Media.Knet.Ca

Wesley McKay and Franz Seibel travelled to Ottawa to join other researchers at the National Aboriginal Health Organization's conference this week.

The focus of the meeting was Aboriginal Health Research and was highlighted by the the release of NAHO's Regional Health Survey (RHS).  The principals of OCAP (Ownership, Control, Access and Possession) are the cornerstone of NAHO's community-based research agenda.

The survey consists of community-based and owned research. Data Warrior was a term coined to describe those dedicated to protecting First Nations Information and upholding the First Nations Principals of OCAP. The Minister of State (Public Health), the Honourable Carolyn Bennett PC, MP spoke of a health care system that was not a repair shop for sick people but that health consits of living a healthly life, helping your neighbor and building strong communities. The presiding elder spoke of looking to your left and right to greet and love your neighbor. Willie Ermine discussed Ethical Space, a space between two individuals that needs to be considered when two people meet, whether it be for research or other purposes. That space needs to be filled with respect, friendship and a reciprocal relationship when conducting research. 

Jim Dumont discussed how a standard has been created to rate the health of First Nations in a western fashion. However he suggested that an aboriginal standard of health be created which includes physical, mental, cultural and emotional health. He also coined the phrase "indigenoscity". Other sessions included the experiences of the RHS on establishing a research model, ethics committee and best research practices. A workshop discussing research in Elsipogtog FN, NB echoed the best practices of the RHS committee and added many others. 

During the gathering, Wes and Franz manned a display booth celebrating the work of KO, especially K-Net, KOTH and KO Health. Wes and Franz are expecting a series of follow up meetings between KO and other First Nations health organizations. To see pictures from the conference click here

The IP telephone business case produced by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute (KORI - http://research.knet.ca) for K-Net's IP Telephone project is now available on-line. This IP telephone project is supported with funding from Industry Canada's FedNor program. Click here to see the entire IP telephone business case (PDF - 1.9Mb).

The K-Net Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone network is an internal telephone system linking data telephones across the region. The IP telephone network was developed as a result of community demand, the community broadband network, band and tribal council leadership initiative and funding through a number of partners. It is an application built on the existing Kuhkenah Network (K-Net). The long-term objective of K-Net is to support a wide-area network (WAN) of local community networks linked across the country to other networks that share and distribute broadband services and programs benefitting local communities. See http://phones.knet.ca/ for more information about how this service works and for IP telephone contact extension numbers.

The objective of the IP telephony network is to compliment the analogue network with IP phones using data lines in locations where the majority of calls are made to locations within the network. Calls made to Sioux Lookout, Dryden, Wabigoon, Balmertown, Cochenour and Red Lake are now considered local calls. Also a call made from one network registered data phone to another is a local call. Using data lines for these calls significantly reduces long distance costs and increase usage and viability of the community network’s data service. This new telephone network is now operational in five of KO’s affiliated communities and Slate Falls First Nation. See Appendix A for a case study of the new Slate Falls IP telephone network and their local Application Service Provider that was created to manage it and the other data connection applications. Telephone network access is now available in all the major service centres in the KO affiliated communities and in KO’s administrative offices. In October 2005 there were over 230 registered phones and over 100 voice mail accounts.

The IP telephony network infrastructure, and management structure was created as a result of Industry Canada’s FedNor Demonstration Project to provide Internet Protocol Telephone over a private network. Some of the key deliverables within this project includes:

• Install 30 IP telephones in the various community programs each of KO’s 5 First Nations and 60 phones in KO administration offices of Sioux Lookout, Thunder Bay and Balmertown.
• Compare long distance telephone usage and costs to those of the same period the previous year, for a sample of First Nations and the KO offices in order to identify savings.
• Train a community technician to install, maintain and provide local technical support to the local IP telephone system and its users.
• Produce a business case and model IP telephone deployment plan to be shared with neighbouring First Nations and agencies to assist them in assessing the merits of using IP telephone services.

