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Yesterday heavy smoke from nearby forest fires descended on our community. The smell of burning wood was everywhere. You could see the smoke hanging in the air as it descended down. The elderly, babies, prenatals and others with health and breathing problems were the first to be evacuated. During the afternoon MNR made a couple of trips to the fire sites to investigate how the fire was developing. The Chief and Council waited for word of the evacuation procedures that were required to take place. At the same time they put the whole community on evacuation alert. It was during the evening when the fax came in for the go ahead to start with the community evacuation. There were only forty seats available on the first plane and there are 80 names on the list. Our Crisis team went on full alert and helped with picking out the people who should go first. The Chief and Council were there to help out with the evacuation proceedings too. The other half of the group on the list have to wait until today to get evacuated. The people left last night around midnight and were taken to the town of Sioux Lookout. Facilities have been set up in the Sioux Lookout Arena. For more information you can call the Keewaywin band office at 807-771-1210. Click here for photos

The SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DAY CAMP IN Fort Severn got under way Monday July 8, 2002 and ended on July 12, 2002 On the first day, Madeleine worked with the youth on an on-line hunt for the participants. Everyone was given a list of plants, animals and topics that they would have to find on-line and print. The second day the youth had a field trip with Curtis Lawson. They went on a plant collection trip with the elder Elijah Stoney who explained the stories behind the plants and what uses they have. On the third day the youth watched a video on local animals. A movie was shown of animals of the north identifying all the wildlife that can be found in the north. Lucy Stoney one of the elders explained the stories behind the animals and what they are used for. The afternoon was spend with the MNDM regional geologist explaining the Canadian shield and rock formations. The Geologist showed the young various rocks from the Canadian Shield. The fourth day was spend with a Biologist from the MNR helping local youth understand the eco-systems. Our elder, Elijah Stoney explained the relationship between all beings and plants. See Photos Day 1: http://photos.knet.ca/album49 Day 2: http://photos.knet.ca/album50 Day 3: http://photos.knet.ca/album51 Day 4: http://photos.knet.ca/album52

Sandy Lake connected to the K-Net network July 11, 2002. Thanks to Kennedy Fiddler, his team and the K-Net staff for making this happen. Thanks to all the other people involved in getting the project off the ground.
Dan Pellerin, K-Net

Poplar Hill will host the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Science and Technology Camp next week (July 15-19, 2002).There will guest speakers from the MNR, 2 local elders and 3 staff members from the northern chiefs council. The camp will be 5 days in length and a maximum of 20 participicates from ages 8-18 are invited to join in this camp. A variety of activities are planned for the week. There will be plant, fish and animal identification sessions. Speakers from the MNR will talk about understanding the ecosystems and how they work including land and rock formations. Elements found in our areas and various rocks will be shown from the canadian shield. They will also explain management strategies for fish and animal habitats. The elders will help with the plant and animal identification and much more... Oh yes, there will be a feast on the 4th day. Everyone is welcomed to join us for this learning opportunity.

Les Meekis was on hand to give a presentation to the Smart team and summer student staff members at the local e-center about the household and business/organization surveys that were completed last year. Plans are now underway to conduct similar surveys this summer across the community. We wanted to make sure that the explanations are clear and accurate and to discuss what needs to be changed or added into the survey tools. We need clear terminology in order to explain things in oji-cree, for example what a computer is or what a hub and modems are and what they do. When doing surveys we have to be able to discuss the survey and explain it to the elders who are living in the community. We went through the whole survey and discussed what was needed to be added and found that the survey needed to be changed a bit. When the survey first sarted there were no internet connections to the houses. Now that we have internet connections some of the wording will have to be changed to include the houses which are now connected into the community network. We were joined via teleconferencing by the Fort Severn e-centre staff to discuss the surveys and to exchange ideas and information on what changes needed to be made. We also discussed when making the surveys to include all the programs and businesses and organizations. See the photos from this meeting.

Poplar Hill had their treaty day games on July 4-7 2002. It was a great success with everyone having a lot of fun. Games included boys and girls races, a ballon toss, an egg toss, a 3 legged race, tug-a-war events, a target shoot, a money hunt, arm wrestling, jigging, a royal rumble, canoe races, bingo and much, much more. Thanks to the organizers and Chief and Council for this year's treaty games. Check out the pictures.

