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Nine First Nation youth workers from the Keewaytinook Okimakanak First Nations SchoolNet project met at the Fort William First Nation Learning Centre to prepare for the weekend Chiefs of Ontario Youth Symposium on Social Development.

The youth include:

• Tabatha Jourdain, KO Youth Project Coordinator, Couchiching FN
• Aaron Hardy, Cisco Academy ITE1 Instructor, KiHS Classroom Assistant, Fort William FN
• Curtis Drake and Selina Meekis, Sandy Lake FN
• Stephanie Tookenay, Pic Mobert FN
• Kristin Doxtator, Oneida Nation
• Chessa Syrette, Batchewana FN
• Richard Debassige, MChigeeng FN
• Tanya Gray, Aamjiwnaang FN

Lead by Keewaywin First Nation Chief Raymond Mason, Penny Carpenter (KO's Finance Manager and Acting Health Director), Darrin Potter (KIHS Principal), Donna Williams (KO Telehealth Regional Coordinator), Craig Hardy (KIHS teacher, Fort William First Nation) and Natasha Francis (Youth Worker, Akwesasne) travelled to Ottawa for the Connecting Aboriginal Canadians gathering (March 14, 15, 16) and the World Summit of the Information Society international preparatory workshop (March 17, 18). Carl Seibel, FedNor's Telecom Project Officer attended the WSIS workshop.

Meetings and presentations filled everyone's agenda during this week. Feedback from conference participants indicate that Keewaytinook Okimakanak's work in connecting remote and rural First Nations is being recognized by many people attending this event.

Two recent letters received from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs provide evidence about the delays, the finger pointing and the inability of INAC to put people and children first, as the community leaders work through the required paper process to deal with getting a new school. The children that are remaining in the community are presently using existing Band owned structures that were built by the community for other purposes but are now having to be used as classrooms.

The following two letters highlight the time it takes to get decisions to be made and the work completed that is part of the problem with getting a proper educational facility put into place for the Fort Severn children.

Letter from the Minister of Indain Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians

March 7, 2005

Chief Roy Gray
Fort Severn First Nation
General Delivery
Fort Severn, ON P0V 1W0

Dear Chief Gray:

This is in response to your letter of December 13, 2004, addressed to the Prime Minister and forwarded to me, concerning the Fort Severn First Nation school's closure.

I acknowledge your frustration with resolving the problems associated with the school closure. The Department's Ontario regional officials have met with you and your Council on several occasions to establish what actions are required and which activities can be supported. I encourage you to continue working directly with the regional officials to make progress in this matter. I understand that December 2004, you agreed to contract an external group to provide an independent building analysis that departmental officials requested August 2004. This is viewed as a positive advancement, as a assessment is critical for determining supportable interim and long-term solutions to the school's closure.

As you are aware, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada has agreed to support the renovation of existing community facilities to address life safety issues as a temporary measure. Departmental officials are available to support your Fist Nation, Tribal Council, and your consultant in developing this project.

The Department has also agreed to support a school capital planning study which will consider future education space requirements in your community. This component is important; however, the building assessment and provision of safe interim school space will be the initial priority.

Should you require assistance, please contact Mr. Dan Baxter, Capital Management Officer, Ontario Region, North, at (807) 624-1569.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention.

Yours sincerely,

The hopes of this project is to show youth in the NAN territory other youth's success as a means of inspiring, giving positive examples, sharing stories, and mentoring. WE all need positivity and hope as the National Chief shared with us yesterday. Our young people need to be safe, need to be healthy, and need to dream and live their lives to their fullest. This is a huge task for NAN since over 50% of our population in the NAN territory are under the age of 16.

The youth who are participating in the Poster Series are a true testimony to success that our youth have, and can have with some hard work, creativity, determination and a positive self esteem.

When given the opportunity to figure out how we can reach out to youth in the NAN territory, posters were decided as a method to educate communities on the issue of bullying and to profile some of our most successful youth.

By using our own youth, we show our own youth several things:

• They are successfully contributing to society.
• Their words and picture can motivate other youth.
• Their image sends a strong message that Aboriginal youth are strong, and healthy.
• NAN youth take a stance against bullying.
• A life without violence is possible.

For many Aboriginal youth today, it is not uncommon that we face great difficulties. From an adult point of view, since I am no longer a youth, I see the issues that our youth face. When the police see more than one Native youth together in the streets, they sometimes are labeled being in a gang, our youth are labeled shy, our youth are also labeled at risk. Is this always true? I think that part of empowering our youth is standing strong, and showing that we can do many things. Not just what the mainstream society wants us to be.

When the call out for the poster series took place, youth were nominated by a community member or leadership.

