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Archive - May 29, 2005

Fort Severn school building remains closed as another study required by INAC

May 29, 2005 - 9:50am | by Anonymous

The May 19 issue of Wawatay headlines "INAC insists on fourth study in effort to save mouldy school"

The reporter included an interview with the local MP, Roger Valley who clearly understands Fort Severn's concerns with the present school and its location with his comments in a side bar article about his visit to Fort Severn.

INAC insists on fourth study in effort to save mouldy school by Joyce Hunter joyceh@wawatay.on.ca

One study? Two studies? Maybe three studies will do. So far, Fort Severn has commissioned three studies in its bid to convince government bureaucrats one of its buildings is no longer safe to use. Wasaho School closed last spring because of mould contamination. Throughout the school year, Fort Severn’s leaders have continued to negotiate with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for school facilities for its kindergarten to Grade 8 students. Despite the community’s attempts to get “code compliant” temporary school facilities as a short-term fix and a funding commitment from INAC for a permanent new school, INAC is moving ahead with plans to conduct another study. George Kakekaspan, Fort Severn’s band projects manager, said INAC rejected the community’s proposals in favor of seeking the completion of an independent study on whether the community’s mould-contaminated school could be salvaged. “Fort Severn First Nation has commissioned three previous studies (on the now closed school) which identified health and safety concerns,” says a band council resolution, which grudgingly supports INAC’s proposal to fund a fourth study on the building. The 79 students, meanwhile, were reassigned to a home school program for the 2004-2005 school year because there were no alternate safe buildings for them to be schooled in, Kakekaspan said. “The parents want a proper school for their children,” he said. Tony Purdori, communications officer for INAC, said the department is interested in the independent study because there were such a wide range in estimates previously provided by different firms on the closed school. “A consultant was hired by the community who recommended that the school could be remediated,” Purdori said. “The First Nation got a second estimate (condemning the school).” Because there was such a wide range in the estimates, Purdori said the department felt compelled to pursue an independent study. Kakekaspan, on the other hand, calls this pursuit “a waste of time.” He explained the studies varied so widely in estimates because one, done by a firm specializing in indoor environmental pollutants, spoke only to the mould affecting the school. Kakekaspan also said the other two studies took into account the structural integrity of the school in addition to the mould. Kakekaspan said both studies condemned the building when structural integrity and mould were both factored into the study. “The second study, done by a contracting firm rather than an engineering firm in January of 2004, did not examine the fact the septic field is gone, the floor is rotten making it prone to collapse, or that the heating, ventilation, and recovery systems need to be replaced,” he said, adding there is a long list of structural problems with the school, which makes it unsafe. Kakekaspan said the study’s cost estimate failed to include local resources such as local labour, equipment, and accommodations, along with the non-construction costs associated with any project. “In 1999-2000, MCW/AGE Power Consultants out of Winnipeg, which did the original study, basically condemned the building,“ Kakekaspan said. The study is not even being mentioned by INAC. “In May 2004, Cook Engineering did the third study and that report condemned the building also. This study was a very detailed study that would address all concerns and was not mould specific.” A contractor has been named to carry out the independent assessment. Kakekaspan said the contractor will arrive in Fort Severn June 14. At that time, the school will be re-opened for a thorough examination and a report filed when the study is complete. Once the study is complete, INAC will know if it can be remediated. The community has petitioned Indian Affairs saying all remediation efforts will “ultimately prove unsuccessful” because the present site, which is located on top of a natural spring, is “far too ideal for mould growth.” In addition, no consultant, contractor or government agency will provide a ‘No Health Risk’ stamp of approval after remediation, Chief Roy Gray said. “They couldn’t guarantee any work that they do,” he said. “Also, we’ve had parents tell us they won’t bring their children into that school even after it’s remediated.”

Wawatay News Vol.32 #10 (May 19, 2005)

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Keewaytinook Okimakanak staff visits First Nation schools in Thunder Bay region

May 29, 2005 - 9:50am | by Anonymous

Under Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program, Keewaytinook Okimakanak's Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) is the Ontario Regional Management Organization providing a variety of support services for First Nation schools across the province.

Visits to the First Nation schools are providing the K-Net team with the latest information about the status of work that is required to ensure every First Nation is able to access broadband services for their community. As well, these visits are providing those communities that are planning for their broadband connections and applications with an opportunity to discuss and share development strategies and options so the local school is able to access broadband services. Various information documents are being shared to support the First Nations and their local schools in this community planning process. These documents and video material are available on-line and include:

This past week, Jamie Ray, K-Net's Helpdesk Technician made the trip to visit Constance Lake (elementary, high school, Adult Education and Alternative Education programs), Pic Mobert school, Pic River elementary and high school, Long Lake 58 elementary, Gingogaming high school, Aroland school and Rocky Bay school. Click here to check out the pictures from his visit to these schools.

On Thursday evening he wrote (in part) ... "Every place I stay at has no high speed in the community for connections in the hotels ... and trying to get on out on our dial-in service is next to impossible (busy all the time). So I was lucky tonight to have been able to dial-up to deliver this report ....

I spent some time with teachers and admin going through how to better control their internet connection and content filtering, discussed software (deepfreeze..cybersitter) and our experiences and recommendations for other schools like KiHS.

Also, lots of interest in moving connections into the community in Long Lake 58. .... And Rocky Bay's Ec Dev officer happened to have a meeting arranged next week with Fednor to discuss connections for that community.

All of the sites on the Superior Wireless connections are really eager and hoping for the upgrade to 10meg in Geraldton if it happens. I explained that we don't know if it will, and was careful to not make any false promises...but on the other had, I had to tell them this was in the works as any further building beyond the schools would add too much congestion to the shared T1 in Geraldton.

They all report that things have gotten a lot slower since the beginning.

In each community, where I could...I described the model community handout I had, and talked about options for getting connected and trying to make it sustainable. I was asked a couple times about $$$ for these types of things, especially in Long Lake 58. I know they are expecting some kind of follow-up in these terms, so I will prepare contact info for Brian to hopefully pick up where I left off. They were quite receptive, as well as Rocky Bay and Aroland, to us advising them in getting started and sharing our experiences.

Well...I'm out of breath, the words were flowing out faster than I could type. Unfortunately, I'd be here until Saturday trying to upload pics to the website. So I'll work on that as soon as I get something better than 19,200 dialup.Gotta love it."

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NICSN team requests additional satellite space & equipment from Industry Canada

May 29, 2005 - 8:24am | by Anonymous

Keewaytinook Okimakanak is partnering with the Kativik Regional Government (Nunavik region in northern Quebec) and the Keewatin Tribal Council (northern Manitoba) in the development and operation of the Northern Indigenous Community Satellite Network.

This past week, the team presented a Notification of Interest to Industry Canada's National Satellite Initiative Round 2 for additional satellite bandwidth to accommodate the variety of broadband applications that are now being carried on the network. All forty remote, Indigenous communities partnering with NICSN fit the NSI round 2 objective of requiring "broadband access where satellite is the only practical solution".

Applications that include video conferencing such as the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Telehealth project, the Internet High School, the telehealth needs in both northern Quebec and Manitoba demand additional bandwidth to deliver the type of service that terrestrially connected communities are able to access.

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