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Don't get complacent.

That's the message one of Canada's leaders in the fight against AIDS brought to a Regina conference on Jan. 29.

Dr. Jay Wortman delivered the keynote address to the Epidemics in Our Communities conference hosted by the All Nations Hope AIDS Network and AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan.

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More than 200 people gathered in the foyer at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) on Feb. 6 for its 5th annual Aboriginal Cultural Day celebrations, which included presentation of the annual Thelma Chalifoux Award.

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The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation hosted Blueprint for the Future, an Aboriginal youth conference held Feb. 10 in Edmonton. Alberta Sweetgrass was onsite to ask the young people:

What did you gain by attending the Blueprint for the Future conference?

Getting information about lots of careers, watching the musicians perform, everything is pretty cool. There is a lot of opportunity for Aboriginal people.

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The Aboriginal Police Studies certificate program offered by Grant MacEwan College can be qualified as a great success, except for the fact that nobody knows too much about it.

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He was named after famous boxer Rocky Marciano. And Rocky Thompson showed a great deal of promise as a pugilist in the ring himself.

As a teenager, Thompson won a gold medal in boxing at the North American Indigenous Games in Prince Albert in 1993. He also won Golden Gloves (provincial championships) tournaments in both Alberta and Saskatchewan.

These days, Thompson earn himself a living by playing professional hockey.

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After missing the entire 2002-2003 National Hockey League season with a wrist injury that required four surgeries, Montreal Canadiens Sheldon Souray is back with a vengeance.

The 6 foot 4, 228-pound defensemen from Fishing Lake Metis Settlement is one of the top two defensemen on his team, and as of the first week of February, leads NHL defensemen in goals with 15.

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If you know of a woman who should be honored for her special achievement, the deadline for putting her name forward for an Esquao Award is March 1.

The Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women honors a number of women each year at their annual Angels Among Us gala evening. The ninth annual awards ceremony will be held on May 6 in Edmonton.

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Thelma Chalifoux retired from Canada's Senate Feb. 8 because she reached the mandatory age of retirement-75. She was the first Aboriginal woman and the first Metis person to sit in that august body in Ottawa, and occupied a seat there since 1997.

Chalifoux may be taking a step back from politics, but judging from her retirement dinner on Feb. 23 in Edmonton, she is still going to be a force to be reckoned with, said long-time friend Irene Morin, band manager of Enoch Cree Nation, host of the dinner where more than 150 people gathered to pay tribute to Chalifoux.

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Alberta chiefs and Elders were joined by members of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) national executive on Feb. 9 to mark the grand opening of the new AFN Alberta regional office.

AFN Vice-chief Jason Goodstriker invited National Chief Phil Fontaine and his executive to hold their first meeting of the New Year at the Tsuu T'ina First Nation, located on the southwest edge of the City of Calgary.

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For 10 years, Health Canada has covered room and board fees for First Nations treaty clients attending addictions treatment at residential centres operated by the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC).

Now the feds have had a change of heart. They won't pay the fees, and Nick Hossack, director of prevention and promotion overseeing the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP), is taking the heat.