal. His other accomplishments include a gold medal in the provincial championships and a gold medal in the Western Canada Games.

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Construction began June 14 on the 4,500 square metre Qay'llnagaay Heritage Centre on the site of the present Haida Gwaii Museum in Skidegate.

Besides doubling the museum's size, five additional buildings will be constructed: an atrium; a performance arts centre; a working space for local artists and carvers; a place to eat, and an administration centre for the Archipelago Management Board, a branch of Parks Canada.

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Each year, six Aboriginal students pursuing careers in the tourism industry are getting valuable work experience in the field and a bit of financial help, thanks to a partnership between the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) and CHIP Hospitality, one of Canada's leading hotel management companies.

The CHIP Hospitality?Future Tourism Leaders scholarships have been awarded for the last two years, with recipients receiving $2,000 to go towards the cost of their studies.

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Harvey McCue, a retired former school teacher, is president of First Nations Youth at Risk (FNYAR), a Vancouver-based agency that grew out of an anti-tobacco crusade initiated by a group of First Nations youth and social workers at a conference in 2002.

The group that was originally named First Nations Youth Anti-Smoking had funded three pilot projects that they presented at this year's Vancouver conference as examples of successful community action against high rates of smoking among Aboriginal youth.

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Many Aboriginal organizations, including the Assembly of First Nations, are crying foul after former British Columbia judge David Ramsay was sentenced to seven years in prison (a term they think is far too short) for what they say are race-based crimes.

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Aboriginal people living in British Columbia want more say in the operation of the world's first Aboriginal television network.

That was the general theme of a four-hour public consultation session at the Squamish Recreation Centre near North Vancouver on June 6.

All 20 current members of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's (APTN) board of directors were on hand, as was Jean LaRose, the network's chief executive officer. The board currently has one vacancy.

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John Kim Bell, the founder of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, has taken yet another step away from the organization he has led for the past decade.

Former chairman of the board Bill Shead made the announcement in a letter to stakeholders on June 11. The letter states that effective May 31, Bell retired as president.

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The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) came within days of disappearing from Canadian airwaves forever. A cash flow crunch put it dangerously in arrears with the company that transmits its signal.

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One of Canada's most respected artists is displaying some of his Haida art at a new exhibit that opened June 22 at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

Robert Davidson works in many different media including painting, carving, sculpting and jewelry. The 57-year-old Davidson said that he is always experimenting; trying new things in the work that he does.

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For the past four years, the National Metis Veterans Association has been fighting for the rights of their comrades. With chapters in every province, the organization has been working tirelessly on behalf of Metis veterans who say they were denied services and benefits that were available to other soldiers when they returned home from the war.