Media.Knet.Ca

From UNESCO news ... 

New youth internet radio initiative in the Caribbean
11-07-2007 (Kingston)
 
CYPCC Information Officer, Robert Bazil, broadcasting live from the Container Project in Jamaica.
© Commonwealth Youth Programme 

On 26 June, the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre (CYPCC) began broadcasting live on its new internet radio station.

Youth Vibes Radio, which has been launched in association with the Caribbean Internet Radio Portal (CIRP) and UNESCO, is currently in its testing phase but is already providing audio to millions of listeners around the world. It uses the m3w software, one of the best in the world in terms of quality.

CYPCC Regional Director, Henry Charles, hailed this new development as one of the most significant achievements in the history of the Centre. He noted that the radio station will provide an excellent avenue for collaboration with other Commonwealth organizations to deliver open and distance learning education for youth leaders and youth development professionals.

In the coming months, CYPCC will be developing a programme schedule to be posted on its website so that listeners can keep abreast of youth development events in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

The new internet radio station will broadcast live from the Information Department at the CYP Caribbean Centre in Georgetown, Guyana, and will have the capacity to transmit from other locations throughout the region by simple use of a laptop computer and other accessories.

The Regional Director has also stated that "this new initiative is an excellent tool to advance the youth empowerment agenda and to develop strategic partnerships with various strata of youth."

Under this initiative, CYPCC will be able to provide live and delayed coverage of its projects and events. The Centre also proposes to use the station to produce regular news clips, conduct interviews with programme staff, policy makers, partners and other stakeholders in youth development in the region.

CYPCC will use this medium to stimulate informed debate on such topics as effective youth participation, the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment, the CYP Youth mainstreaming agenda, youth empowerment strategies to create a drug and violence free society, etc. It should also be a useful tool for ongoing analysis of the global challenges facing youth in the 21st century.

Listen to Youth Vibes Radio at: http://www.mcclinks.com/cirp/index.html

The archive of the two hour meeting, connecting 28 sites from across Canada is now posted as a Windows Media video and can be watched by clicking on

http://streaming.knet.ca/events/Green_Meeting.wmv

Many of the participants in this session had several people attending the meeting at their site. The meeting provided everyone with an opportunity to learn about using videoconferencing as one way to support the protection of our environment.

Several comments were made throughout the meeting about learning from these types of experiences. The video archive of the session is a good way for everyone to take a look at what other people are seeing and hearing. The archived session provides people with an opportunity to examine the features of the session that are working well but it also gives viewers a chance to do some critical examinations on what might be changed to make the meeting that much more effective for all the participants.

Everyone is invited to visit http://videocom.knet.ca to learn more about the VideoCom research project that hosted this event. Please take the time to LOGIN either as new member of the K-Net Meeting Space or to join this particular group (if you have any problems logging in please contact K-Net).

After logging in please consider posting a message in the discussion forum so everyone can continue discussing and sharing stories and experiences that were started during Thursday's meeting.

As well, as local champions it is important that everyone continues to “spread the word” by working with others so they too can know about this work and the opportunities that videoconferencing brings to First Nations.

From Saskatoon Star Phoenix ...

AFN calls for massive investment in languages
Charles Mandel, CanWest News Service - July 12, 2007

HALIFAX -- An Assembly of First Nations call Wednesday for $2.6 billion over 11 years to revitalize aboriginal languages resonated with Deborah Jacobs.

The 50-year-old educator and member of British Columbia's Squamish Nation is minimally fluent in her own language. But then that's not surprising when out of the Squamish Nation's 3,600 people, only 15 are still able to speak their native tongue.

The problem came into sharp focus during the second day of the Assembly of First Nation's annual meeting on Wednesday. Band chiefs and delegates from across Canada listened as Katherine Whitecloud, a regional chief from Manitoba and a member of the Dakota Nation, told the gathering: "Our languages are the cornerstone of who we are as people. Without our languages, our culture cannot survive."