All youth met the following criteria:

• Were an inspiration to someone
• Lived a life without violence
• Mentored other youth
• Had a positive attitude

It gives me great honour to introduce the youth selected      

• Catherine Cheechoo, Moose Cree
• Duane Moonias, Neskantaga
• Rebecca Kakegakumic, Sandy Lake
• Christina Morris, Wagoshig
• Kevin Kakegamic, Keewaywin
• Amy Iserhoff, Ginogaming
• Rachael Yesno, Fort Hope
• Darren Spence, Marten Falls
• Paige Mawakeesic, Sioux Lookout
• Jon Lazarus, Moose Cree

Click here to see some pictures from the Embrace Life gathering in Thunder Bay, March 2005.

 These youth all have amazing stories to share and to tell. They are all working with other youth, and are involved. They are finding solutions for the problems by helping out and by caring for other youth.

We chose to also do a poster on the Dennis Franklin Cromarty Highschool Senior Boy's Volleyball team to recognize their atheletic excellence. They have won three consecutive championships in the city of Thunder Bay, and it is wonderful to see their hard work, team work and individual commitment to play this sport reflect in their winnings.

Luis Barnola, ICA Program Officer for the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) organized a video conference meeting between K-Net team members (Dan and Brian), Guelph University partners with KO (Dr. Ricardo Ramirez and grad student Andres Ibanez) and two delegates from Guatemala and Argentina (Marleny Tzicap and Ignacio Francisco Prafil). Click here for more information about the guests from Central and South America.

Click here for some pictures from the meeting

The guests are in Ottawa as part of the Connectivity and Indigenous Peoples Conference. "Marleny Tzicap, a K'iche' Mayan from Momostenango, Guatemala, an expert in linguistics and in the use of ICTs for education, and Ignacio Francisco Prafil, a Mapuche from the Southern Region of the Province of Rio Negro in the Patagonia, Argentina, will speak at the "Promoting Cultural Diversity through ICTs" panel."

Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund Hosts First Nations Renewable Energy Forum with leading Industry in Thunder Bay

An impressive line up of First Nation energy developers, regulatory agencies, power authorities, technologists, energy consultants, lawyers and investment firms are among the experts who will be in Thunder Bay on March 22nd and 23rd 2005 for the ground breaking Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund "First Nations Renewable Energy Business Forum". This intensive two-day business forum will focus on the essential processes for renewable energy projects and aims to provide a meeting forum for regional First Nations and major industry players.

Hosted by Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund in partnership with the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs, the forum involves presentations from First Nation project developers and leading energy organizations such as Ogilvy Renault Barristers & Solicitors, Ontario Waterpower Association, Acres International Ltd, McMillan Binch LLP , Horizon Legacy, Regional Power Inc, Hydro One, and BLG Law Firm, to name a few.

Says Michael Fox, Partnership Development Advisor for Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund; "We are thrilled to see so much interest from both the First Nations and the wider private sector for this critical business forum. The uptake for this regional event from Bay Street and Toronto has been better than expected and I am quite pleased with the key stakeholders and private sector partners who are participating in order to outline the current processes for First Nation renewable energy projects. I believe that this forum will provide both strategic information and a networking function that will help fill a void that has been evident for a long time when it comes to First Nation energy initiatives."

Topic presentations will include; "MNR Waterpower Policy and Procedural Directives", "How to Negotiate an Effective Power Purchase Agreement", "The Energy Pathfinder Program" and "How the next RFP may look and the role of the Ontario Power Authority", amongst others.

The conference will also play host to a press conference announcement on Wednesday 23rd 2005 at 11.00am in the Scandia Room at the Valhalla Inn regarding a major First Nation/Private sector energy initiative.

Registration for the event is still available. Those interested should contact: 807 767 4443 or 807 623 5397.

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Media Enquiry Contact:
Stephanie Ash
Firedog Communications;
Tel: 807 767 4443 or email: stephanie@firedogpr.com

PRESS RELEASE
Weaving Threads of Healing

Weaving the world together can be more than a metaphor!

 “Some say our world is hanging by a thread. I say—a thread is all we need.  I embrace the hope that our shining thread of humanity will someday weave our nations into a single tapestry of compassionate diversity.”  - Terry Helwig founder of ‘The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth’

On March 21, Sioux Lookout residents and visitors will have the opportunity to participate in an inspirational international initiative called The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth. The Anti Racism Committee and local Thread Ambassadors, Laurel Wood and Garnet Angeconeb invite everyone in the community to bring a thread to add to an actual world tapestry that is being woven from fibres collected from around the world.  The project has been integrated into Race Relations Week 2005, which has taken on the theme Weaving Threads of Healing.

“I believe that in our hearts we all have room to always strive for better understanding and improving relations - within ourselves, our families, our communities and nations, and within our world,” says Angeconeb. “We all must learn from our past mistakes and build upon our hopes and aspirations for a better tomorrow. That's healing and reconciliation.”

