National Aboriginal
Achievement Awards
COVER:
Thomas
Prince
Canada's
Forgotten Aboriginal War Hero
NATIONAL ABORIGINAL
ACHIEVMENT AWARDS:
Dr. Freda Ahenakew
Mariano Aupilardjuk
Roman
Bittman
Dr Harold Cardinal
Dr. Lindsay Crowshoe
Tomson Highway
Fred House
Zacharias Kunuk
Richard Nerysoo
Lance Relland
Nicholas Sibbeston
Mary Thomas
Dolly Watts
BUSINESS:
Bankers Call Shots
A bank is calling the
financial shots on one of Manitoba's largest First Nations
CULTURE:
Debate
Rages Over Native Alcoholism
Gwishalaayt
The Spirit
Wraps Around You
EDUCATION:
Agreement Solidifies Ties Between Valley Schools and First Nations
Education Critical to Moving Forward
Education is Failing Aboriginal Students
MODERN TREATIES:
Atlantic
Chiefs Demand Action on Template Agreements
...the
Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs are demanding a meeting
with DFO minister Herb Dhaliwa...
Cash-strapped Tribal Police Winding Down Operations
First Nations communities
in Cape Breton will no longer be policed by their own...
HUMOUR:
Support Your Local Native
OBITUARY:
Chief Simon Baker
POLITICS:
One
Dead Indian
Referendum
Circus Coming Soon to Your Town
20,000 Survivors of Residential Schools to Seek Compensation
Nicholas
Sibbeston (Hon.)
Public Service
If
you're Nick Sibbeston - a Métis born in the rugged NWT - it takes one
key ingredient to mount a groundbreaking career in politics: you have
to want to make a difference.
Born in an era when the Canadian north was governed from Ottawa like a far-flung colony, Sibbeston set out to make a difference. A young man who bore the scars of life in a Northern residential school, Sibbeston soon became the first Aboriginal lawyer in the history of the Northwest Territories. Many would have stopped here. Not him. He rode his anger at the way the people of the North were unjustly governed right to the top of his territory's legislative assembly.
By 1979, he was elected a MLA. By 1984, he was a cabinet minister. Only two years later, he was Premier of the Northwest Territories, only the second Aboriginal person to have served in that office. In office as the government's leader, Sibbeston fought to have all the NWT's indigenous languages made official, along with English and French. To advance his goal, Sibbeston took to his feet in the assembly during an historic filibuster and filled the air with Slavey. He made his point. Today there are nine different Aboriginal languages spoken and translated in the assembly.
In 1999, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien telephoned Sibbeston at his Fort Simpson home and asked him to take a seat in the Senate of Canada. Senator Sibbeston - businessman, politician, community justice specialist and cultural advisor to CBC's North of 60 - has been serving in the Red Chamber with distinction ever since.