Media.Knet.Ca

From the First Nations Education Steering Committee website in BC ... announcing the series of workshops being held by INAC across the country. FNESC has some good reference material listed below for everyone to use to prepare for the review of this program.

The Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and, with representatives from the National Association of Indigenous Institutes of Higher Learning (NAIIHL) and the Inuit of Labrador, have begun a formal review of the Post-Secondary Education (PSE) Program for First Nation and Inuit students. This is the first major joint review of the PSE program. This review will look at the two components of the PSE program – student support (Post-secondary Student Support Program, or PSSSP including University and College Entrance Program (UCEP)) and institutional support (Indian Studies Support Program, or ISSP).

This review is an opportunity for the INAC, AFN, NAIIHL and the Inuit of Labrador to take a fresh look at the program and identify ways the PSE program can be improved and enhanced so that it better meets the current and future needs of First Nation and Inuit students and First Nation post-secondary education institutions. The overall objective of the review is to ultimately increase student participation and success in post-secondary education.

As a first step in seeking community-level input, a second consultation meeting, following up on the April meeting, will be held September 22, 2005 in Richmond, BC and consultation will continue at the 2005 FNESC Regional Sessions. First Nation PSE managers, leaders and representatives of First Nation post-secondary institutions will be invited to participate. This will ensure the Joint Working Group is informed by First Nation communities, students and institutions.

We encourage you to contact your local PSE manager and leaders to ensure that your views inform the national PSE program review. The information gathered at the September 22, 2005 National PSE Review Consultation meeting and the FNESC Regional Sessions will form BC region’s input to this important National PSE Review and will shape the future delivery of the PSE program for First Nations students and post-secondary institutes.

For First Nations Post Secondary Managers/Coordinators, FNESC has drafted a Workbook (PDF)which can be completed prior to attending the meeting on September 22nd. To assist in your community consultation process, FNESC has also provided a PowerPoint presentation.

NOTE: The following message was received from the Ghost River ReDiscovery program. Jesse Terry, a Lac Seul band member, recently returned from his 6 month job that he had in Finland through this program. He found the experience to be very valuable.

Hello,  

I am very excited to let you know that Ghost River Rediscovery is looking for 10 outstanding youth to participate in an International Youth Leadership Program in Kalinago Territory and the surrounding indigenous communities of Dominica. The International Youth Leadership program offers youth the opportunity to obtain international experience related to youth leadership development. This program, based on Aboriginal culture and traditions, exposes its participants to a variety of unique experiences. Additional information is available by contacting me at the e-mail address below. Please ask for copies of the Youth Leadership Program poster, Application and Team Leader job description. Please also refer to our website for more information! You can find out more about existing and past placement by going to the Youth Leadership Section. www.ghostriverrediscovery.com

 Please pass this information on to anyone that might be interest. We look forward to receiving applications!

 All My Relations,

 Candace St.Denis
Program Assistant
Youth Leadership Program
Ghost River Rediscovery
#303, 227 - 10 Street NW
Calgary, AB T2N 1V5
PH: 403-270-9351
Fx: 403-270-9371
email: ylpadmin@ghostriverrediscovery.com
www.ghostriverrediscovery.com

Dr. Susan O'Donnell of the National Research Council (NRC) presented a paper on the founding meeting of the group, Research in Information and Communication Technologies with Aboriginal Communities (RICTA) that took place in Balmertown in March of this year. Susan attended the Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) Conference in South Africia this past week to do several presentations. 

The paper was co-written with Brian Walmark of the KO Research Institute. It outlines the activities of the founding meeting including the community visit to Deer Lake and the nation-wide video conference chaired and facilitated by Brian Beaton's K-Net Services Coordinator.

To learn more about the paper, go to the RICTA website. See the CIRN 2005 program...

The Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal's Sunday, August 28 issue, has four special stories about the importance of the new Northern Ontario School of Medicine and its first class of students that will be starting on Monday. The four stories include:

• Ready to operate - presenting some of the work that went into getting NOSM to its present position.
• Med school demographics - providing some interesting statistics about the students making up the first class of NOSM including the fact that 6 of the 56 students are Aboriginal.
• Med school good for local economy - discusses the financial impact that NOSM has on the local and regional social and economic environment
• Med school dreams come true in hometown - profiles how one medical student from Thunder Bay worked hard to be among the first class of students.