On Tuesday, July 9, 2002 during an interview, Rita Meekis talked about the upcoming canoe-a-thon. Rita spoke about her fund raising efforts for her mother Aggie Dunsford’s memorial feast that is coming up on July 29th, 2202 and her drive to help in the awareness of the diabetes programs “I am trying to host a canoe-a-thon and hopefully it will be taking place the last week of July. I am planning to fund-raise for my mother Aggie Dunsford's memorial day and donate the other half of the money raised towards the diabetes program because diabetes is what took my mother away”. “I have about 12 volunteers already who will make the 12 hour one way trek between Sandy Lake and Keewaywin. We also have a lot relatives living in Sandy Lake, so they are more than willing to help us with this fund raising effort.. Lawrence Mason, Carrie Meekis, Danny Kakegamic, Derry Kakegamic, Lester Pascal, Luke Monias, Nancy Kakepetum, Edwin Meekis, Geraldine McKay and Simon Rae are already signed up as volunteers for the canoe-a-thon. They are busy taking pledges for the canoe-a-thon. For more information or if you want to make a donation for this important cause, contact Rita Meekis at the Keewaywin Clinic 771-1407 or email her at ritameekis@knet.ca

This year Keewaywin E-centre is proud to announce that we have been given four summer student to work with us. This year's summer students are Nathaniel Thompson, who will be assisting our community computer technician Blue Mason with the community network, cable installation, trouble shooting and all technical issues. Reggie Kakegamick will be assisting me with the K-net news stories and picture taking of up coming events. He has already posted his first story and put up corresponding pictures in the photo gallery. Carrie Kakepetum who was the Wawaytay Native Communications Society bursary award winner joined our Smart team this year. She will also be assisting me in collecting data and storing them on discs and will help in developing a community web page. Maxine Kakepetum another graduate will be attending Confederation College next fall. She is here to assist us with the Community Library and work with the e-center manager. Click here for pictures of the students.

Mothers, young and old, had a workshop about raising healthy babies. There were many mothers and their babies present. They had a great time talking about the old days and what they had to do before there were bottles and diapers. We had a chance to listen to the stories and experiences that these ladies lived through. Geraldine Mckay, a local elder, mother and wife to the Keewaywin Chief was talking about her experiences back then. She talked about how hard it was because there weren't any stores. The Hudsons Bay Company was just being built and there were no airport runways yet, so they could not fly anywhere and supplies had to be brought in by float planes. She also spoke about how important breast feeding was because it was hard to get milk back then. They had to drink fish broth to provide nutrients in the breast milk. They had to use cloth diapers and pick moss and use it for the baby diapers. It was a great afternoon for the parents and the children. People in attendance included: Geraldine Mckay, Liz McKay, Carrie Meekis, Berlinda Black, Miranda Black, Ina Kakegamic (elder) Jenny McKay and Kim Quill. Fresh bannock and coffee, and cake was served also. See the pictures

Local chamber President Christine Hoey, members of the executive and the general membership arranged for a meeting at Keewaytinook Okimakanak’s Sioux Lookout office on Friday, July 5. There is an interest to learn about the work that K-Net is doing and to explore ways that the Chamber members might benefit from broadband connectivity to further develop partnerships with the First Nations in the north. Theresa Stephens from the local Ministry of Northern Development and Mines spoke about the Smart Demonstration project and what it means to have this national and international project located in Northwestern Ontario. Marney Hoey spoke about the potential of broadband connectivity for the community and the region. Kathy Davidson and others asked questions about their own high speed connections and how they might be able to get broadband services for their businesses. Ralph Ireland was happy to see the developments that are reaching the far north. We had a chance to drop in on the e-Centre in Deer Lake and have a brief tour of their facility and meet the staff there. Thanks to Oscar, Arlene and Jeremy for giving everyone a short tour of your space. Sorry for the unannounced intrusion but sometimes it is more impressive for first time users of video equipment to be able to see what it is like to be able to do a virtual “drop in”, unplanned tour in another community. Plans were made for hosting a workshop or series of sessions around Industry Canada’s Innovation Strategy and how local businesses and community members can contribute to this new strategic direction for our own community and Canada.