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A senior government official warned us a week before Indian Affairs Minister Andy Mitchell's speech at the Canada-Aboriginal Roundtable meeting in Ottawa on April 19 that it would be a "launch pad" for the Paul Martin agenda.

It was. The Indian Affairs minister laid out a number of details about what his department will be doing to further the prime minister's plan to make Aboriginal issues a government priority.

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Some are optimistic, while others remain sceptical

More than 70 Aboriginal leaders spent the day with almost as many senior government officials on April 19 at the Government of Canada Conference Centre in Ottawa. The all-day "Canada-Aboriginal Roundtable" saw the leaders of the major national Aboriginal organizations sit down with more than 20 Cabinet ministers and their staff at the invitation of Prime Minister Paul Martin.

At a press conference at the end of the day, the Prime Minister called it "a truly extraordinary event."

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Dear Editor:

I am very impressed with the articles presented on your Web site. I am currently studying for a BA in Native Studies, and learning Cree, and find your Web site complimentary to my learning.

I try to read and understand what is written with the deep spiritual awareness of the Native culture. I don't know if that is possible for a white woman. I do truly respect and connect with the spirit of humanity in your culture.

Keep up the good work. This is a great site!

-Donna

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Dear Editor:

Current scholars on the Second World War have overlooked the Aboriginal experience, both in combat and on the home front, when examining the 'national' experience. Indeed, only two publications focus on the Aboriginal population in all of Canada's wars and these are Forgotten Soldiers (Fred Gaffen,1985) and Native Soldiers: Foreign Battlefields (Janice Summerby,1983).

Scholarly work on Canadian Aboriginal servicewomen during the Second World War is virtually non-existent. Where are the voices of Aboriginal women? What were their experiences?

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Dear Editor:

For some time I have had concerns with the justice system. It seems to me that every time an Aboriginal person comes in contact with justice officials it becomes a safety matter.

There have been harrowing stories of brutality and police initiatives known to target Aboriginals.

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Dear Editor:

I lived in poverty with my three babies in both The Pas and Thompson (Manitoba). I did not think of anything when I went to do laundry in the morning and had to step over a middle-aged Native man who needed somewhere warm to sleep for the night. I would just say, "Excuse me."

-Carolyn

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Dear Editor:

In the Windspeaker article "The legacy of inadequate housing" (December 2003 edition), the Siksika Nation chief and council are accused of using housing as a "political tool." Had Windspeaker performed due diligence on the subject, it would have been realized that council was only looking out for the best interest of the Harry Good Eagle family.

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Just simply telling you what the leaders said at the Canada-Aboriginal Summit on April 19 is really not enough.

What the prime minister and the Indian Affairs minister said was, essentially, that things are going to change. Martin was asked "When?" And he said "as early as tomorrow."

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More than 300 years have passed since Kateri Tekakwitha lived her brief life, but even today people across North America look to her for strength and guidance.

Kateri was born in 1656 in Ossernenon, a Mohawk village located near present day Auriesville, New York. Her father was a Mohawk chief; her mother an Algonquin woman who had been captured by the Mohawk. While her father hadn't converted to Christianity, her mother had, and she taught her daughter to pray in the Christian way.

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What do you know about the European green crab? Well, if you have any questions, you can give Kara Paul a call.

Paul is a marine biologist with the Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife Commission-one of three marine biologists on staff with the organization.

"Within our science branch, I work on the crustaceans, so the lobsters and crabs mostly, that's my research. We have different people who do fish and do aquaculture. My area is with the crustaceans."