Not really newsworthy, just aboriginal newsworthy.  Sadly there aren't many successful / role model natives out there, so they usually make the news by doing something totally unimpressive like organizing some volunteers to pick up trash. The papers just run it to show diversity. I personally know a native guy who was considered an elder in his community by the time he was in his mid 20s simply because he could hold a job and wasn't a drug addict or alcoholic.  He was a construction worker, in normal society he probably would have been considered just another dumb blue collar grunt. The native population has outrageous amounts of social and health issues in western Canada, including close to 100% obesity rate by my estimation.