People are encouraged to bring their thread offering to a gathering, Monday, March 21 at 7 pm at St. Andrew’s United Church. Participants may wish to select a thread that carries personal meaning. Ribbons from baby booties, shoe laces, fishing line, thin strips of clothing, home-spun thread, even kite tails have been tied on. If you wish to share a personal “story” about your thread, you will have the opportunity to do so.

As the founder of The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth, Terry Helwig is overseeing the gathering and weaving of single threads sent by thousands of people worldwide. Over 50 countries are represented thus far. Fishing line, guitar strings, yarn, shoe laces, thin strips of cloth, ribbon, and dozens of other fibres -- including a piece of bicycle tire -- have been woven into World Cloths called Hope Materializing, Threaded Harmony, Ariadne's Prayer and Weaving Reconciliation. Different weavers in El Salvador, Guatemala, Greece, India and the United States have woven 25 of the projected 49 panels.  The 26th panel, the first for Canada, will be woven right here in Sioux Lookout.

“I am very pleased to have this opportunity to gather together members of our community to participate in collecting threads and weaving a panel of Weaving Reconciliation”, Wood says. “When I offered to weave a panel for the project, I requested Weaving Reconciliation because I thought the theme of this World Cloth was very appropriate to our community with its population of approximately half Euro-Canadian and half First Nations people.

Aboriginal people in Canada are actively seeking healing and reconciliation from the consequences of years of residential schooling and the abuses (physical, sexual, cultural, spiritual and emotional) that occurred in these institutions.  They continue to struggle with the ongoing intergenerational effects of systemic racism.

I hope that the gathering during Race Relations Week will symbolically unite our hopes for healing and reconciliation through the gathering and tying of threads. When our threads are gathered, they will be tied to those collected in other parts of the world and people will be encouraged to contribute to the weaving of the panel.  I believe the cloth we create will contain diversity, love, pain, hope and prayers and connect us to caring people throughout the world.”

Helwig says, "The cloths are meant to inspire hope in a fractured world. Their purpose is to celebrate our diversity, promote tolerance and encourage compassionate community. Sometimes we wonder what difference one person can make. When you see these cloths, made one fibre at a time, you begin to see that every thread, be it kindness or cotton, can and does make a difference."

Seven cloths will be woven, in different colours, to represent each continent. Each cloth is made of seven panels. Helwig says the number seven is a symbolic number of wholeness and completion. She anticipates the weaving will be completed by 2007, at which time she will consider a permanent home for the cloths. She adds, "I think these cloths would look nice in the United Nations, don't you?" Each of the seven cloths, resembling large wall tapestries, measures approximately 12 x 7 feet. Helwig's ultimate vision is to exhibit all seven multi-colour cloths in an 84-foot circle called Behold and Be Held. Outside the circle, viewers could behold the diversity of the cloth; inside the circle, viewers could experience being held by the threads of humanity.

"What touches me, " Helwig says, "Is that these cloths have become a woven repository of goodwill. People send threads because they care, because they want to live in harmony, because they have hope for a better world. What makes these cloths so special is that they are woven, not with just people's threads, but with their love, hopes, prayers, good intentions and, sometimes, even their pain."

What better way to symbolically mend our world than with a thread? The modest thread, a powerful archetype of creation, resonates deeply within the human psyche. In myth, Grandmother Spider weaves the four directions; in physics, the string theory suggests that the subatomic structure of our universe resembles loops of vibrating strings, and, in human experience, each of us enters the world threaded to our mother.

If someone doesn’t have a thread with personal meaning they can contribute any string or yarn or chose something from the threads provided at the gathering. Groups or organizations may wish to make a group thread. Anyone who can’t attend the gathering you can still contribute a thread by calling one of the numbers below. If anyone has questions about contributing a thread they can call one of our local Thread Ambassadors, Garnet Angeconeb (737-3169) or Laurel Wood (737-2174). 

More information about the project can be found on the web site of The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth, at www.threadproject.com.

Contact Laurel Wood
lawood@nwconx.net
737-2174

Geordi Kakepetum, Executive Director of Keewaytinook Okimakanak along with Ross Mamakeesick, All-Weather Road Coordinator and Dan Pellerin, Kuhkenah Network Manager met with the Honourable Andy Scott, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada on Sunday, March 13. Roger Valley, MP for the Kenora riding along with Robert Howsam and other members of the INAC team attended the meeting which was held in Kenora.

Geordi present the INAC minister with eleven briefing notes highlighting some of the different issues being addressed by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak team. The briefing notes contained the issues, background and requirements presently facing ...

• the Keewaytinook Internet High School
• the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Telehealth Initiative
• the Kuhkenah Network
• the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute
• the KO Regional Management Organization with Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program
• the KO Health Services
• the KO Financial Assistance Services initiative
• the KO Education Advisory Services
• the KO All-Weather Road initiative
• the KO National Satellite Initiative with Industry Canada
• the KO First Nations Infrastructure Requirements (ie Fort Severn's school, Keewaywin's water treatement plant, etc)