The final report of the Kuhkenah Network of SMART First Nations presents the success story of the completion of this Industry Canada Smart Communities demonstration project. The report highlights the achievements, lessons learned, recommendations and how the work has grown beyond the original project goals and deliverables.

Click here for a copy of the 75 page report (860K - PDF) - This project officially began in April 2001 and end in March 2005. But it was in the summer of 1999 that the first Expression of Interest was submitted by Keewaytinook Okimakanak to Industry Canada indicating our interest in becoming Canada's Aboriginal Smart Communities demonstration project. The work continue ...

HIGHLIGHTED RECOMMENDATIONS (there are many other recommendations for communities and government contained under each of the project activities and within the final project evaluation that can be found at http://smart.knet.ca/evaluation):

• Government investment in broadband infrastructure is required to ensure ALL First Nations are connected and able to access equitable on-line programs and services. Each remote and rural First Nation across Canada is unique and requires unique telecom solutions to accommodate local and regional opportunities. The goal to bring broadband connections into every community across Canada was initiated with Industry Canada’s pilot of the BRAND program. This goal remains incomplete due in part to inadequate funding. This goal must be reaffirmed by the Government of Canada with adequate resources to complete this task. The basket of "basic" services proposed by the CRTC must now be expanded and supported by the Government of Canada to include access to broadband and open network infrastructure as defined in the National Broadband Task Force report from June 2001.
• Government must commit to purchasing their services from community networks as a vehicle to deliver on-line services with Canadians rather than creating new, parallel private networks that threaten the sustainability of the local community networks. Along with the use of community networks, governments must take a leadership role in the use of ICTs to conduct their business. It is not enough to provide government information on web portals. Government officials need to adopt IP-based information sharing and reporting strategies (voice, images), including internet protocol (IP) videoconferencing and telephone services (Voice over IP - VoiP) to communicate with citizens and clients. The most effective way to deliver a national program to expand connectivity and telecommunications in First Nations across Canada has been the creation of the partnerships involved with Industry Canada’s First Nations SchoolNet program’s Regional Management Organizations (RMOs). The RMO model has been utilized effectively to deliver a variety of national First Nation initiatives. The regional model has been pioneered by government internally to deliver economic development and e-community facilitation across Canada through regional agencies such as Industry Canada’s FedNor initiative.
• For remote regions that want to control and own their networks, it's practically impossible to build a sustainability strategy based on traditional business and program delivery models. Rather, innovative and cooperative telecom policies and government programs are required to ensure equitable access and sustainable operation to the required infrastructure and applications.
• Technologies like IP-based video conferencing and telephony service can provide much needed revenue while offering residents and subscribers an alternative to traditional independent services. To maximize value and revenue video conferencing must deliver TV quality images, requiring two-way symmetrical services. Watch out for salesmen selling non-symmetrical connectivity products and services that remove limited financial resources from the region.
• Aggregate demand for video, voice, and data services across the community and provide an integrated solution to ensure a cooperative and sustainable local community network operation.
• Establish revenue generating services such as local network management, technical maintenance and assistance, website and portal development and hosting. These services will be valuable to businesses and organizations across the community.
• In order for a network to be sustainable in a small community, the community needs to be involved in all the development phases and ongoing operation as much as possible. This effort will ensure that all the local organizations and service agencies working with the community will be able to contribute to the ongoing operation and maintenance of the local network so everyone in the community can access these on-line services.
• Government policies and programs are required to support the development of local capacity and provide equitable resources for the local operation of these telecom solutions. Developing and sustaining broadband infrastructure and associated services are necessary and essential components for a healthy economic and social environment in all Canadian communities. For the communities where private sector telecom providers will not venture due to inadequate markets, governments must intervene and provide the communities with the resources required to construct and sustain these community broadband networks that will support their required applications. Program processes including funding applications, monitoring and reporting requiring multiple government stakeholders and partners must be streamlined and less onerous for the community applicant and must better reflect the project risks involved to produce successful results with local and regional government support systems (such as FedNor and accounting firms for financial auditing purposes).
• Locally deployed and operated telecom infrastructure and capacity building is essential to drive and sustain these communication tools for supporting local economic and social development opportunities. Investments in local human resource and skills development support the effective use of ICTs and broadband infrastructure by the people they are meant to serve. Strategic investments and supporting government policies and programs supports a healthy and growing environment that benefits all sectors of the Canadian society. These applications are required to support the ongoing operation of the community network and help pay the bills for the local services being provided.

