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The Sioux Lookout Aboriginal Area Management Board hosted a gathering of First Nation representatives from across the Sioux Lookout District last week in Thunder Bay. Twenty-six First Nations met to learn how to operate the new Governance Database that will collect information about their membership across the Sioux Lookout region.

The First Nations served by SLAAMB will gather and update the database information from their own communities. The information will be submitted on-line into the main server SLAAMB office in Sioux Lookout. Information to be collected includes population statistics such as the number of children, youth, adults, and elders, specific age categories, aboriginal languages spoken, employment rates, and eligible voter data.

The Governance Database represents a new way for First Nations to collect information and generate reports for the wide-spanning region. Each community receives a database, operation manual and training DVD for use in their communities.

"The Chiefs of the Sioux Lookout Area have recognized the need for factual data collection for planning purposes in the North. The Governance Database will be a practical tool in the communities to maintain information about their membership, and at the same time allow us to generate our own statistics." says Bob Bruyere, SLAAMB Coordinator.

From the AFN Annual General Assembly that took place on July 20, 21 & 22, 2004, in Charlottetown, PEI, six resolutions moved by the KO Chiefs in attendance were recently adopted. These AFN Resolutions include:

The team at Wawatay News is busy reporting daily news updates on-line from First Nation communities across Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Treaty 3 and Aboriginal urban centres. Readers are invited to visit and read about breaking news reports at http://wawatay.on.ca

The newspaper archives are also available for everyone to search and reference. Alvin Fiddler recently took the leadership role for producing, supporting and maintaining Wawatay's on-line presence with his new job as Wawatay's Web Site and Systems Manager.

A two day planning and development workshop (December 1 and 2) has resulted in the production of an on-line template that will become a place for Aboriginal artists in video, painting, writing, music and photography to share their work and meet together. The five member team meeting in Balmertown included Jesse Fiddler, Cal Kenny, Tina Kakepetum-Schultz, George Ferreira and Fernando Oliveira. Click here to check out the pictures of the team at work.

This on-line Aboriginal gathering place is intended to support Aboriginal artists in their efforts to promote their work and being established. It will include tutorials and resources for Aboriginal artists to use these on-line tools to further develop their skills. The environment will support peer-to-peer sharing and collaboration in production and support efforts.

Fundraising to complete the development work and support the ongoing operation of this on-line environment will now be undertaken. It is hoped that this initial investment by Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program in creating this template will help raise the funding required to continue the development of the Kuhkenah Aboriginal artists virtual gathering space.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak celebrated the Grand Opening of the new Centre of Excellence in Balmertown on Tuesday, November 30th. This building is located on 253 Dexter Road and is home to the administration offices for KO Telehealth and Keewaytinook Internet High School (KiHS). The building is a beautiful renovated structure made possible by contributions from Industry Canada through the Smart Communities project. A big thank you is extended to Industry Canada and FedNor for making this possible. Check out pictures at http://photos.knet.ca/albun68

During the celebration there was a feast at the main KO office at 12:00 noon, which was followed by an open house at the new building from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Many communities from the north were connected via video conferencing to share in the celebrations. We are sure that the medical and educational health of the communities with benefit greatly from this venture.

Several guests were able to participate in this celebration. Geordi Kakepetum, KO’s executive director welcomed everyone and gave opportunity for remarks from special guests. Mayor Dunc Wilson congratulated the organization for their lead in using ICTs in health and education. Former Grand Chief for Ontario, Tom Bressette brought greetings from the AFN. Jerry Fontaine, special advisor for the National Grand Chief, also brought congratulations and greeting from the Grand Chief and staff at the AFN. Raymond Mason, chief of Keewaywin brought remarks on behalf of the community and the Chiefs of the organization.

A welcomes was sent out to all from Kevin Houghton, KO Telehealth Program Manager, as well as Darrin Potter, KiHS Principal. Ribbon and cake cutting followed as guests mingled and enjoyed tours of the building.

The staff of KO, KO Telehealth www.telehealth.knet.ca and KiHS (www.kihs.knet.ca) wish to thanks everyone who participated in this event. Please come by and visit our centre if you are ever in Balmertown.

An e-learning planning workshop was hosted by the Keewaytinook Internet High School in Balmertown, ON on November 29 and 20. Click here to see the agenda that documents the activities for this two day event. Participants from La Ronge in northern Saskatchewan (the Masinahikana School), the Bella Bella school in British Columbia and from the KO Research Institute in Thunder Bay joined the gathering in Balmertown via video conference during scheduled times in the agenda. The workshop was sponsored by Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program.