The purpose of the business case is to outline the development process of creating and maintaining sustainable community IP telephone local area networks (LAN). It is now being posted on-line so interested First Nation communities and their service agencies might evaluate the benefits of establishing and utilizing an IP telephone network and other broadband applications made available through local community data networks.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute (KORI) and Community Network Technicians (CNTs) collected the Bell Canada long distance telephone bills of the three main service centres in five KO affiliated communities. The data suggests that between 2003 and 2005 the use of the LAN demonstrated an average cost savings of 30% in long distance charges. The savings can be attributed to lower long distance rates and the use of the broadband network as staff can now use e-mail, videoconference and IP phones as a substitute to using an analogue phone line. Because the new IP telephone service is still under development it is unclear what portion of that savings can be attributed to the IP telephones. However by calculating the substitution rate, (the current number of analogue long distance calls that could be made between data phones) it can be determined what long distance savings can be expected as the network is fully utilized. The average substitution rate for KO’s communities is 85% for the clinic, 40% for the band office and 45% for the school.

From the Timmins Daily Press

School finally coming

Tayo Adesanya - Local News - Monday, November 14, 2005 @ 07:00

After a five-year struggle, students in Attawapiskat will finally get a new elementary school, that will be up to the same standard as the rest of the province.

MP Charlie Angus (NDP — Timmins-James Bay) and MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP — Timmins-James Bay) announced Friday a new elementary school will be built in Attawapiskat.

Bisson said Indian and Northern Affairs Canada has given the Attawapiskat education authority and band council the go-ahead to begin construction.

“You should have heard the kids,” said Chief Mike Carpenter. “I went to the school, I told the students by announcing it on the radio. They were all yelling.

“One of the teachers told me one of the kids had remarked, ‘Gee, now I’ll be able to graduate with a new school.’”

The fight for a new school began five years ago when the old school was closed after thousands gallons of diesel fuel spilled due to errors in construction of a fuel oil pipeline .

Since 2000, the students have been studying in up to 19 portables, said education consultant and former director of the Timmins Board of Education Bill Blake.

“It’s not a good situation at all,” he said.

“I don’t think there was any dispute over the need for the school. The students in Attawapiskat needed a school built to provincial standards, and it looks as if they’ll get that now.”

Bisson and Angus said the federal government had previously promised a new building, but those plans never came to fruition.

“This has been a five-year fight … five years since the families pulled their kids out of the condemned school,” Angus said.

Angie Fiddler, KO's Youth Employment Coordinator, is in Tunis attending the United Nation's second World Summit of the Information Society. Jesse Fiddler attended the first WSIS gathering in Geneva in December 2003. Angie is documenting her experience on her web site at http://angiefiddler.myknet.org.

Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet requested proposals from Aboriginal youth from across Canada to attend this event and the Global Forum of Indigenous People. Angie submitted her proposal which was accepted along with five other First Nation youth from across Canada.

For more information about the World Summit of the Information Society visit their official site at http://www.itu.int/wsis

Rabbit and Bear Paws now considered fine art.

"The 18th century, will never be the same"

Visitors to Toronto’s annual Pow Wow held at the Rogers Skydome November 26th and November 27th this year may be surprised to see one of the selected artists in the ANDPVA’s 9th Annual Fine Arts Exhibit. Rabbit and Bear Paws, a colourful comic strip drawn by local First Nations artist Chad Solomon, was picked by the Association for Native Development in the Performing & Visual Arts to be part of this years display.

Rabbit and Bear Paws was selected for representing the theme of the Fine Arts’ Exhibit this year which is “Seeing in a Sacred Manner: The Shapes of All Things”

“Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, But anywhere is the center of the world and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I say the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as day-light and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy…”

- Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, 1863-1950

Rabbit and Bear Paws is set in 18th Century colonized North America and follows the story of two mischievous Ojibwa brothers as they play pranks and have amazing adventures using a traditional Ojibwa medicine that transforms them into animals for a short time.

New episodes of Rabbit and Bear Paws’ adventures can be found weekly at www.saymag.com. To read character biographies or to view missed installments, visit www.rabbitandbearpaws.com or vote for your favourite character at www.ayn.ca/AYNHome.aspx. Just scroll down the page to join the journey.

"Little Spirit Bear Productions" is a First Nations (Anishinabek, Ojibwa) Multi-Media company that was created in 2005 by Chad Solomon, grandson of a Native Traditional Healer and Justice Activist Art Solomon, to share the humorous adventures of Rabbit and Bear Paws.

Rabbit and Bear Paws is created and drawn with the guidance of Community Elders in collaboration with writer Christopher Myer. The first series of comic strips are based upon the teachings of the Seven Grandfathers (wisdom from the Anishinabek community) and are rapidly gaining enthusiastic fans for their vibrant and entertaining images of Native Traditions and Oral History.

Rabbit and Bear Paws is printed monthly in the community papers of "Anishinabek News" and "Niiji (Friends) Circle".

