Media.Knet.Ca

Pikangikum is hosting a mens invitational hockey tournament april 10 -13.

$900 entry fee

For more information call:

• Randy 773 1093 (w)
• Don Quill 773 5578 (w)
• Stephen Turtle 773 5578

www.SandyLake.FirstNation.ca has had a loyal following since our launch in early December 2002. In late February, after only 3 months, the website surpassed 100,000 hits!

In the beginning, the purpose of the website was to present the community in a way that was positive and informative while at the same time educational for both the community members and visitors alike.  Keeping true to this ethic, our website features an online Photogallery where we attempt to rekindle the memories of years past by posting pictures of our community and its people throughout our history.  The pictures are donated from personal collections found within and/or outside the community which contributes to the overall diversity of the web site.

Our website has grown to also include such memorable favorites as, the Rez Pez recipes, and the ever popular Joke-Sah-Weh corner.  We are constantly updating our community news, information, and events.  Please visit us...

                                                                           --Admin--

                                                       www.SandyLake.FirstNation.ca

The Aboriginal Resource Technician Program  is accepting New Intakes for September 2003 delivered via Contact North Distance Education.

Sault College of Applied Arts & Technology is accepting new applicants into the distant education Aboriginal Resource Technician Program to start in September 2003. This natural resources based program enables students from remote communities access to a post-secondary diploma in Natural Resources utilizing the Contact North's Teleconference System. The delivery of this unique program is designed for students who wish to pursue a Career in Natural Resources, but are unable to attend a Post -Secondary Institution due to distance, family and work committments.  Our program remedies those barriers, by delivering a post secondary natural resources program utilizing the Contact North Teleconference System throughout remote communities in the north. For further information and to apply to the Aborginal Resource Technician Program, please contact Sault College at 1-800-461-2260 or view our Sault College Website at http://www.saultc.on.ca under Natural Resource Programs.

The International Virtual Forum entitled "ICT in rural areas: Pending challenges" is taking place on-line from March 17 to April 1 2003. Everyone is invited to participate in the various on-line discussion forums to share their thoughts, stories, best practices and lessons learned. Keewaytinook Okimakanak staff produced a paper entitled "Socio-Economic Impact of ICT in Remote First Nations" for Session 6 scheduled for March 31 to April 1 containing some of the work being done in the KO First Nations. Do register and share your stories within this international environment.

"The development and use of ICTs can hopefully help different cultures to become better integrated, improve government throughout the world and lead to greater respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Nonetheless, although there have already been numerous national and international initiatives taken to reduce the digital divide in many different parts of the world, these need to be properly analyzed in order to ensure that the necessary resources and investment are made available for future projects in such a way as to benefit "global" society.

New or emergent technologies have presented a challenge not only for regulating bodies and the State in general but also for society as whole. Technology advances by leaps and bounds, setting us ever more demanding challenges.

It is for these reasons that OSIPTEL (the Peruvian Telecommunications Regulatory Agency), together with REGULATEL, (the Latin American Forum of Regulatory Agencies) have decided to organize this International Virtual Forum: "ICT's in rural areas: The pending challenges" creating a space for dialog between the business sector, public institutions, the academic world and the civil society in general, in order to share experiences and opportunities for contributing to the economic and social development of ICT's in rural areas of developing countries."

Cultural Survival has three major goals:
1. Spread awareness and provide formal documentation of the myriad challenges confronting indigenous peoples around the world.
2. Engage and educate the next generation about the critical issues facing indigenous peoples and their importance within the global community.
3. Provide empowerment tools that support indigenous efforts to effectively resist cultural degradation and threats to their sovereignty.

It publishes the Indigenous Weekly News that everyone is invited to subscribe to by sending an e-mail message to join-weekly_indigenous_news@lyris.cs.org. Their quarterly journal, Cultural Survival Quarterly (CSQ), contains articles that "explore the interconnected issues that affect indigenous and ethnic minority communities, including environmental destruction, land rights, sustainable development, and cultural preservation."

"All over the world, governments were seeking to extract resources from areas that had not hitherto been developed and, in the process, were mistreating their indigenous inhabitants. What should be done about this? What could be done about this? Cultural Survival was founded to try to answer these questions and to work for the solutions developed by the nascent indigenous and pro-indigenous movements."

This week saw 32 hockey teams from First Nations across the Sioux Lookout Zone coming into Sioux Lookout to play their neighbouring communities. The web site (http://firstnationshockey.ca) hosted by Shibogama Technical Services is proving to be a popular place for fans to leave their congratulations for teams and players. Today the A and B side semi-finals and finals will determine who comes away as this year's champions.

CONGRATULATIONS to KINGFISHER LAKE for winning the A-side championship!!

Everyone who plays in this tournament comes away as champions because of the work and determination it takes to participate. Every year the caliber of hockey is improving with more young people having more access to the recreational facilities they need to properly prepare for this tournament. Hopefully in the next few years more First Nations across the region will be able to construct their own arenas and host their own tournaments (several are already doing this).

LARONGE, Saskatchewan, March 14, 2003 --

On Friday, March 14, 2003, Rick Laliberte, Member of Parliament for Churchill River, on behalf of Industry Minister Allan Rock, announced renewed funding for Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet Program. The funds will be used to provide First Nations schools with Internet access, computer equipment, technical support and training.

Six regional management organizations that have been selected to manage and deliver the First Nations SchoolNet Program across Canada will also be announced.

The announcement was made in conjunction with the Pan-Canadian Northern Connectivity Conference and the second semi-annual First Nations SchoolNet Conference. Various municipal, provincial, federal and First Nations community representatives will attend the event on site or through videoconference. Everyone was invited to participate on-line through http://smart.firstnation.ca and joining in the live chat session that runs with the webcast.

