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Lucie Idlout could not think of a more appropriate person to anoint her as the new queen of Canadian Aboriginal music.

Idlout was presented with her award for best female artist at this year's Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards by Leela Gilday, who won in that category last year. Idlout and Gilday hail from Nunavut.

In fact, when Nunavut officially became a territory in 1999, Idlout and Gilday joined forces to write a song called For This Land.

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The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples' (CAP) national chief visited Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in late October trying to strengthen his ties to provincial organizations that represent off-reserve Native people.

In Alberta, Dwight Dorey met with several people who might be willing to fill the void created recently when CAP severed ties with provincial affiliate, the Native Council of Canada-Alberta (NCCA).

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Clement Chartier has been involved in Metis politics for more than three decades, working at the local, provincial, federal and international level. Now, after two terms as president of the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan (MNS), Chartier has been chosen to head up the organization he helped to form, the Metis National Council (MNC).

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On a break from a workshop in Edmonton on Nov. 26, the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations took time to bestow an esteemed honor on Willie Littlechild of Hobbema. He is now the international chief of Treaty 6.

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In the entertainment industry they call him the 'Indian Police' because of his continuous fight to keep the images of Native Americans on film and television as true to life as possible

Sonny Skyhawk, a well-known Los Angeles-based Native film-maker from the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, believes the lack of contemporary Native American images on the three major U.S. networks is the reason he continues to confront the industry.

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Some show-stopping performances and a foot-stomping good time was part of the annual Metis celebration held across the province in November.

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Hallmark Entertainment's mini-series Dreamkeeper is guaranteed to be a hit with viewers when it airs on ABC Dec. 28 and 29, if the reaction from people at the special screening held Nov. 8 in Calgary is any indication.

The made-for-television movie took 78 days to film in more than 70 locations across southern Alberta, with more than 1,500 Aboriginal people involved in its making.

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Minwaashin Lodge, an Aboriginal women's support centre, operates several essential programs that aim to meet the needs of Ottawa's Aboriginal families, including those who feel isolated in the city or those who may just want to connect socially with other Aboriginal people. Many of Minwaashin's friends and clients are Inuit and Metis.

Deb Storry, co-ordinator of the Sacred Child Program, which has been operating nine years at the Lodge, talked about the many kinds of outreach they offer to the Aboriginal community in her city.

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For president Clyde Cooke of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and his 20-member Begetekong MADD chapter at Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation, the holiday season is usually a time to be out in full force stressing why you should not drive while impaired. Cooke said that since the chapter's inception on May 26, 2000 they've been responsible for a tremendous amount of awareness, not only for MADD but also as a First Nation.

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If reading Christmas stories to your children is part of how you celebrate the holiday season and you're looking for something new to supplement the tried and true Christmas classics, here are a few Christmas books written by Aboriginal authors that you might want to check out.

Baseball Bats for Christmas

By Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak

Annick Press Ltd.

24 pages

$6.95 sc/ $15.95 hc