The Rabbit and Bear Paws graphic novel will be on sale in March 2006, along with a new installment of the comic strip series based on the second of the Seven Grandfathers' teachings.

Visit the The Toronto Pow Wow, the center piece of the Canadian Aboriginal Festival at the Roger's Centre (SkyDome) on Saturday November 26th and Sunday November 27th. As one of the chosen exibitors you can view Chad’s work as part of the ANDPVA’s 9th Annual Fine Art Exhibit,

For more information please contact chadsol@gmail.com

Sioux Lookout timber frame builder, Neville Bodsworth, is in the rainforest of South America working with a team of other members of the Timber Frame Guild (http://tfguild.org) constructing the Central Suriname Nature Reserve Visitor Center. Learn more about this special project and this group of volunteers by visiting http://tfguild.org/suriname/

A daily log of the raising of this building and picture display of the work being completed can be viewed at http://65.108.232.118/suriname/index.htm. The picture display requires Macromedia Shockwave to be viewed.

As well, one of the timber framers is maintaining a blog of his experience as part of this team. This blog contains pictures and stories about the work being undertaken. This story can be seen at http://jungleframe.blogspot.com/

One link from the blog is to the story of the Raleighvallen Rainforest School told by the four young people who live with their parents at the Central Suriname Nature Reserve. These students share their stories about living in the rainforest and being home-schooled can be seen at  http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6xt7v/index.html. This exciting view of their world provides very special and unique insights into the environment and conditions where this new building is being constructed. It also provides a very important model for other students to share their stories about where they live and attend schools.

In May of 2005, Keewaytinook Okimakanak and Canada Health Infoway initiated a project to codify and document the processes and systems developed as part of the KO Telehealth implementation process and to summarize lessons learned and emerging best practices in delivering telehealth services – the use of secure videoconferencing to improve and enhance access to clinical and health education and training services – in isolated First Nations.

As Canada’s largest and busiest First Nation governed telehealth network, this work anticipates widespread roll-out of Aboriginal and First Nations telehealth initiatives and supports shared objectives of improving telehealth coverage in isolated Aboriginal communities, increasing clinical utilization of telehealth services and supporting the adoption and diffusion of telehealth innovations by health service providers and First Nations and Aboriginal people in Canada.

The project was led by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute (KORI – http://research.knet.ca) and supported by KO Telehealth and K-Net managers and approved by the Keewaytinook executive. Brian Walmark led the project team at KORI and Krista Balenko at Canada Health Infoway. Products were developed by Jesse Fiddler, Cal Kenny, Wes McKay, Franz Siebel, John Rowlandson, Florence Woolner and Jennifer Morrow. KORI would like to thank community members in Sandy Lake and Keewaywin First Nation for their participation in focus group interviews and Community Telehealth Coordinators Ida Fiddler and Joshane Fiddler for their guidance and assistance during the community engagement sessions. ... Click here to read the entire PDF document (144 pages)

Table of Contents

PREFACE .... 1
PRODUCTS .... 1

PART 1: SUMMARY OF KO TELEHEALTH BUSINESS PROCESSES .... 2

SECTION A: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND HUMAN RESOURCES .... 3

• KO Telehealth Organizational structure .... 3
• KO Telehealth Job Descriptions .... 5
• KO Telehealth Start-up Roles and Responsibilities .... 16
• Major Human Resource Lessons Learned .... 25

SECTION B: COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND TRAINING .... 29

• Lessons Learned: Community Telehealth Coordinator Outreach .... 29
• Community Telehealth Coordinator Remote Training Plan .... 33

SECTION C: HEALTH SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS, DEPENDENCIES AND RISKS .... 40

• First Nations Partnership Development .... 40
• Effects of Nurse/Physician Turnover on Telehealth Service Delivery .... 46
• Telehealth Service Development Risk Mitigation .... 48

SECTION D: MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS .... 57

• KO Telehealth Governance Structure .... 57
• KO Telehealth Business Practices .... 59
• KO Telehealth Annotated Policies and Procedures .... 62

PART 2: FIRST NATIONS TELEHEALTH ENGAGEMENT .... 70

SECTION A: FIRST NATIONS ENGAGEMENT STRUCTURES, STRATEGIES AND COMPETENCIES .... 71

• Annotated Engagement Diagram .... 71
• Communication Tools and Approaches .... 75

