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Pacific Peoples' Partnership is pleased to announce

Our 2005-2006
Indigenous Peoples Abroad Programme

Six-month paid positions in the South Pacific starting September 2005

If you're interested in international Indigenous issues and Pacific Island Cultures please visit our website for further information on the following opportunities:

• Civil Society Researcher in Honiara, The Solomon Islands
• Vintner's Assistant at a Maori Trust owned winery on the South Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand)
• Youth Leader for culturally based youth adventure programmes on the North Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand)
• Environmental Education Officer on water quality on Rarotonga, in The Cook Islands
• Marine Researcher/ bi-valve Hatchery Assistant on Aitutaki and Tongareva in The Cook Islands
• Communications Officer/ Investigative Journalist in Suva, Fiji

For further information and eligibility requirements please visit our website at www.pacificpeoplespartnership.org

The deadline for applications is Friday, June 3rd, 2005 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Watch for more several more exciting new placements in the South Pacific over the coming weeks!

Glenn Raynor
Programme Officer
Indigenous Peoples Abroad Programme
Pacific Peoples' Partnership
407-620 View Street
Victoria, BC V8W 1J6
Tel: 250.381.4131
Fax: 250.388.5258
ipap@pacificpeoplespartnership.org
www.pacificpeoplespartnership.org

Call for Letters of Interest

Government of Canada (FedNor) Commitment of $10 Million to Northern Ontario Broadband Connectivity

On April 21, 2005, the Honourable Joe Comuzzi, Minister of State (FedNor) announced that the Government of Canada, through FedNor, would commit 10 million dollars to establish broadband points of presence in unserved Northern Ontario communities. This investment reflects FedNor’s ongoing commitment to promoting regional connectivity and building a knowledge-based economy.

FedNor invites Letters of Interest from communities, First Nations and non-profit organizations to fill the role as community aggregators in the implementation of this connectivity initiative. Successful applicants will work closely with FedNor and act on behalf of participating clusters of communities who are interested in securing broadband services on a regional basis, and develop community-based programs to build demand and encourage adoption.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVE:

• Connect every eligible community in Northern Ontario by March 31, 2008.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Priority will be given to communities having a public institution (ie: municipal office, fire hall, school, health centre).
• Connecting a community is defined as providing a broadband point of presence (PoP).

ELIGIBILITY:
Preference will be given to community organizations that demonstrate the following:

• organizational mandate is consistent with FedNor’s priorities
• an established regional presence, with regional representation
• ability to facilitate partnerships among a wide range of public and private sector organizations
• experience managing projects in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector
• proven track record for aggregating telecommunications & ICT demand among several communities
• knowledge of broadband issues and experience in implementing activities to address them
• potential to leverage additional and/or existing projects in the implementation of this program
• experience in developing ICT awareness (community consultations, workshops, surveys, etc.)

ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES: Broadband Planning and Project Management

• stimulate community interest, identify broadband gaps, develop and execute an RFP for the capital build, propose technical solutions, source matching funds (ie: communities, other government agencies, private sector service providers)
• planning and development of ICT applications which would capture socio-economic benefits which the new PoP offers

While some ICT applications would be a priority for FedNor capital support, the community aggregator may seek funds from other sources to deploy worthy applications which do not qualify for FedNor contributions.
 
LETTER OF INTEREST REQUIREMENTS:
Letters of Interest must be three (3) to five (5) pages in length and include information under the following headings:

1. Organizational Info - Provide contact information, corporate structure and incorporation number; date of establishment; mandate; brief description of internal resources.
2. Experience - Describe experience in the following areas:
   • developing and/or implementing large scale telecommunications or ICT projects, providing stakeholder references (with e-mail and phone number) for each. Briefly describe two or three aggregated Telecom/ICT projects.
   • working with multiple communities an stakeholders;
   • previous FedNor experience, as well as other funding agencies;
   • conducting community consultations, workshops and surveys;
   • working with vendors and service providers on large scale projects.
3. Staffing - Describe project management experience and qualifications of key staff members.
4. Communities - List the communities with which the organization has worked in the past, and any additional communities with which it could work to implement broadband services in Northern Ontario.
5. Approach -
   • Outline your approach in achieving the objectives, including estimated time lines and potential geographic service area.
   • Describe the services to be delivered to achieve FedNor’s broadband objectives, including estimated costing.
   • Describe how the organization might be able to leverage existing activities or projects while executing this program.

Letters of Interest must be received no later than 3:00 PM on Thursday, June 2, 2005. Please submit one electronic copy of the Letter of Interest by e-mail to Theo Noël de Tilly

Note:

This initiative is a FedNor priority, funded under the Connectedness Program, and is subject to all of FedNor’s existing terms and conditions.

