Canadian Native American To Speak At Aurora University Oct. 3

AURORA, Ill. September 13, 2006 - Florence Thomas, a Canadian Native American, will discuss the culture of the Vuntut Gwitchin tribe of the Yukon Territory at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at Aurora University.

Thomas, a tribal elder from the Old Crow reservation, will speak at AU’s Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures at Dunham Hall, 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora.

The program is free to the public. Using artifacts from her culture, Thomas will discuss the impact on her tribe of oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

For thousands of years, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation has relied heavily on the land and on the Porcupine Caribou herd for food, shelter and medicines.

The Gwitchin First Nation extends throughout the Yukon and parts of Alaska. Old Crow, population 300, is the only village in the Yukon Territory without road access and the only Yukon community located north of the Arctic Circle.

Call (630) 844-5402 for information.

- END -