None Coun. Mike Pagtakhan doled out 250 homemade aboriginal dreamcatchers yesterday to young students at Pinkham School. Pagtakhan, who was elected in the Point Douglas ward in 2002, his wife and sister-in-law have spent just about every night this month making the dreamcatchers from leather, beads and silver rings.

"It was aboriginal week at the school and I wanted the students to come away with a memento," said Pagtakhan.

"My fingers are sore, though."

Dreamcatchers are circular webs decorated with beads and feathers meant to trap bad dreams.

About 60 per cent of the students in the inner-city school on Pacific Avenue are aboriginal.

They also nibbled on bannock and heard from 14-year-old Metis fiddler Sierra Noble during an inter-tribal school pow-wow yesterday.

Also in attendance was Winnipeg Centre MP Pat Martin, several school trustees and an aboriginal elder.

Pagtakhan said he is working to reach out to the schools in his ward, which often feel left out of city politics.

He also wants to teach other local leaders how to make the dreamcatchers to promote cross-cultural awareness.