Media.Knet.Ca

Orpah McKenzie, NOMS' Aboriginal Affairs Director came to Sioux Lookout to meet with various groups to discuss collaborative opportunities. Orpah is working with different First Nations and aboriginal groups to identify four week community placement opportunities for first year medical school students starting in the spring of 2006.

While meeting with Keewaytinook Okimakanak, Nancy Greaves, the KO Telehealth Service Migration Officer who works with the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA) was able to identify a number of opportunities to collaborate with Orpah and NOMS. In particular, during the upcoming telehealth workshop being planning for this fall, it is hoped that Orpah will be able to present information for the Health Directors and the Community Telehealth Coordinators (CTC) to identify each First Nation can benefit from supporting a placement in their communities. The expanded roles and responsibilities of all the different partners involved in this work can create new opportunities for each participating First Nation.

Jamie Ray travelled to Mishkegogamang and Wabigoon First Nations to work with their local teams in identifying strategies for developing their connectivity requirements.

In Mishkegogamang Jamie worked with the Chief and Council members at the band office getting their new computers set up and planning their network. He then worked with Donna Roundhead, the local Health Director to identify the needs to put a broadband connection into the local Health Centre so the telehealth services can be developed. Afterwards, he went with Michael Bottle over to the school to plan their local network.

Wabigoon FN Economic Development office wants to install a wireless connection from the school connection over to their offices.

Check out the pictures of these community visits.

Elijah Harper comes to Balmertown.... Mr. Harper toured the KO offices in Balmertown to learn more about our broadband applications such as Telehealth and KiHS, the Internet High School.

During his visit, he participated in a videoconference with KO's sub offices in Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay.

Mr. Harper shared his experiences with Information Communications Technologies that date back over twenty years.

He will be briefing Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, who is expected to visit Balmertown in September.

To see more photos, click here. The KO Telehealth news story and pictures about Mr. Harper's visit can also be accessed by clicking here.

There was an election for chief in Pikangikum yesterday, Wednesday, August 18, 2004. There were four people running for the position. They were Ellen Peters, Charlie Turtle, Samuel Quill and Alex Peters. The polls were open from 11am to 9pm.

The results from the election were: 368 votes were casted, 10 were spoiled and 358 good votes.

1. Alex Peters        - 176 votes
2. Charlie Turtle     -112 votes
3. Samuel Quill       -  65 votes
4. Ellen Peters        -    5 votes

Congratulations goes out to our New Chief, Mr. Alex Peters.

Good day, my name is Nicole Morris and I have been working for Keewaytinook Okimakanak, in the Research Department as a summer student. One of my projects is to compile a list of Successful Students from the KIHS, to be displayed in the First Nations School web site.

If you have enrolled in KIHS and it was a success for you, we welcome you to share your experiences in participating in this project.  We are searching for information about students and their successes they experienced and are experiencing from their time at KIHS.

We will also be inviting other students from other schools to share their stories for this project as well. Questions will be asked of the students and we will work with your answers to produce a story about your experiences. These interviews and sharing will help others to get to know the student and their work.

There may be a lot of questions but most are easy to answer. The more detailed obtained during the interviews will help others learn about how KIHS has benefited the students and your communities. We hope to post the student profiles on the First Nations SchoolNet web site at http://firstnationschools.ca. This will give students an opportunity to share their experiences with the ICT equipment and encourage other students that are still living in their community to attend school.

Contact me for a copy of the questions for this project. This will be an on-going project for the Student Stories and Profiles.

We would like to have your information as soon as possible and would greatly appreciate being able to work with everyone willing to share their stories with us.

nicolemorris@knet.ca

toll free 1 877 737 5638 extension 51263
local  Thunder Bay # at 622 2812
(fax)  # 622 2861

Alternatively you may also contact Wesley McKay at

wesleymckay@knet.ca

Jim Sapay, Carleton Blackhawk and Tom Kuzemchuk from the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council worked with the K-Net team to develop a strategy for rolling out the NNEC video conferencing network across the Sioux Lookout district in each of the Wahsa Distance Education Learning Centres. Video conferencing equipment is presently installed in the Sioux Lookout NNEC sites (at the main admin building, Pelican Falls First Nations High School and at the Wahsa DE building) and in Thunder Bay at the Dennis Cromarty High School.

With the support of Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program, each of the community learning centres delivering Wahsa high schools are now being outfitted with the same video conferencing systems. This equipment is intended to support NNEC and Wahsa to further develop and deliver their services for the Sioux Lookout District First Nations.

Former KO Director of Health Orpah McKenzie is in charge of Aboriginal Affairs at the Northern Ontario Medical School. She is encouraging more NAN students to prepare for careers in medicine and other health care careers.

She is looking for First Nations to host medical students for four-week placements during their first year starting in the winter semester of 2006. The purpose of these visits is to familarize medical students with the health realities of day-to-day life for community members on reserve.  "Fort Severn, Deer Lake, North Spirit Lake, Keewaywin and Poplar Hill would be ideal sites for these placements," said Orpah... For more information, call her at 1-807-766-7311...

Check out the photos of her visit...

An employee of Tikinagan Child and Family Services working out of the Red Lake Unit lost her son on late Friday night (August 13, 2004) in a house fire in Red Lake. 

Tikinagan staff are asking for your donations of any kind to be sent to the Red Lake office. The family lost everything.

Please phone 807-727-3047 for more information about how you can help this family through their loss.

