Saskatchewan Chief Seeks Better Relations

SASKATOON — The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) has asked for a meeting with Canadian Jewish Congress in an apparent effort to mend fences.
The meeting, to take place April 29 in Ottawa, comes after the FSIN voted to reinstate the membership of David Ahenakew, a former leader of the FSIN and the national Assembly of First Nations who faces a second hate trial this fall for praising Hitler in remarks he made to a reporter at an FSIN health conference in 2002.
Ahenakew, who had resigned from the FSIN in disgrace, turned down the invitation to rejoin the group after controversy erupted over the vote to reinstate him.
“I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to resolve our differences,” Congress CEO Bernie Farber told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “We’re engaging in building trusting steps.”
The meeting also comes after FSIN leader Chief Joseph Lawrence – who supported Ahenakew’s reinstatement and revealed that the disgraced leader had been paid for consulting work since his resignation – took part in a Holocaust memorial service on April 13 at Saskatoon’s Jewish Community Centre.

Winning Debut

OTTAWA — Hillel Academy made a winning debut at the Ottawa Regional Science Fair after a rule change to allow for Shabbat observance. Grade 7 student Jordana Leader won bronze in the junior health sciences section for a project on the “Stroop effect.” It states that when words such as blue or green are printed in a colour other than their semantic meaning, people read them more slowly. She also won an award from the local branch of the Scientific Research Society for originality and scientific contribution. Hillel’s Jordan Brandt and Shelby Levine also earned honourable mentions in health science.