May 29 to raise awareness about the deplorable conditions facing many Aboriginal communities and demand that the Canadian government work in partnership with them to find solutions.

The four-hour rally was part of a Canada-wide Day of Action coordinated by the Assembly of First Nations, a national organization that represents First Nations throughout Canada.

Almost 300 people attended the Winnipeg event, which featured speeches, drumming, musical performances and pow wow dancing.

The focus of the day was on children and the need to take immediate action on issues such as poverty, health and education. Katherine Whitecloud, the AFN's Regional Chief for Manitoba, pointed out that federal funding to First Nations has not kept up with soaring Aboriginal growth rates - a situation that's created a state of crisis.

"One in four of our children live in poverty, and it's just not acceptable in such a rich country," she said.

According to 2006 census data, Manitoba's Aboriginal population grew by 17% between 2001 and 2006 (compared to a 1% growth rate of non-Aboriginal populations). Winnipeg now has the largest urban Aboriginal population in the country, with 68,385 people - 10% of the city's overall population.

Nineteen-year-old Hebron Sinclair, a regional youth leader, told the crowd that suicide, drugs and alcohol, teen pregnancy, the lack of education and jobs, and violence were "everyday things" for many Aboriginal youth - a statement underscored by one of the day's more poignant moments, when Morris Swan Shannacappo, Grand Chief of the Southern Chiefs' Organization, invited a young women he had met earlier in the day onstage with him to share her story.

"I left my reserve when I was 14 years old," Vanessa Roulette said. "I ran away from home because I didn't like the way I was living, the way I was treated, the way I seen kids living. I used to have to run just to get away from the hurt, the abuse. I lived abuse and now I'm healing from it. I realize what it does to our people."

Roulette said she had been a crack addict for ten years but has now been clean for 7-and-a-half months, which drew loud cheers and applause from the audience.

Swan Shannacappo went on to explain how "second generational residential school syndrome" has negatively affected Aboriginal relationships.

"Our parents didn't tell us (they loved us), because residential schools told them to shut up and not talk about stuff like that. If we had problems in our own homes, you couldn't go to your parents because they told you to shut up and not talk about it. If we had problems on our reserves and you brought it out in awareness like this, our governments - that were supposed to be there working for us - told us to shut up and live with it.

"We're not going to shut up anymore," he continued. "We are going through a healing process and we are going to continue to heal."