Whitecloud blamed the decline of the languages partly on the residential school system, in which aboriginal children were removed from their homes and sent to live in the schools, where they were abused for speaking their own languages, among other things.

Whitecloud said when the children of residential schools became parents, they refused to teach their own children native languages because the ability to do so had been beaten out of them.

The residential school system remained in effect for more than 100 years in Canada and the intergenerational effect of their "destructive policies" continue to be felt to this day, Whitecloud told the assembly.

"We are in a state of emergency respecting our First Nations' languages. Statistics show that 50 out of 53 First Nation languages are declining, endangered, or in danger of extinction," Whitecloud said. "First Nations languages in Canada are in a desperate state."

Statistics on fluency and other data on aboriginal languages is currently limited. At the assembly, questionnaires on the languages were circulated in an attempt to gather more information.

Whitecloud criticized the Conservative federal government for cutting $160-million in funding for aboriginal languages in 2006. In its place, the government made available $5 million per year for aboriginal languages, amounting to $5 for each native in Canada to learn aboriginal languages, Whitecloud said.

"These funding levels are unacceptable for First Nations, especially when you consider that in budget 2007, the federal government announced that they were going to spend $642 million over five years for the promotion and development of official languages in Canada."

She said the federal government has a legal obligation through various treaties and legislation to provide adequate resources to support First Nations' language preservation. "Canada has no national policy or legislation that recognizes the distinct status of First Nations' languages as the original languages of Canada,'' she said.

The AFN wants $2.6 billion over 11 years to follow through on its National First Nations Language Strategy that would see the languages back in common use by 2027.

Jacobs believes the money the AFN wants for language funding is reasonable given the language needs in the many aboriginal communities. "I find it's a rather thrifty number that's been put out there."

Chief Lance Haymond of Quebec's Eagle Village First Nation also supported funding for languages. "We need the investment to maintain and recreate our languages. Most of our culture, our history, is related to language."

He said in Kipawa very few people spoke Algonquin, the native language, and those who did are over 50 years of age. Haymond himself is bilingual -- in English and French. He doesn't speak his own language.

After Whitecloud addressed the assembly, a number of delegates expressed their frustration with the state of education and negotiations over funding with the federal and provincial governments.

"We're not the second, third or fourth: We're the first government of this land," one said to loud applause, before adding his annoyance over band chiefs being unable to secure meetings with government representatives.

Ontario government press release ...

Ontario Strengthens Remote Aboriginal Communities - Business Centres Will Create Economic Opportunities

    QUEEN'S PARK, ON, July 12 /CNW/ - The Ontario government is providing more than $1.4 million in grants toward the construction of business centres to promote prosperity in two remote First Nations, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs David Ramsay announced today.

    "Our government is committed to initiatives that foster enhanced economic activity and job creation within First Nations," said Ramsay. "By creating local centres of economic activity, this investment will contribute significantly to the prosperity of these far north Aboriginal communities."

    The two investments are being made through the Aboriginal Community Capital Grants Program, which funds projects involving the construction, acquisition, renovation and expansion of community and small business centres. Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation will use a grant of $746,064 to build a facility on-reserve that will house several recreational businesses. Bearskin Lake First Nation is applying a grant of $750,000 to construct a new business centre, as well as expand an existing one.

    Located within a 400-kilometre radius of Sioux Lookout, the closest urban centre, these First Nations are accessible only by winter roads or by air.

    "The vast distances separating these communities from the nearest economic hub present a barrier to their development and prosperity," said Ramsay. "The business centres will help these communities overcome this challenge by providing new opportunities for business and employment."

    More information on the program may be obtained by contacting Tim Sim at 416-314-7217 or by visiting the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs website at www.aboriginalaffairs.osaa.gov.on.ca/english/economy/grants.htm.

For further information: Anne-Marie Flanagan, Minister's Office, (416) 327-0654; Sofia Sousa-Dias, Communications Branch, (416) 326-3187