Media.Knet.Ca

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.

Students from Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School’s newspaper club have launched their new webpage. The site can be accessed at http://dfcscoop.piczo.com

Parents, guardians and friends of those attending at DFC are encouraged to come and check out this page that is still currently under construction.

Events and happenings that occur at DFC will be posted to the site.

If you have any questions, comments or would like to share your feedback, the student news department would greatly appreciate hearing from you. You can email the site's moderator at JamesBen@dfc.nnec.on.ca

Keewaytinook Okimakanak is once again sponsoring a First Nations Youth employment project as one component of Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program. A training workshop is being held in Thunder Bay this week at the Fort William First Nation Learning Centre (site of the Fort William KiHS classroom).

Twenty-eight youth from different First Nations across Ontario are hired to work with their local school and community supporting and developing ICT applications and new opportunities.

The YICT workshop in Thunder Bay is happening this week. Due to weather and other circumstances, several members of this project had to remain in their home communities. They are still able to participate in the workshop because all the training is being conducted online. It is also being archived and video taped to be put together into a series that will be used in future training initiatives.

Angie Fiddler and Tabatha Jourdain are coordinating this workshop. Jesse Fiddler, Cal Kenny and Aaron Hardy are working together to support the youth workers and deliver the training. Angus Miles, the lead instructor in the Cisco Academy ITE 1 course that everyone is taking, was unavailable to attend the session as planned but the rest of the team has been able to complete the planned agenda and successful deliver the workshop objectives.

Day One, Tuesday November 8, of the Youth IT training moved to the KO Research Institute for due to circumstances beyond anyone's control. KORI's offices are located at 135 Syndicate north, Suite 405. The last two days of the workshop  continued, as scheduled, on Wednesday and Thursday, at Fort William First Nation.

Click here to see pictures from Day 1 of the workshop.

Click here to see pictures from Day 2 of the workshop.

Other pictures of Day 1 can be seen by clicking here.

Revival Meetings in Cat Lake

November 11 - 13, 2005

Guest speaker

Roy  Moskotayenene

from Bloodvein, Manitoba

Musicians from Bloodvein and Northwest bay

FOR MORE INFO

PLEASE CALL.

Elsie Gray @ (807) 347-2461       WORK      (807) 347-2100

Alex Bighead @ (807)-582-3176

Chief Charlie Okeese of Eabametoonmg First Nation speaks out...

I am the Chief of a remote First Nation community in Northern Ontario who has witnessed the indignant outrage by non First Nations when the plight of a community was so severe that one wondered why Canadian aid was going elsewhere around the world. What you read in the papers today about the plight of First Nations and their drinking water issue, it is not something new. Across Canada hundreds of First Nation communities suffer the same fate, and it is not just water, every aspect of our lives as Indian people is subject to the tyrannical rule of the Federal Government. Even the Provincial Government negotiated a ‘who’ll pay’ deal before evacuating seriously ill Kasechewan First Nation members.

The fact that most sewer treatment plants are above the water intake lines in First Nation Communities may seem odd to some and of indifference to others but to us, it is a fact of life. The fact that we are subjected to the Political whims of a Federal Government, who see no voter value in us, is our reality.

The fact that most Canadians don’t care until the headlines unfold, is a testament to the level of caring that really exists.

The fact that the Federal Government will stand tall and say this is how many Billions of dollars we gave to the Indians is untrue, you ask the Auditor General how much of those Billions really get to the First Nations.

The fact that they raise the management bar so high that even Municipalities would have a hard time complying and meeting the federal demands is OK after all it’s us, not you.

Research The U.N standards and that of the Kyoto Accord and ask the world for a definition of a Third world country then compare that to an Indian Reserve and you’ll find the similarity’s eerily striking.

What makes it so easy for the Ontario Government to announce a $15 million Far North Bedrock Mapping Initiative when its second class citizens (First Nation people) are living in poverty?

To add insult to injury, the Ontario Government also decided by legislation to take a 20% Winfall Tax on the Casino Rama revenues designated and legislated to benefit Ontario First Nations who can’t access normal channels of financing for economic development.

I don’t have all of the answers, but when I see my community members boiling water, paying between $0.80 and $1.00 per kilowatt hour for electricity that you pay 5 cents for and paying more than $10.95 for a bag of milk, I have to know that the Federal way is not working.

If you, the citizens of Canada want to help, then support us in calling for a complete honest and open review and revamping of the current system, stop this Government and all others to come from equating our welfare to a dollar figure. It’s time for change and Canada we need ALL of you to help.

 NOT PAY………..  HELP!!

Chief Charlie O’Keese
A proud member of Eabametoong First Nations
And a proud Canadian

K-Net's Network Manager, Dan Pellerin, is in Calgary attending the Assembly of First Nations Economic Forum. He is participating in the forum to map out a First Nations economic development position to be carried to the First Ministers' Meeting at the end of November in Kelowna, BC. One important message is the need for First Nations to be adequately funded to deliver quality education and health services in their own communities. Click here is see the AFN Economic Forum program agenda (PDF document).

KO Telehealth (KOTH) received funding from Canada Health Infoway (CHI) to document its operations and management structure as a model for other First Nations telehealth projects in the country. 

The documents and reference material will be archived by CHI on their database that everyone is invited to use when they sign on as a member. There is already a large collection of valuable resource material on their searchable database. Click here to complete the registration to access the e-Health KnowledgeWay Portal. 

An animated presentation showing how the various communication tools used in the delivery of telehealth share information is available online. Everyone is invited to guide the patient throughout an ideal telehealth office where they can see all the different telemedicine tools being used by the Community Telehealth Coordinators, the doctors and the nurses to share and access patient information. By clicking on each of these different devices, the viewer will then see how the information is transmitted within a secure and safe network. Jesse Fiddler, in Sandy Lake First Nation, was contracted to produce this Flash presentation.

The animation requires the latest version of Macromedia Flash to display properly on your computer. Click here to check out the Flash presentation providing you with a digital tour of a community telehealth station.

The critical role that the Community Telehealth Coordinators (CTCs) perform in the development and delivery of community-based telehealth is captured in a 17 minute DVD video. This production, lead by Cal Kenny - K-Net's Multi-media Producer, is broken up into smaller chapters that are available on-line. Click here for the KOTH web page with links to these videos.

The project management for the production of this telehealth documentation initiative was lead by the folks at the KO Research Institute.

Kwayaciiwin District Educational Resource Centre is presently advertising for 3 staff positions to assist Sioux Lookout district First Nations schools in implementing the district Kwayaciiwin bilingual/bicultural elementary curriculum guidelines. These postions are to be located in Sioux Lookout with travel to the First Nations. Each job is a full-time, term position from December 2005 to August 2006.

Click on the job title to read all the information on the Northern Nishnawbe Education Centre (NNEC) web site.

• Assistant Projects Coordinator - closing date of Nov 30
• Resource Teacher - closing date of Nov 18
• Writer Artist/Illustrator - closing date of Nov 18

Dick Mackenzie has installed a live web cam at his place overlooking Pelican Lake for everyone to enjoy the view that he gets to see each day. He has made this service available as part of his business (Sweet Water Cruises), offering criuses on the lake.

Click here to see the live images of Sioux Lookout and Pelican Lake from his location. (must download plug-in to display the image)

Keeweaytinook Okimakanak is hosting another live web cam in Sioux Lookout that looks north along Eighth Avenue from their Sioux Lookout office. Click here to check out this camera (must download plug-in to display the image)

To see live web cams located in communities across Ontario visit http://www.2ontario.com/webcam/home.asp