For more information, please contact a FedNor Telecom Officer in your area, by calling toll-free: 1 877 333-6673.
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/infednor-fednor.nsf/en/fn02291e.html

Representatives from the Attorney General's team visited Sioux Lookout on Tuesday to meet with the K-Net team to identify strategies for supporting court and corrections officials to better connect with the First Nations across the region. Lead by Robert Gordon from the ministry's Thunder Bay office, six others came from Kenora, Dryden and Toronto offices to find a way to work together to utilize and support the community networks and be able to effectively deliver their services in these remote First Nations.

Carl Seibel, from Industry Canada's FedNor program, was able to join the discussions and assist the provincial officials to understand the federal government's investments in the First Nations local telecommunications infrastructure.

The Grade 8 Supplementary Courses program (http://g8.firstnationschools.ca) is offering science, mathematics and english literacy ministry curriculum materials for First Nation students across the province. First Nation Grade 8 classes are located in communities across the province.

Click here to find out what the participating classroom teachers are saying about how the science and math courses are supporting their students doing the first two terms (2004-2005 school year).

A new site has been added to the K-Net platform featuring extensive online e-commerce training resources http://lone-eagles.knet.ca

Most rural indigenous communities worldwide are still struggling to develop strategies to access broadband connectivity solutions. Community networks partnering with K-Net are now ready to begin focussing on those broadband applications which can create true cultural sovereignty.

The potential exists to grow the capacity to use communication tools like Macromedia Breeze and other on-line resources to work with other indigenous communities worldwide. Teaching and demonstrating how they too, can protect and preserve their cultures by making a living, in a culturally appropriate manner, via e-commerce and telework initiatives are required. Creating successful on-line businesses and learning environments could also be the key to sustaining the Kuhkenah Network (K-Net).

 Lone Eagle's best rural Innovation resources, including extensive Alaskan Native resources are available on-line at http://lone-eagles.com/future-proofing.htm

Two examples of potential clients for interested e-commerce mentors include:

1. The Coeur d'Alene tribe just built a million dollar community technology  center. They are now busy installing wireless interest across the reservation. As well they are beginning to plan for a tribal entrepreneurship program. Their casino brings in $20 million in profit per year, but their goal is economic diversification to prepare for the days when casinos are no longer as profitable. What might an on-line entrepeneur have to offer regarding lessons learned? Skills to transfer? The Coeur d'Alene site is at  http://www.cdatribe-nsn.gov/
2. Another project involves the Blackfeet nation which hopes to soon access funding for wireless access in Browning, Montana with a population 1000. What fast-track training might an on-line entrepeneur provide to bring this community up and online in just months instead of years?

I'm talking with a company seeking to create call centers in indigenous communities. They seek a single community with which to create a first success story; www.cfoadvisors.com

Just last week I had a conference call with Industry Canada. They are now trying to figure out what type of community-based programs can be rolled out in rural communities - to begin focussing on the adoption and applications that bring real benefits to real people instead of simply internet access.

The challenge is motivating citizens to get involved and to sustain their motivation by producing measurable outcomes in the short term. One such model community learning program is "Sustainable Ecommerce Education Development Strategies (SEEDS)" that is available on-line at http://lone-eagles.com/seeds.htm

Where will the first successful community learning program be demonstrated that showcases the will and vision of a community determined to prove itself sustainable? 

Here are two reports on Native Entrepreneurship for everyone to review:

• http://www.cfed.org/imageManager/_documents/Native_Entrepreneurship.pdf  
•  http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/rdev/pubs/contents/185.htm

Lastly, the Microsoft Telecentre Support Network will be unveiled in November. www.telecentre.org

Lone Eagle's online lessons providing an easy introduction to your opportunities with entry-level ecommerce and telework are accessible to everyone at http://lone-eagles.com/ecom.htm

What tribes will lead the world in Ecommerce Innovation in order to protect indigenous cultures worldwide? 

We're limited only by our imaginations!

All the best,

Frank Odasz
Lone Eagle Consulting
http://lone-eagles.knet.ca

A number of press releases from this year's United Nations's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues highlight conditions similar to those experienced by First Nations across northern Ontario. Many of the recommendations are the same as those expressed by First Nation leaders across the region.

"the importance of quality education in pulling indigenous people out of poverty and preserving their cultures and knowledge systems" - i-newswire, May 21, 2005

"Priority should be placed on providing more and better education for indigenous peoples, with emphasis on implementing bilingual education programmes and providing nutritional head start programmes for children.  Data collection methods should be improved to locate and identify indigenous peoples, and clear performance goals should be established to hold providers accountable."

