The Haisla Nation have joined the Coastal First Nations Reconciliation Protocol, a move that will create economic opportunities for the Haisla people and increase certainty over the coastal land base for the First Nation, industry and government.

Job training, joint ventures with industry and exploration of clean energy developments are some of the opportunities being pursued by 14 Aboriginal communities across B.C. through a total of $510,000 from the second round of the First Nations Clean Energy Business Fund.

Bill 19, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 3), 2011, was introduced in the legislature by Attorney General Shirley Bond. If passed, the amendments will affect the following provincial statutes.

The Province is providing $475,000 to a Canadian Diabetes Association healthy cooking program to help families gain knowledge of basic nutrition and confidence in the kitchen to prepare healthy meals, snacks and beverages.

More Aboriginal students are completing secondary school in B.C. according to the latest school completion rates, which show a more than three per cent increase.

Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Ida Chong congratulates Esi Edugyan and Joan MacLeod, two British Columbia-based literary artists who received major arts awards this week.

The members of the new Advisory Council on Aboriginal Women were confirmed today by Mary Polak, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation.