from CBC News Mon, 31 Oct 2005

More than two-fifths of all Canadian households subscribed to broadband internet service in 2004 while the number with slower, dial-up connections fell, the CRTC said Monday.

In its annual telecom market survey, Canada's broadcast regulator said 5.4 million Canadians paid for high-speed broadband internet service. That represents 43 per cent of all households – up 7 percentage points from the 2003 survey. 
 
Two million Canadians had dial-up access. That's down 20 per cent from the previous year.

Taking both dial-up and broadband together, 59 per cent of all Canadian households are now hooked up to the web.

Internet revenues increased 12.9 per cent to $4.2 billion in 2004. The CRTC says that makes the internet "one of the fastest growing segments of the Canadian telecommunications services industry."

The CRTC said 89 per cent of households have access to broadband services. But there is still a wide gap between urban and rural access. Almost all urban Canadians (98 per cent) can access broadband, while only 68 per cent of those in rural Canada can choose high-speed if they want.

Wireless service is the other "engine of growth and innovation" the CRTC identified in the Canadian telecom industry.

Wireless revenues increased almost 18 per cent to $9.5 billion in 2004, the regulator said. Wireless now accounts for 29 per cent of the industry's revenues.

The average wireless subscriber spent $52 a month last year, up from $49 monthly in 2003.

Long distance revenues fell 6 per cent to $5.8 billion even though the number of billable long distance minutes rose by 6 per cent.

"The decline or minimal growth in revenues from local, ... long distance, and data and private line services, collectively, is evidence, not necessarily of declining demand for telecommunications services, but rather, an indication of the deployment of more efficient and effective technologies or platforms to deliver the services," the CRTC said.

From FedNor press releases

Minister Mitchell Announces Youth Retention Strategy for Northern Ontario

NORTH BAY, Ontario, October 28, 2005 — The Honourable Andy Mitchell, Minister of State (FedNor), and Anthony Rota, Member of Parliament for Nipissing–Timiskaming, today announced a comprehensive $8M FedNor Youth Retention Strategy aimed at helping Northern Ontario youth gain valuable skills and work experience. The Strategy consists of three components: strengthening the highly-successful Youth Internship Program, funding for strategic post-secondary education initiatives, and helping build community capacity.

“The Government of Canada, through FedNor, is providing the tools that communities need to help keep their youth living and working in Northern Ontario,” said Minister Mitchell. “This three-pronged strategy will build on the success of past initiatives and provide a framework for future generations.”

“The FedNor Youth Retention Strategy will not only strengthen our economy, it will provide our young people with the necessary skills and experience to help them secure permanent employment in Northern Ontario,” added Mr. Rota.

The first component of the Youth Retention Strategy involves a $3.8M investment to further strengthen the proven FedNor Youth Internship Program. This funding will create at least 150 new and exciting employment opportunities for Northern Ontario youth over the next two years.

The FedNor Youth Internship Program is designed to provide invaluable hands-on work experience, allowing the intern to gain the necessary experience and skills to secure permanent employment in Northern Ontario.

Since its inception in 1997, FedNor has provided funding to help 875 young Northerners, in both the public and private sectors, make the successful transition from the campus to the workplace. Approximately 400 different organizations have benefited from FedNor’s Youth Internship Program.

“Every external evaluation of the Youth Internship Program has recorded impressive results,” said Minister Mitchell. “More than 80% of youth interns were employed in Northern Ontario after their internship ended. The organizations benefit from the skills the interns offer and the funding available while the interns benefit from their work experience and networking opportunities. Clearly, the program is having a positive impact in the North.”

The second component of FedNor’s Youth Retention Strategy, consists of $3.2M for education and skills training. Through strategic investment in partnerships with Northern Ontario colleges and universities, the Strategy will help increase the North’s capacity to provide highly skilled and highly trained graduates to Northern Ontario’s business and industrial communities.

Initiatives under this component will help meet the needs of the mining and forestry industries, as well as industrial and bio-medical research organizations, by producing qualified graduates with strong roots in the North.

The third component of FedNor’s Youth Retention Strategy – community capacity building – will concentrate on engaging and working with First Nations, community economic development organizations and not-for-profit groups to plan and implement initiatives directed at increasing the knowledge and awareness among youth regarding employment opportunities, skills training and socio-economic development. FedNor will invest $1M in eligible activities, including leadership initiatives designed to encourage the participation of youth in community planning and regional issues, as well as regional business fairs.