"Indigenous children were more likely to attend school if their communities participated in all decisions about the content and management of their educational systems" - i-newswire, May 21, 2005

"indigenous children would feel comfortable in schools if they harmonized with their culture and traditions in a language they understood.  Studies had shown that education conducted in their mother tongue allowed children to learn more quickly and transfer skills to another language.

She added that education for indigenous children meant learning about their own community’s ancestral traditions and reading and counting in their mother tongues, as well as their country’s history and dominant language.  Emphasizing that non-indigenous children should also receive intercultural education, she said they could then learn about indigenous cultures and languages and positive inputs indigenous peoples made to overall society."

"The linkage of issues related to forests and indigenous peoples ...  with a focus on good practices and barriers to implementing actions combating poverty." - i-newswire, May 18, 2005

"... concerned with the deterioration of the ecosystem.  Governments that recognized ancestral rights and forestry rights were creating new opportunities to improve indigenous livelihoods and reduce poverty."

"United Nations hosts an expected 1,500 indigenous leaders, activists and representatives who will participate in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 16 to 27 May. At this, its fourth session, the Forum will examine situations faced by indigenous peoples as countries and organizations strive to meet the Millennium Development Goal targets, with special focus on the first two Goals -- to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to achieve universal primary education." - i-newswire, May 17, 2005

Chief Albert Hunter of the Rainy Lake First Nations (http://rainyriver.firstnation.ca) stated in the press release ...

“In signing this agreement, we honour our past by remembering our ancestors and relatives who endured. We honour our present by paying homage to our community, our people, our leaders, and our elders who remain steadfast and proud. We honour our future by sustaining the future of our children, grandchildren and those yet born. We say to all that the legacy of the Rainy River First Nations will endure and flourish, that the spirit of renewal, of our determination and of our autonomy will likewise endure and flourish. We will continue to contribute to secure sustainable economies and to the shared values of our own citizenry and to those of our neighbours.”

Click here to read the press release on the INAC web site.

Click here to read the Fact Sheet - Rainy River First Nations' Land Claim Information Sharing and Consultations

Click here to read the backgrounder of Rainy River Land Claim

• In 1873, seven separate First Nations, now known as the Rainy River First Nations, signed Treaty #3 with the Government of Canada. Treaty #3 provided that the First Nations would receive an allocation of land for reserve land together with other rights and benefits. The Rainy River First Nations selected and accepted seven reserves which were surveyed in 1875.
• At the time that Treaty #3 was signed, Ontario maintained that land could not be set apart for reserve without Ontario's confirmation. A court decision in the 1880's supported Ontario's position. Ontario made the surrender of six of the seven Rainy River reserves a condition of its agreement to enact legislation to confirm all the remaining Treaty 3 reserves in Ontario.
• Canada agreed to obtain the surrenders and took a surrender for sale of the Reserves (except for Manitou Rapids Reserve) from the Rainy River First Nations in 1914-1915. The total land area involved in these surrenders (which is referred to as the "claim area") is approximately 46,269 acres or 72 square miles (18,725 hectares). Following the surrenders, five of the Rainy River First Nations were relocated to Manitou Rapids Reserve to join the two First Nations already residing at that reserve. Canada administratively amalgamated the seven First Nations into one First Nation in the 1960's.
• In September 1982, the Rainy River First Nations filed a claim with Canada and Ontario claiming that the reserves were wrongfully taken and that the First Nations had been subjected to undue duress and influence which meant the First Nations had never freely consented to the surrenders resulting in their invalidity. The First Nations also claimed damages for their relocation to Manitou Rapids Reserve and that Canada misadministered the sale proceeds of the surrendered land.
• After extensive research and legal review, Ontario accepted the claim for negotiation in January 1987. The First Nations initiated a lawsuit in 1989 against Canada and Ontario. Following a thorough historical and legal review, Canada accepted the claim for negotiation in April 1994. The lawsuit was deferred after the claim was accepted for negotiation by both Ontario and Canada.
• A negotiation framework agreement was signed at the Manitou Mounds with the representatives of all three parties on May 6, 1997. The Settlement Agreement was initialled by the negotiators on January 11, 2005, signalling the completion of negotiations. It was then ratified by the First Nations through a referendum of all members (on- and off-reserve), by Ontario and by Canada.
• The settlement negotiated by the parties includes both financial compensation and a land component and brings legal closure to the outstanding issues raised through the claim. In addition, it resolves any uncertainty for residents in the claim area about interests in land forming part of the surrendered Reserves.
• The settlement consists of approximately $71 million in compensation contributed equally by Canada and Ontario. This includes the First Nations' negotiation costs and the market value of approximately 14,945 acres (6,048 hectares) of provincial Crown land, which Canada has agreed to set aside as reserve land for the RRFNs, subject to the terms and conditions of its Additions to Reserves Policy and the settlement agreement. Under the settlement, the RRFNs will also be entitled to purchase up to 31,300 acres (12,677 hectares) of replacement land on a willing-buyer/willing-seller basis over a 40 year period and propose that land for reserve status.
• The Crown land to be set apart as reserve for the Rainy River First Nations under the settlement is located in the Hay Bay area of Lake of the Woods, at Sphene Lake and the Gates Ajar area of Pipestone Lake. Also included are four islands in the Rainy River and three land blocks near the Manitou Rapids Reserve. These areas were chosen because of their traditional purposes and the historic and cultural significance to the Rainy River First Nations.
• The boundaries of the Crown land component are based on the input and comments received through an extensive public consultation process which began in the fall of 2002 and concluded in June of 2004. It involved a series of open houses advertised through local media, distribution of several follow-up newsletters, and a comprehensive series of face-to-face meetings with directly affected parties.
• The settlement agreement sets out a process by which the RRFNs will consult with affected municipalities on issues stemming from reserve creation, such as reasonable compensation for any necessary tax adjustments, municipal servicing agreements and the integration of bylaws and land use planning. The RRFNs and municipal representatives have been discussing issues of mutual concern over the past five years and are confident that the impact of reserve creation can be minimized with the co-operation of all parties.
• The settlement funds will be set aside in the RRFNs trust to be administered by a board of trustees, appointed by the First Nations, who must abide by the rules and regulations set out in their claim Trust Agreement, which was also ratified by First Nation members.
• The RRFNs will use its settlement funds to purchase replacement land and for community purposes, including economic development, social and cultural activities and other endeavours for the advancement of its membership both on- and off-reserve. The settlement will enable the First Nations to expand on their successes in economic and business development, which already make a significant contribution to the District's industry, economy and tax base. The successful resolution of this claim enables the parties to put the past behind them and get on with the business of building a more promising future for the RRFNs, its members and ultimately for everyone in the district.