Wapekeka SOS Conference - Survivors of Suicide

The 12th Annual SOS Conference in Wapekeka starts tomorrow at 9:00 am until Sunday Night, August 22. The communities participating will be travelling today and next Monday. For the first time this year, Lac Seul will be joining us and we are excited about their participation.

For Tuesday, Opening Ceremonies will be held starting 9:00 am and guest speakers will begin their speechs about 10:00 am. This will be broadcast LIVE on Wawatay plus evening services will be broadcast througout the week.

Lt. Governor General of Ontario will highlight tomorrow's events plus NAN Grand Chief and his wife will be ours special guests. This will give them an opportunity to visit and talk with people from surrounding areas.

We apologize we were unable to accommodate some communities as they submitted names very late. This includes North Spirit, Kingfisher, Bearskin, and another load from KI.

Visit the conference web site at http://wapekekasos.myknet.org and the community web site at http://wapekeka.firstnation.ca

News stories today highlight a resolution from the Canadian Bar Association encouraging the Government of Canada to recognize and compensate all residential school survivors. See below for the Winnipeg Free Press coverage of this story ...

Ante Raised On Residential Schools: Pay Natives for Culture and Language Damage Lawyers Say 

By Helen FalldingWinnipeg Free Press - August 16, 2004 - A3

Canada's lawyers are calling on Ottawa to compensate all aboriginal people who attended residential schools that damaged their language and culture.            

If that advice is followed, at least a thousand Manitobans could be eligible for perhaps tens of millions of dollars between them.            

The Canadian Bar Association unanimously passed a resolution yesterday at its annual meeting at the Winnipeg Convention Centre urging "automatic base compensation for loss of language and culture and for minor physical and sexual abuse." A $1.7-billion federal dispute-resolution program announced late last year offers compensation only to residential school survivors who can prove severe physical or sexual abuse.            

Winnipeg lawyer Jeffrey Harris, who proposed the resolution on behalf of the bar association's aboriginal law section, said in an interview the new dispute process is stalled.            

Many people don't want to participate in a program that does not recognize the devastation caused by a formal government policy of forcing aboriginal children to forget their language and renounce their culture, he said.            

Harris compared survivors of residential schools to Japanese Canadians interned during the Second World War, who had to prove no more than relocation to be offered $21,000 compensation.            

The bar association chose not to recommend a dollar figure for residential school compensation.            

About 12,000 people across Canada have made claims alleging residential school abuse, but many more might apply if cultural losses were recognized. It has been estimated that about 90,000 aboriginals attended residential schools.            

Many who attended residential schools have reported a lifetime of struggle with alcohol, violence and confusion over who they are.            

Few aboriginal families in Manitoba are untouched by the issue after generations of children were ripped from their families and forced to attend the schools, which were run by the government and churches. The schools operated across Canada from the 1930s to the 1970s.            

Harris said the bar association's 38,000 members are taken very seriously by federal justice ministers.            

"When we speak, government listens." Harris does not represent any residential school claimants in his own practice and said he will make a point of not doing so to prevent a conflict of interest.            

The federal government has limited payments to situations such as rape and beatings where the courts have already granted compensation to residential school survivors. But another lawyer supporting the resolution yesterday said the courts have not ruled that cultural losses are not worthy of compensation.            

Harris said he will meet with deputy justice minister Mario Dion on Tuesday to discuss the resolution.            

The bar association meeting continues today with resolutions on privacy rights and sexual relations between lawyers and clients.

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Lawyers want payments for all aboriginals who went to residential schools

by Steve Lambert Canadian Press - August 16, 2004

WINNIPEG (CP) - The Canadian Bar Association is urging the federal government to compensate every one of the 90,000 aboriginals who went through the residential school system.            

The lawyers' group unanimously passed a resolution Saturday that calls on the government to offer "automatic base compensation for loss of language and culture . . for all claimants proving attendance in a residential school, with provision for additional compensation in cases of serious physical and sexual abuse."            

The compensation would help make up for the suffering of former residents who were removed from their homes and forbidden to speak their language, according to Jeff Harris, the Winnipeg lawyer who put forward the resolution.            

"Justice requires that the Government of Canada acknowledge there was a policy to stamp out aboriginal language and culture, that this policy was all too successful," Harris told the CBA's annual conference.            

Federal officials were not available for immediate comment. But Finance Minister Ralph Goodale has already indicated there could be compensation beyond what is already available.            

"We are consulting further with all stakeholders to make sure that any remaining concerns and criticisms are addressed," Goodale said in a written statement last year, when he announced the creation of a new secretariat to help manage abuse compensation claims.            

The residential schools were funded by Ottawa and run by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, United and Presbyterian Churches from the 1930s to the 1970s.            

Lawsuits on behalf of more than 12,000 former residents have been filed, citing physical and sexual abuse.            

By last year, Ottawa had paid out more than $37 million to settle roughly 550 cases out of court.            

To deal with the huge volume of claims, the federal government set up an alternative dispute resolution process to fast-track settlements.            

Harris said that process falls short because it only deals with physical and sexual abuse, not loss of culture.            

The association did not address the costs associated with compensating all 90,000 aboriginals who attended residential schools.            

The compensation system is one of several social issues on the bar association's conference agenda.            

Another resolution called on the federal government to look at aboriginal representation on the Supreme Court of Canada.            

While the resolution stopped short of saying a seat on the high court bench should be reserved for an aboriginal judge, it urged Ottawa to recognize "all three founding peoples of Canada" when appointing judges.            

The resolution was set aside until the bar association's meeting next winter in Charlottetown.            

"The profession should have time to consider it," said association president Bill Johnson.