Through its many youth initiatives, FedNor has supported some 844 youth-related projects across Northern Ontario over the past six years. The FedNor Youth Retention Strategy will be implemented immediately to build on this high level of success and ensure that Northern youth have a future in Northern communities.

FedNor’s Youth Retention Strategy complements the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy, which includes Service Canada’s Skills Link, Summer Career Placement programs and Youth Service Canada, aimed at putting out-of-school and unemployed young people back to work.

By working with organizations involved in economic development and by creating meaningful work experiences for youth, FedNor is opening doors and building futures in Northern Ontario.

Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2005 federal budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.

To find out more about FedNor, visit us at http://fednor.ic.gc.ca

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For more information, please contact:

Graeme Wilkes
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Andy Mitchell
Minister of State (FedNor)
(613) 947-5850

Peter Williams
Communications Officer
FedNor
(705) 670-6244 or 1 877 333-6673

Created: 2005-10-28

Changing Course: Improving Aboriginal Access to Post-Secondary Education in Canada - a paper describing what the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation is doing to address this issue. Click here for the full paper (PDF - 8 pages)

The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation is a private, independent organization created by an act of Parliament in 1998. The Foundation works to improve access to post-secondary education for Canadians from all backgrounds; it encourages a high level of achievement and engagement in Canadian society; and it brings people and organizations together to understand barriers and improve access to post-secondary education in Canada. Each year, the Foundation distributes $340 million in bursaries and scholarships to students across Canada.

The Research Program
The Millennium Research Program furthers the work of the Foundation by undertaking research and pilot projects aimed at understanding and reducing barriers to post-secondary education. It ensures that policymaking and public discussion about opportunities in higher education in Canada can be informed by the best available evidence.

Some findings from this paper ...

First Nations people do not feel welcome on university and college campuses. Only 20% agreed that jobs in First Nations communities do not require post-secondary education.

Among First Nations youth not planning to go on to college or university, financial barriers are most frequently cited as holding them back: 59% say they have to work to support their family while 40% say they do not have enough money.

When asked about why they are not planning on attending post-secondary education, only 27% say it is because they do not want to leave their communities; 25% because their grades are not good enough; 20% because they do not think they need post-secondary education; and 18% because they simply do not like school.

When those youth who are planning to go to post-secondary education are asked if anything might change their plans, 48% say it would be a lack of money, 43% say they may need to work to support their family and 42% say it would be because their grades are not good enough.

Three pilot projects that the foundation is sponsoring to develop strategies to address these issues include:

• “Making Education Work,” a comprehensive program of academic preparation and student and family support for students at selected Aboriginal high schools in Manitoba, to help ensure that these students are ready to make the step to post-secondary education should they choose to;
• The Millennium Aboriginal Access Bursary for first-year Aboriginal students in Saskatchewan, to help lower the costs of their first step into post-secondary education; and,
• “Le,nonet,” a program offering financial, academic and cultural support to Aboriginal students at the University of Victoria in British Columbia to ensure that those who do get to university have the best chance of succeeding.

A second paper ... Embracing Differences: Post-Secondary Education among Aboriginal Students, Students with Children and Students with Disabilities, prepared By: David Holmes in Ottawa for the The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation is also available on-line (Click here to see this 93 page PDF document). 

This report presents an overview of the state of Canadian post-secondary education for Aboriginal Peoples, people with disabilities and students with children. The report analyzes results from two 2002 surveys — the Canadian Undergraduate Student Survey and the Canadian College Student Survey — and places these data in social and historical context.

Read the Sioux Bulletin coverage of this announcement at:
http://knet.ca/documents/Sioux-Bulletin-Nov2-pg1.jpg (K-Net named regional champion in broadband and ICT infrastructure funding) and
http://knet.ca/documents/Sioux-Bulletin-Nov2-pg7.jpg (People around the world recognize K-Net's expertise)

Six Members of Parliament from across Northern Ontario (from Huntsville in the Muskoka region to Sioux Lookout in the Kenora riding) met together this afternoon along with community groups to announce a new $10 million for the development of ICT applications that will use the broadband connections being established from the $10 million FedNor announcement last year for making sure that EVERY community in northern Ontario is connected to a broadband infrastructure. Along with this announcement funding for four regional champion organizations was also announced to support small communities to get the necessary broadband infrastructure in place.

Click here to see the pictures of Roger Valley, MP for Kenora Riding in the K-Net office in Sioux Lookout for the announcement. It was also mentioned during this announcement that Roger is now the northern Ontario caucus chair.