May 2005

The report "A Sociological Analysis of Aboriginal Homelessness in Sioux Lookout, Ontario" by
Debra Sider M.A. of the Sioux Lookout Anti-racism Committee (SLARC) presents information about the challenges facing Aboriginal people who come to this community in northwestern Ontario. Click here to read the entire report is available on the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) web site 

• Click here for the CRRF press release
• The release of the report was webcast and is now available online (click here to watch the 1:20hr webcast) 
• Click here for the CNEW press coverage

The various section of the report highlights the challenges and includes a Call to Action for the community and the government to address these issues. Some of the recommendations include:

• support for Sioux Lookout's new Transitional Support Program
• A Call for a Land-Based Healing Program
• A Call for Detox and treatment services in Sioux Lookout
• The Sioux Lookout District Must Work Together to Address the Issues
• Correcting Distortions of History- More Opportunities for the Municipality and northern First Nations to Work Together
• A Need for Affordable, Supportive, Transitional Housing, and Innovative Development in Sioux Lookout
• Policy implications under the headings ...
  • Rethinking Ontario Works
  • Merge Traditional and Wage Economies
  • On-Reserve Housing
  • Aggressive Drug and Alcohol Awareness Campaigns

Nibinamik First Nation leadership is supporting the development of a local broadband service that provides community members with access to telehealth and high speed data services. The local wireless community network is connected to a Kuhkenah Network T1 service that can support video conferencing from different locations throughout the community.

K-Net's Network Manager (Dan) and Systems Analyst (Terence) are in Summer Beaver working with their local technician on the local network to ensure their broadband network is able to manage the different traffic properly.

May 26 is being set recognized by groups across Canada as our National Day of Healing and Reconciliation. Events are being planned by different groups across the country to support residential school survivors.

From the official National Day of Healing and Reconciliation web site at http://www.ndhr.ca

Mission Statement

National Day of Healing and Reconciliation is a movement of people committed to moving forward collectively within our families, communites and across Canada for the purposes of healing and reconciliation.

Objectives

• To celebrate a positive, collective healing and reconciliation movement within our families, communities, churches and government on May 26th of each year.
• To educate ourselves and other Canadians about our collective history of government policies which impacted Aboriginal communities and other ethnic groups.
• To develop commemoration sites and to encourage communites to join in the National Day of Healing and Reconciliation.