SECTION B: EVALUATING EFFECTIVENESS AND COMMUNITY SATISFACTION .... 82

• Timeline and Diagrammatic Summary of Evaluation Framework Design .... 82
• Keewaytinook Okimakanak Indicators, Milestones and Benchmarks for Success.... 85
• Matrix of Evaluation Requirements .... 89
• Process Diagrams and Summary of Community Feedback .... 91

SECTION C: MIGRATING TELEHEALTH SOLUTIONS .... 92

• Migration Requirements with Lessons Learned and Considerations .... 92
• Overcoming Health Service Provider Barriers .... 103
• Observed Benefits of a Wellness Service Model .... 108
• Matrix of Community Health Needs and How Telehealth Addresses Needs .... 112
• KO Telehealth Development Summary .... 116
• First Nations Telehealth Development Glossary .... 120

SECTION D: Community Telehealth Coordinator Vignettes .... 123

PART 3: FIRST NATIONS TELEHEALTH NETWORK SERVICES MODEL .... 124

SECTION A: TELEHEALTH NETWORKING TOOLS AND SERVICES IN REMOTE FIRST NATIONS HEALTH CENTRES .... 125

• Interactive Multi-Media Flash Presentation .... 125

SECTION B: IMPLEMENTING AND SUSTAINING NETWORK SERVICES .... 126

• Sustainability Challenges and Lessons Learned .... 126
• Inventory of Network Services Delivered .... 130
• Partnerships Between KO Telehelath and First Nations Communities .... 133
• Network Security Measures .... 137
• K-Net/KO Telehealth Historical Development Timeline .... 138

From Cultural Survival - November 10 issue

Indigenous Peoples Present Demands at Fourth Summit of the Americas

By Darcie Mulholland

The second Indigenous Peoples Summit of the Americas, hosted by the Organización de Naciones y Pueblos Indígenas en Argentina (ONPIA) and the Assembly of First Nations in Canada (AFN), took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina from October 24-29. Indigenous groups met at the summit to draft a Declaration and Action Plan of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.

The final declaration calls for improvement of indigenous education, respect of communal intellectual property, and ratification by all American states of the International Labour Organization Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries.

Celeste McKay, International Liaison for the Native Women’s Association of Canada, said in a phone interview that the draft evolved from three different symposiums and the First Indigenous Summit Declaration held in Ottawa, Canada, in 2001. The draft was presented at the Fourth Summit of the Americas by a delegation of indigenous representatives from the Indigenous Summit, reported Indian Country Today.

The Summit of the Americas, the highest political forum in the hemisphere, is attended by the 34 Heads of State and Government in the Americas. The fourth summit, which took place November 4-5 in Mar de Plata, Argentina, was themed "Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance." The summit was combined with an indigenous forum, the first of its kind to take place at the Summit of the Americas, according to acting AFN representative Darrel McLeod.

"In Canada, as in many countries, those hardest hit by poverty are our indigenous peoples, and we must do far more to address the reality of this deeply human challenge," said Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada in his opening speech. "This is why I applaud the results of the second Indigenous Peoples Summit here in Argentina, for they provide a rich menu of approaches to redress the poverty gap and integrate our indigenous peoples into the economic mainstream," he said.

The key negotiating factor at the summit, which was not on the official agenda, was the implementation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The United States, Canada, and Mexico were among the 29 countries supporting the free trade agreement, while Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay wished to put off negotiations until the World Trade Organization (WTO) Summit in December in Hong Kong, IPS News reported. Venezuela openly opposed the FTAA, wanting the initiative abandoned entirely.

The disagreement primarily centered on United States farm subsidies, according to IPS. The indigenous declaration rejected "States’ assumption of the right to dispose of [their] lands, territories and resources," particularly through the implementation of agreements such as North American Free Trade Agreement, Plan Pueblo Panama, Plan Colombia, FTAA, and others.

Not all indigenous peoples feel that the Indigenous Summits are a true representation of indigenous concerns, however.

The first Indigenous Summit in 2001 was met with some hostility, as various indigenous leaders claimed that the "intention of the Canadian government appeared to be to make indigenous delegates endorse globalization agreements such as Free Trade Area of the Americas," Nilo Cayuquoe reported in Indian Country Today.

As a result of the dissention, several organizations including the Mapuche Confederation of Neuquen, the Indigenous Commission of the Argentinean Lawyers Association of Argentina (CJIRA), Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), and the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) organized a counter-summit—the Continental Summit—held in Mar de Plata, Argentina, October 30-November 1, three days prior to the president’s summit.