Video conferencing services were coordinated by Contact North who bridged the meeting that connected with the Kuhkenah Network (Sioux Lookout office) as well as bringing in MP Ken Boshcoff from the FedNor office in Ottawa. The use of video conferencing proved very successful, appropriate and significant for this particular announcement. Everyone got to see the value in bringing groups together from across the region.

From the FedNor press releases at http://fednor.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/infednor-fednor.nsf/en/fn02469e.html ...

FedNor Announces Northern Ontario Broadband Champions and Information Technology Commitment

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario, October 28, 2005 —The Honourable Andy Mitchell, Minister of State (FedNor), together with Northern Ontario Members of Parliament linked by videoconference, today announced FedNor support of more than $1.8M ($1,820,775) to four regional non-profit organizations that will champion the development of broadband services and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) throughout Northern Ontario. The choice of the regional champions represents a significant step forward in the $10-million FedNor commitment, announced April 22nd, 2005, to bring broadband access to every community in Northern Ontario.

Minister Mitchell also announced that FedNor will commit a further $10 million in funding over the next three years to support applications that make effective use of the broadband network. Such applications could include distance education and videoconferencing, telehealth suites for distant patient consultations, Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) that store and distribute digital scans and X-rays, and online financial networking and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for local governments and emergency services.

“The selection of these regional champions continues FedNor’s efforts to extend broadband availability throughout Northern Ontario,” said Minister Mitchell. “As well, the commitment of $10 million to foster applications will make sure that this broadband access is put to the fullest and best possible use. Both these announcements demonstrate that the Government of Canada is dedicated to investing in technology that enhances the ability of all residents to interact, transact, learn, access critical information and services, and improve their economic and social well being.”

The four non-profit champion organizations selected through a competitive process are: the Blue Sky Economic Growth Corporation (BSEGC), serving an area from Manitoulin Island to North Bay, which will receive $499,675; the Northeastern Ontario Communications Network Inc.(NEOnet), serving Cochrane and Timiskaming Districts and west to Chapleau, which will receive $498,000; K-Net, the ITC division of Keewatinook Okimakanak Tribal Council, serving First Nations across Northern Ontario, which will receive $472,000; and the Muskoka Community Network (MCN), serving the Parry Sound and Muskoka area, which will receive $351,100. The champions will cooperate in making sure all currently unserviced communities, both within and outside their respective service areas, receive broadband access.

In each case, the regional champion will undertake a number of initiatives, including the identification of broadband gaps, support for ICT application initiatives, and the coordination of the development of broadband services in unserved or under-serviced areas. The champions will work with communities, governments and other organizations along with the private sector to develop cost-effective and sustainable broadband solutions capable of fostering education, health, government, and business applications. They will also assist communities and rural businesses without broadband access to install and deploy necessary infrastructure for backbone connections that bring the service to a community, referred to as Points of Presence (PoPs). It is estimated that slightly more than 75 communities in Northern Ontario currently have no access to broadband service.

The spread of broadband in Canada and Northern Ontario is helping businesses in smaller communities and remote areas enter the global economy, research market data and offer specialized products and services to a large marketplace.

In Northern Ontario, health networks such as the NORTH Network are accelerating the exchange of medical data between hospitals, clinics and doctors, and allowing consultations and patient diagnosis over vast distances. Additionally, FedNor has supported the implementation of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) that store and distribute digital scans and X-rays in over 40 hospitals across Northern Ontario.

Since 1999, FedNor has contributed $49.6 million toward “connectedness” projects, including $23.1 million for telecommunications infrastructure and networking projects, and $26.5 million toward information and communications technology (ICT) applications, promotion and development. As well as working closely with the Broadband for Rural and Northern Development Pilot Program (BRAND) and First Nations SchoolNet, FedNor itself in the last eight years has established Points of Presence serving more than 100 Northern Ontario communities.

Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2005 federal budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.

To find out more about FedNor, visit us at: http://fednor.ic.gc.ca

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For more information, please contact:

Graeme Wilkes
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Andy Mitchell
Minister of State (FedNor)
(613) 947-5850

David Frood
Communications Officer
FedNor
(807) 766-1820 or 1 877 333-6673

As part of Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program, the K-Net team in Sioux Lookout now has a Ka-band system operating at the office. Initial tests are showing a 500Kb outbound capacity and 2M inbound as promised in the promotional material. The first unit installed at a First Nation school was in Kashechewan last month but there has been some challenges in keeping their unit operational. With a unit now located at the Sioux Lookout helpdesk, we hope to better support the schools that might get this equipment. Jamie Ray and John Moreau are testing and exploring this equipment and its support services to determine the best way to support the schools.