Two upcoming Aboriginal women's gatherings found on the Canadian Women's Health Network will be focusing on issues relating to communities, health and our children.

National Aboriginal Women in Leadership Training Conference: " Our Children, Our Youth, Our Future"
October 19-22, 2005   Montreal, QC

Now in its sixth year, the Annual National Aboriginal Women in Leadership Training Conference brings together women from across Canada to develop leadership skills, network, exchange information, empower each other and recognize the accomplishments and talents of First Nations women.

For more information contact:

First Nations Training and Consulting Services
PO Box 69, Saanichton, BC   V8M 2C3
Phone: (205) 652-7097, Fax: (205) 652-7039
fntcs@telus.net
www.firstpeoplescanada.com/2005WIL.html

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Health Research Governance and Aboriginal Women Workshop

September 13-14, 2005   Vancouver BC

A Pre-Conference Workshop to precede the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada Annual Conference hosted by the ABORIGINAL WOMEN'S HEALTH AND HEALING RESEARCH GROUP

Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites
700 Old Lillooet Road
North Vancouver BC
V7J 2H5.

The Aboriginal Women's Health and Healing Research Group (AWHHRG) is a national network of First Nations, Métis and Inuit women researchers interested in community-based research focused on the health and healing of Aboriginal women, their families and communities. The AWHHRG receives financial support from the Women's Health Contribution Program, Health Canada and is working toward the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Aboriginal Women's Health and Healing.

*Participants *
Researchers, students and community members with an interest Aboriginal women's health and healing research are invited to participate in the workshop.

*Cost *
The general rate for the workshop is: $100.00 for both days or $50.00 for a single day. The student rate is $50.00 for both days or $25 for a single day. Lunch will be provided on both days .

Participation will be limited to 50 people and will be available on a first-come, first serve basis.

*Contact *
Interested parties should register with Cara Wehkamp prior to September 09, 2005. Please email carawehkamp@sympatico.ca for registration form.

from the NAN Decade for Youth web site at http://nandecade.ca ....

Youth Council Fall Meeting 05

The NAN Decade Youth Council and Trust Fund board (one in the same) is planning their fall meeting in Thunder Bay for September 17 & 18. You can learn more about the Decade Youth Council here!

They are also co-sponsoring a Youth Peace March in Thunder Bay on Friday, September 16th. The "Youth for Peace, Let's Stop Violence Now!" peach march will take place at 2pm on Friday, September 16th. Leaving the Lakehead Labour Centre at 2pm to Thunder Bay City Hall for a rally at 3pm. Youth BBQ and agency display at Metis Community Centre at 4pm. Youth Dance at Labour Centre, 8pm to midnight. All youth are invited to join.

The Regional Multicultural Youth Council in cooperation with the Decade Youth Council are planning this event to raise awarness about youth violence and substance abuse. It is part of the Northern students orientation activities. Download the very cool poster in PDF here

The BIG NEWS for this year is that the NAN Charitable Youth Trust Fund received their charitable status number in April. So, the Trust Fund is now a registered charity and board members have begun fundraising.

On Friday, August 26, the National Indigenous Community Satellite Network contact, Joe Lance of the Kativik Regional Government, received a letter indicating that the NICSN expression of interest for Round 2 of funding has been invited to proceed to the project development stage. The NICSN application is requesting two additional C-Band transponders to accommodate the various broadband applications being provided in remote Aboriginal communities across the northern parts of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. In total over 40 remote communities are to served by the satellite bandwidth being requested by NICSN from Industry Canada's National Satellite Initiative. For more information about NICSN, visit http://smart.knet.ca/satellite.