The text of the official announcement, along with the background notes (in a PDF format) are available on-line.

Date: Friday, March 14, 2003Time: 9 a.m.Location: LaRonge Motor Hotel LaRonge, Saskatchewan

For more information, please contact:

Industry CanadaMedia Relations(613) 943-2502

Susan GoddardInformation Highway Branch(306) 780-5610

Six Keewaytinook Okimakanak managers were able to get together with Carl Seibel in Thunder Bay on Thursday, March 13 to discuss plans for the final year of the Smart Communities Demonstration Project. Working with the information obtained from the first three First Nation ICT planning workshops held this year, the managers mapped out priorities and strategies to deliver on many of the community needs.

Support for the further development of KiHS in each of the KO First Nations and for the local schools’ ICT requirements was recognized as a priority. Telehealth development and migration to include all the First Nations across the region is another goal that will continue to be supported by the smart project. The Kuh-ke-nah Network will see ongoing upgrades and the introduction of more capacity for both IP video conferencing and IP telephony. Skills transfer, local human resource development and capacity building will be the focus of a series of gatherings being planned for the upcoming fiscal year. The KO Public Works team will be taking on the development of local GIS applications with each KO First Nation.

Lots to look forward to in the upcoming year and lots of work to be done by the KO Smart Team!!

Join Global Vigil on March 16 - CENTENNIAL PARK, Sioux Lookout

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), MoveOn.org, and the Win Without War Coalition urge the people of the world to support Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s call for "A Global Candlelight Vigil for Peace" on Sunday (March 16).

On the verge of a US-led war against Iraq, we ask people around the world to share in a time of witness and prayer for peace—to show that there are two superpowers in the world:  the US Government and WORLD PUBLIC OPINION.

In the last months, we have petitioned local leaders and the UN; we have rallied by the millions; we have marched.  Now it is time for a solemn witness and display of our profound hope and our prayers for peace.

At  www.afsc.org and  www.globalvigil.org, you will find information on how to participate in or to organize a candlelight vigil in your area.

In the most countries, vigils are being scheduled for 7:00 p.m. local time.  In areas where it is not yet dark at 7:00 p.m., organizers are asked to hold their vigils at dusk.

Our goal is to create a moving curtain of light that rolls from the Pacific around the world.

Please share this message as widely as possible.

It is particularly important for there to be vigils in the member countries of the UN Security Council:  Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Chile, France, Germany, Guinea, Mexico, Pakistan, The Russian Federation, Spain, The Syrian Arab Republic, The United Kingdom, and The United States.

We recognize that other people around the world are affected by violent conflicts—current, past, and imminent.  Signs calling generally for prayers or hopes for peace are fine.

To find a vigil in your area or to register a vigil that you are planning, go to  www.globalvigil.org .

For more information about planning a faith-based vigil, visit www.afsc.org, where you will also find extensive resources on the conflict with Iraq and global work for peace.

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization, which includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service.  Its work is based on the worth of every person, and faith in the power of Love to overcome violence and injustice.

Press Release

BREAK-THROUGH BEFORE NAFTA AND WTO – ARGUMENTS BY ENVIRONMENTAL AND INDIGENOUS GROUPS ACCEPTED

(Vancouver, British Columbia/ Thunder Bay, Ontario, March 13, 2003): In a precedent setting move the NAFTA tribunal accepted arguments by Canadian Aboriginal peoples and environmental groups in the ongoing dispute over Softwood Lumber countervailing duties. In January 2003, the WTO panel on Softwood Lumber also accepted indigenous and environmental submissions.

Grand Chief Leon Jordain, Grand Council of Treaty 3, a member of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade (INET), stated: "Our peoples are very proud of the acceptance of our submissions, which shows that Aboriginal proprietary interests and environmental concerns are taken seriously by international trade tribunals, where national governments often fail to take them into account or implement them." Similarly, Deputy Grand Chief Raymond Ferris of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, expressed his pleasure in the efforts of First Nations coming this far and expressed the intention of Nishnawbe Aski Nation to continue its efforts.

Aboriginal peoples and environmental groups intervened in the present Softwood Lumber Dispute because of the government’s continued failure to recognize Aboriginal Title or enforce environmental protections such as streamside buffers. The Canadian government has consistently opposed public interest organization participation in trade disputes, while making joint submissions with industry associations.

In NAFTA and WTO proceedings Canadian governments and industry misrepresented Canadian law arguing that stumpage paid by large companies holding tenure rights was not the price paid for Crown timber, but " akin to a tax," implying that the companies own the trees as they stand in the forest.

Arthur Manuel, Spokesperson of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade: "Aboriginal peoples are the stewards of the land and we also own the trees in our forests. What would British Columbians say if their government told them that all trees now belong to the companies? Yet this is the very argument Canada is secretly bringing before international trade tribunals both against the interests of Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian public as a whole."

Will Horter of the Dogwood Initiative, working with different public interest groups and Aboriginal peoples stated: "It is important our voices are heard, because Canada is trying to pass their administrative stumpage system that exploits the forest resource off as a competitive market system to the detriment of conservation and the overall economy."

Aboriginal peoples and environmental groups will continue to make substantive submissions to international trade tribunals in the Softwood Lumber Dispute, educating both the panel members and involved parties. They are confident that increasing international awareness of Aboriginal and environmental issues will also ensure that their interests are taken into account in political negotiations regarding Softwood Lumber.

For more information, please contact:
Arthur Manuel (INET): 250-319 0688
Will Horter (Dogwood Initiative): 250-370 9930
Grand Chief Leon Jordain (Treaty 3): 807-548 4214
Deputy Grand Chief Raymond Ferris (NAN): 807-623-8228