The Continental counter-Summit assembled its own declaration, which discusses the right to self-determination, the need for indigenous representation within international organizations, and the quick adoption of both the United Nation and Organization of American States declarations on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Sources and Further Reading:

[British Broadcasting Corporation] November 10, 2005

[Free New Mexican News] November 10, 2005

[IPS News Agency] November 10, 2005

Brought to you by the Union of Ontario Indians.
Funded in part by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada

This is a Niijii (“friends”) Circle event.

GOAL:  To demonstrate the importance of building communications capacity in Aboriginal organizations and communities

AGENDA . . . associated with Anishinabe teachings

Monday November 21, 2005
Faculty Lounge, Lakehead University
Thunder Bay, Ontario

6:00 – 9:00 pm Networking Social
   Welcoming reception and drumming

Tuesday November 22, 2005
Bora Laskin Theatre, Lakehead University
Thunder Bay, Ontario

9:00 am Welcoming/Opening Remarks

• Elder
• Maurice Switzer, Director of Communications – Union of Ontario Indians
• Chief Pete Collins, Fort William First Nation
• Fred Gilbert, President, Lakehead University

9:15 am Overview – Conference moderator

9:30 – 10:30 am RESPECT: Panel “misconceptions and stereotypes” - This panel will discuss misconceptions and stereotypes perpetuated by mass media coverage of Aboriginal peoples and issues.  SUGGESTIONS: Good News and Bad News – Fort William FN sawmill project and Pikangikum suicides.

• Chief Pete Collins, Fort William First Nation

10:30 am  Break

10:45 am – 12:00 HONESTY:  Plenary “best practices”
This session will consist of sharing of best practices in public education about Aboriginal issues; SUGGESTIONS: Niijii Circle Pages in North Bay Nugget

Workshop A: Challenges in covering Aboriginal issues: discussion involving journalists, First Nations leaders

• John Size, The North Bay Nugget, North Bay, ON
• Joyce Hunter, Wawatay News, Sioux Lookout, ON

12:00 – 1:30  LUNCH – Faculty Lounge, Lakehead University
Guest Keynote speaker Grand Council Chief John Beaucage, Anishinabek Nation will …

1:30 – 2:45 pm SHARING:  Plenary session panel: In this session there will be sharing of experiences by Aboriginal communications professionals.

• Ron Desmoulins, CBC Radio, Thunder Bay

1:30 – 2:45 pm  Media Relations Session
Workshop B: Media Relations 101: hands-on session involving First Nations leaders, staff working for Aboriginal organizations.

• M. Switzer, director of communications, Union of Ontario Indians

3:00 – 4:15 pm STRENGTH:  Plenary session panel: Building communications capacity - As party of the self-government process this session will consist of brief presentations on building aboriginal capacities.

• Marlene Brant-Castellano, RCAP research co-chair
• Lakehead/Confederation faculty
• John Beaucage, Grand Council Chief, Anishinabek Nation

4:15 pm  DEBWEWIN CITATIONS
Fourth annual presentation of Turtle Island’s only awards recognizing excellence in Aboriginal-issues journalism

4:30 pm Closing by Elder

Governor General Michaëlle Jean dined with Kashechewan members at Odawa Native Friendship Centre in Ottawa this Wednesday night.

Pizza, salad, and fruit were dished out to many in attendance at the Odawa Native Friendship Centre in Ottawa last night - all donated to support the Kashechewan people evacuated to Ottawa and now in their second week here.

Governor General Michaëlle Jean graced us with her presence as she dined, chatted, and discussed the situation surrounding the evacuees.  She held a newborn baby in her arms while chatting to the young mother and was advised that the birth occurred here in Ottawa.

Extending offers of further discussions on First Nation and Aboriginal community issues, she suggested that she may visit Kashechewan personally in the future.  Until then, an invitation to visit Rideau Hall may be extended by her.

The Odawa Native Friendship Centre has undertaken to provide suppers to Kashechewan residents during the weekdays as a means to offer them a break from their hotels and by offering homecooked meals.  Donations of clothing, food, and meat are still pouring in from surrounding communities, including deer and moose from the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan (Golden Lake).  Local Ottawa-based organizations and individual residents drop off their donations on a daily basis as well.

Many volunteers show up daily to help cook, serve, clean, and look after the young children.  The Odawa Native Friendship Centre is pleased to be able to help out our Northern brothers, sisters, and elders.