Manitoba universities to bid for centre to hold stories of residential schools

The University of Manitoba will make a bid for a national research centre that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission must establish before it wraps up its work.
The commission is gathering a permanent record of the sad chapter in Canadian history that revolves around Indian residential schools.

Karen Busby, the university's director of human rights research, says the proposed centre would serve as a public custodian of the stories of abuse.
Justice Murray Sinclair, the commission's chairman, says he's heard expressions of interest from universities coast to coast in Canada looking to land what will be clearly an academic jewel.

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StatsCan urges Inuit to fill out census form

In 1995, Alberta Health and Wellness created the Aboriginal Health Strategy with the long-term goal of reducing the inequalities in health status between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people of Alberta. Part of this strategy included the creation of the Aboriginal Health Careers Bursary, to assist aboriginal students taking postsecondary education in a health field. The award was established through the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund Endowment Program. Awards vary between $2,000 and $12,000 and the deadline is May 1, 2011.

Saskatchewan: First Annual Indigenous Health Conference

The Indigenous Peoples' Health Research Centre (IPHRC) is hosting the First Annual Saskatchewan Indigenous Health Research Conference, March 24-26, 2011 at the Saskatoon Inn, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The goal of this conference is to bring together Elders, community and academic researchers, community members, Indigenous health care leaders, health care policy makers, students and other stakeholders working in various areas of Indigenous health.

While the focus of the conference is the health and wellness of Saskatchewan Indigenous peoples, we encourage the submission of abstracts from projects outside of the province.

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Inuit kindergarten class in Vanier gives taste of life in the North

Jane Kigutaq, a cultural teacher at the first Inuit kindergarten in Ottawa, shows a picture of a beaver to a class of four- and five-year-olds.

“Does it live up north?” asks Kigutaq, wearing a baby-carrying parka and long braids.

“No!” the group sitting on the floor says in unison.

“Why not?” she asks. “Because there are no trees,” ventures one boy. “Because it’s too cold,” she corrects him.

Later, when Kigutaq points to a window and says “What side is this?” everybody knows the right answer. “North!”

The Canadian North, mostly Nunavut, is where the 15 Inuit children or their families come from. Living in Ottawa (called simply “the south” by the parents) they are learning their language and culture in a classroom in the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre on McArthur Road.

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Labrador Inuit battling obesity: research

Nain is one of the five communities where people were studied for the 2008 Adult Inuit Health Survey. (CBC)A study done by Canadian university researchers and the Nunatsiavut government suggests 75 per cent of northern Labrador Inuit are either overweight or obese.

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