Click here is to see pictures of the present set up.

On Wednesday, October 19, the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Telehealth (KOTH) Sustainability Committee and the Evaluation Committee met together to review the findings from the KOTH Interim Report. Click here to see the news story about the release of the Interim Report for links to the entire report.

After the powerpoint presentation by Dr. John Hogenbirk, Dr. David Robinson from the Department of Economics at Laurentian University highlighted the value of this report with the statement, "We have done a very limited evaluation here ... The gold standard for evaluating something economically is cost benefit and that takes into account every benefit, every cost. What this evaluation has shown really is that if you just consider the travel costs, it pays the cost of setting up and running the system! ... The program is very justified at this point" .... Click here to see Dr. Robinson's comments.

Dr. John C. Hogenbirk, Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research (CRaNHR), Laurentain University presented the powerpoint presentation describing the findings of the evaluation to date. Click here to watch this presentation.

Dr. Ricardo Ramirez, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD), University of Guelph, another lead researcher and author of this report also commented about the Interim evaluation report. Click here to hear his comments.

Andres Ibanez, the Masters graduate candidate who did a lot of the field work and data collection for this report also made some important observations. Andres is studying at the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) at the University of Guelph. Click here to see his comments.

Click here to see the web page that contains links to this important meeting.

Colleges across Ontario are working together to share and gather information about how everyone understands the changes that are happening in the global workplace. They are inviting everyone to contribute their ideas about how our communities can best participate and prosper within this changing environment ....

From http://www.pathwaytoprosperity.ca/eng/index.html

"Ontario and Canada are undergoing seismic shifts in the workforce.

We face competition from growing economies like India and China and many Canadian jobs are being outsourced overseas. Rapidly changing technology is making many of today's work skills obsolete. At the same time, we face a shortage of skilled workers as more workers retire.

Canada's First Ministers and Prime Minister Paul Martin will be discussing these issues soon and it is critical that their conversation is informed and is focused on making changes that will benefit the economy and all Canadian workers.

We need your input - your thoughts and ideas about the challenges ahead.

Please read the attached discussion paper and take a few moments to answer the three questions at the end of the document. The results from this consultation will be presented to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Prime Minister Martin. "

Click here to download a copy of the discussion paper (PDF document)

Click here to have your say (a short on-line form)

Neskantaga First Nation 2nd  Sobriety Powwow 2005 

November 18 to 20, 2005

This powwow is to honor the people that live a sober and clean lifestyle!

Everyone is welcome to join the tribe and come share your stories, your songs.

• Tipis will be provide upon arrival!
• Bows and arrows will be provide for your meals! 
• Other events will be announced later!

Please try to confirm your group/ community as early as possible for better arrangements.

Kitchi meequetch!! 

For more information please call Bill Mequanawap or ask for Aleck Ostamas at (807) 479 2530 or Klevin Moonias at (807) 479 2745

The Sioux Lookout Anti-racism Committee's REsolve program is hosting a variety of activities during November including a conference in Sioux Lookout on November 16th entitled "Building Conflict Resolving Communities in the North". The conference will address programs and practices from communities across the north that deal with racism and discrimination through conflict resolution, restorative justice, celebrating diversity, relationship building, aboriginal awareness, youth recognition, etc.

REsolve is a Sioux Lookout Anti-Racism Committee initiative charged with  building a Community Based Conflict Resolution Model for the town.  Wava Fox and Don DeGenova are working on this project together.  

REsolve's goal is to build and nurture a conflict resolving community where ultimately hurtful conflict does not exist.  A community that welcomes all people regardless of race, faith tradition, colour, disability, sex, age, language, political or other opinion, social origin or sexual orientation by providing a safe and secure community where all peoples can live, converse, work and travel without fear of discrimination, racism, bigotry, or prejudice in a community that embraces diversity by celebrating our differences, respecting our traditions and nurtures our commitment to each other.

In the project's early stages, it was soon realized that REsolve was likely to be precedent setting in that Sioux Lookout would be the first Canadian community of its size to adopt a CBCRM for all citizens.  On August 10th, REsolve announced a strategic partnership with the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution (CICR) which put the project on the fast track.  CICR is offering Sioux Lookout years of experience in helping citizens build conflict resolving communities. 

For more information, contact

Don DeGenova, REsolve Project Manager OR
Wawa Fox, REsolve Coordinator
Sioux Lookout Anti-Racism Committee
Sioux Lookout  807-737-7492