The first time I heard the group ASANI was when I attended a conference in Edmonton, Alberta a few years ago. They were incredible. 
Their first album is call "Rattle and Drum" and it is excellent. They released their second album in Oct, 2009 and it is called "Listen". I just purchased it and I like it. 
Asani mean "rock" in Cree and these Alberta Aboriginal singers are:

"Debbie Houle - Lead vocals, harmony, drum and rattle. As a Cree Metis, Debbie was born in Edmonton and was raised in the Elizabeth Metis Settlement in Northeast Alberta. She has been singing since the age of five and studied voice at the Grant
MacEwan Community College in Edmonton, Alberta.   Debbie currently works with the Edmonton Winter Light Festival and the Wicihitowin Circle of Shared Responsibility & Stewardship as a community coordinator.   Email Debbie at d_houle@shaw.ca

Sarah Pocklington - Lead vocals, harmony, drum and rattle. Sarah is Cree Metis and graduated from the vocal program at GraMacEwan Community College , has a B.A. in English/Anthropology, a Masters Degree in Native Studies and is currently working towards a PhD in Education Policy Studies with a focus on contemporary Aboriginal music. She has also taken courses in dance, drama and percussion. Sarah has been teaching, developing courses, and conducting workshops in the field of Native Studies for the past 20 years.  Email Sarah at spocklin@telus.net

Sherryl Sewepagaham - Lead vocals, harmony, drum and rattle. Sherryl is from the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta . She began singing since a young age and went on to study classical voice and piano at the Alberta College Conservatory of Music in Edmonton and Douglas College in New Westminster, BC . She has completed her Bachelor of Education degree in Elementary (Music). Sherryl is currently an elementary music teacher and conductor of the Aboriginal children’s choir, Awasisak Nikamowak.  Email Sherryl at sherryls@shaw.ca"



These bios are from the ASANI website  www.asani.org. 
Check it out if you have a chance.



Here's a sample of one of the songs on this album.

One of my friends sent this to me and it brought back so many memories of comfort food. I grew up with a large family, I'm one of twelve children,  and most of the time it was wonderful. 
Some of my favorite memories were  playing outside, making up games, going swimming and having fun. As children we helped each other with chores and walked together to school.
There were times when we lived economically . During these times we lived off the land as much as possible. My parents bought staples like sugar, flour, lard, salt but we had a huge garden with potatoes, turnips, etc and we had wild meat. 
We would eat moose meat and fish, but I remember eating rabbit and ducks. My mother made the most of what we had. There was always tea brewing and some kind of stew being made. We always had bannock, I'm sure my mom must have made some every day because we were all growing and we ate a lot!
When I saw this Metis cookbook and looked at the recipes, a flood of food memories came back to me. I'm sharing this resource with you in the hopes that it could be useful to you.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
This Metis Cookbook was put together by NAHO, National Aboriginal Health Organization.
Their website has a number of good publications that are worthwhile checking out.
http://www.naho.ca/metiscentre/english/documents/Cookbook_SecondEdition_003.pdf

I want to showcase some of the agencies that I have the honor of working with. The first agency I want to share with you is an agency that I have been contracted to deliver trainings for a couple of years now. This building is the home to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA-Edmonton Region)
 It has truly been my pleasure to work with this agency. 
The staff are friendly and work hard for their clients. They have really paid attention to the needs of the ASIST and other workshops and the needs of the participants. They have made changes to their training rooms to help us deliver the workshops.
Here's some information about them:

This is the Harley Court building just off Jasper Avenue. The offices are on the eighth floor.

This is the large training room where we meet everyone. The staff there have created a really nice space to work with. 

Here are two friendly faces you will meet when you arrive for a workshop. They will ask you to fill out some forms and direct you to the training room.
These two ladies are extremely helpful. Please feel free to thank them for their helpfulness. I'm sure they would appreciate it.

For more information about CMHA-Edmonton check their website  
www.cmha-edmonton.ab.ca.