National Satellite Initiative - Round 2: Notifications of Interest

This round of funding consists of $85 million managed by Infrastructure Canada to fund the acquisition of satellite capacity, and possibly common ground infrastructure, for satellite-based broadband projects in isolated and remote communities across Canada where satellite is the only practical means of providing broadband access.

Round 2 of the National Satellite Initiative received 27 notifications of interest in funding for satellite-based broadband projects. From the above link to the NSI site the details about each submission, including contact names and telephone numbers can be found. Industry Canada-Infrastructure Canada thanks all interested parties for their participation in this broadband initiative.

August 25, 2005

Ontario Government Supports Northern Telecommunications

SIOUX LOOKOUT – The Ontario government is strengthening the North’s economic development potential by supporting two studies on telecommunications infrastructure, Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci announced today.

"Our government recognizes the importance of ensuring modern, reliable telecommunications infrastructure is in place across Northern Ontario," Bartolucci said. "These studies will help determine which areas lack these services and how best to make the technology accessible to all northerners."

The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) is providing $100,000 to NetCentral Community Communications Network, based in Sudbury, to conduct a cellular infrastructure study on behalf of all Community Based Networks (CBNs) in Northern Ontario. The study will provide a more complete picture of existing and required cellular infrastructure throughout the North.

NetCentral is also receiving $30,000 to conduct a gap analysis and needs assessment study within Northern Ontario’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector. This study will provide an overview of ICT services available in communities across the North and a complete baseline study for use in evaluating ICT development progress.

"We are committed to addressing the unique challenges faced by northerners," said Bartolucci, who also chairs the NOHFC. "These studies will help define strategies to improve telecommunications services in the North and lead to renewed economic prosperity."

"The need for extending cellular service and Information and Communications Technology is supported by municipalities throughout Northern Ontario," said David Courtemanche, Chairman of NetCentral and Mayor of the City of Greater Sudbury. "Once the gaps are identified, we can develop cost-effective solutions that offers widespread benefits to residents, municipalities, industry and tourists."

This NOHFC project is part of the government’s Northern Prosperity Plan for building stronger northern communities. The Northern Prosperity Plan has four pillars: Strengthening the North and its Communities; Listening to and Serving Northerners Better; Competing Globally; and Providing Opportunities for All.

-30-

Contacts:

Laura Blondeau
Minister’s Office – Sudbury
(705) 564-7454

Michel Lavoie
MNDM/NOHFC – Sudbury
(705) 564-7125

www.nohfc.com

www.resultsontario.gov.on.ca

Modernized Infrastructure Boosts Economic Development

KiHS is moving into its 6th year of operating!  There have been great strides made in the development of the program as it is ever changing to meet the needs of the students enrolled.  This year also brings new changes which will add to the delivery and diversity of what our communities need. 1.  KiHS is using a new platform this year called Moodle.  This allows for much more interaction and possibilities as we deliver online courses. 2.  KiHS is offering a selection of three grade 11 courses and a grade 12 English.  This will allow students who need that extra couple of core credits a chance to earn their OSSD. 3. The Vice Principal position is being moved to a northern community.  Freda Kenny, the KiHS VP will be working out of Keewaywin First Nation. KiHS is giving students opportunity to earn valuable secondary credits while remaining in their home community.  Many feel this is very important in that it allows for direct community, parental, and cultural involvement at a natural and needed level.  Students are earning valuable skills and adding to the rich technical base in their communities and in doing so getting closer to a high school diploma. If you would like to see our line up of courses this year, please visit the link here to see a copy of the application form and option sheet.  Maybe KiHS is just the place for you this year to pick up on your educational journey. If you have any questions, please contact the KiHS office at the numbers provided.  KiHS will be starting classes in the partner communities on the 6th of September.  Come in a check things out.  We will work with your towards your continued success. Darrin Potter KiHS Principal Tel Toll-free at 800 387-3740 Ex 51302 or 51298