This initial workshop is intended to lead to more on-line activities and the development of e-learning resources that First Nation schools and learners can utilize and benefit from. Thanks to Fernando Oliveira (the on-line Grade 8 Supplementary Course instructor and coordinator - http://g8.firstnationschools.ca) and Darrin Potter (principal of the Keewaytinook Internet High School - http://kihs.knet.ca) for putting this initial meeting together.

The video conferenced portions of the workshop are now available at http://webcast.knet.ca/schoolnet and select the E-Learning Workshop sessions.

Brian Walmark, Coordinator of the KO Research Institute and the K-Net Coordinator met with Kevin Pasluk, IT Director of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM). Discussions and strategies to find ways to work together to support First Nations across Northern Ontario and first year students in NOSM in their four week placements were shared.

The opportunity exists for First Nations with broadband connections in place to provide a positive learning experience for NOSM students during their first year of studies at the new school. The first round of placements will take place in the spring of 2006. Working with KO and Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program, NOSM is committed to working with communities to ensure these learning experiences are successful for everyone involved.

The Canadian Research Alliance For Community Innovation And Networking team met in Ottawa on Friday, Nov 26 and Saturday, Nov 27 to dicuss about evaluation tools and techiques. Brian Walmark, KO's Research Institute Coordinator, presented information about KO's work that included a variety of digital videos used to capture the thoughts of KO community members and funders regarding the migration of connectivity to remote and isolated First Nations in Ontario's far north. These materials and stories are being used to support the completion of the evaluation of KO's K-Net project.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak's K-Net Services is one of the seven case studies included in the CRACIN research initiative. Members of the CRACIN team demonstrated the use of K-Net's Breeze server to support the participation of other members of the team in the workshop.

Click here to see the workshop agenda

The Washaho School in Fort Severn First Nation is contaminated with severe mould growth due in part to INAC’s decision to build the existing building over a spring (click here to read Wawatay September 9 news story). Elders informed INAC officials of this potential problem before construction began over twenty years ago. Now the school has been closed since June 2004 as a result of a Health Canada order to remove everyone from this building. So as INAC officials want to continue to study the problem, Fort Severn children go without a school facility. The mould continues to grow and spread throughout the school because no one is able to go near the condemned facility. Click here to see September K-News story.

The local leadership and community members completed their own feasibility study during the summer at their own expense. The study recommended removing the school building and constructing a new facility. Bringing in temporary classrooms was planned for this year’s barge as financing and plans for the new school were completed. Then INAC decided that they would do their own study, thus preventing any of the community’s plans from proceeding. The INAC funded consultant determined that the old school should be renovated against the wishes of the local leadership and parents. As a compromise INAC is now demanding a third study by an independent body. Click here to read Wawatay story -Remediation won’t solve mould problem.

The community was then forced to use existing band owned buildings to accommodate some scheduled classroom activities that support a limited form of home schooling for the students as a temporary measure. These five buildings were build by the band to serve specific local needs. Now these functions are being put aside so the children can get a limited level of support they require to complete some of their work for this school year.

On November 24, a letter was sent to Fort Severn’s leaders from INAC (click here to read the letter) indicating a limited amount of funding would be made available to convert these five community owned buildings to classroom space with sufficient resources to address health and safety issues. The same letter states that INAC will continue with the third feasibility to remediate the existing school facility against the wisdom of the local community. The letter also states that INAC will not contribute towards the recommended non-safety items required for educational space nor restore the five community service buildings to their original purpose after they are no longer needed as classrooms.

Another letter arrived on December 2 from the Ontario Regional Director, Robert Howsam restating that INAC requires an independent assessment (click here to read this letter). Fort Severn sent their official response to these letters from INAC on December 7. Click here to read the Fort Severn response

Even though Fort Severn requires a new school as soon as possible due to the age and condition of the existing facility, INAC is insisting on yet another study that will require spending over a million dollars to "address the mould contamination and structural safety issues" of the existing facility. It is well understood that once renovations take place on an existing facility then the community priority position for a new facility is affected on INAC’s school construction program. Previous correspondence from INAC indicated that this would not happen but that has not been the case in the past.

Fort Severn needs a new school. The community and the families tried to work with INAC to have temporary classrooms in place for the start of the school year. The children and teaching staff are struggling to deliver an educational program that they hope will help them with their studies. But the situation is both depressing and dangerous for everyone. As INAC acknowledges in their letter, they need to spend over $400,000 just to address "safety / health issues" in these non-classroom environments that the community is using for interim classes.

The Auditor General notes in her latest report that INAC officials are not clear about what their role is when it comes to providing educational services in First Nations. In the case of Fort Severn it seems very clear. They will not listen to the community members and leaders. They will use policies and services that seem to create more delays that prevent the children from accessing a normal and safe school environment. Some people are feeling that the department's real agenda is to remove the people from their traditional homelands and lifestyles.