KO team participates in Aboriginal Voice roundtable in Toronto
Dan Pellerin, K-Net's Network Manager, presented information about ICTs and broadband infrastructure in First Nations at today's session of the Aboriginal Voice roundtable in Toronto. Darrin Potter and Craig Hardy will be presenting tomorrow about the Keewaytinook Internet High School along with Fernando Oliveira who will share the story about the KO Grade 8 Supplementary Courses.
This is the second roundtable in a series of four and is the topic for this Ontario Roundtable is Aboriginal E-learning. Two more roundtables are planned for the western and northern regions of the country. The roundtable discussions is being coordinated by a consulting group (KTA - Kaufman, Thomas and Associates, Inc.) and their KTA Centre for Collaborative Government divisioin.
From their Aboriginal Voice web site (click here to learn more) ...
"Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are poised to revolutionize the way in which governments interact and provide services and information to their citizens. Aboriginal Canadians have begun to develop ICT as an essential tool in governance, information sharing, and service provision. If harnessed appropriately, ICT offers critical opportunities to strengthen cultural identity, promote sustainable community development, and greater self-reliance among Aboriginal peoples. ...
The Aboriginal Voice project aims to fill that gap. It will draw on the findings and networks of the Crossing Boundaries process to engage Aboriginal peoples in a discussion on how ICTs can or should be used in their communities and governments, including the impact of language and cultural barriers, literacy and the restricted access to the Internet in remote areas.
In a nutshell, the focus of the Aboriginal Voice project is threefold:
- To create a forum for Aboriginal communities and organizations to have dialogues around e-government and e-democracy in a multi-stakeholder context;
- To raise the profile of Aboriginal ICT opportunities and challenges at both the national and regional levels; and
- To enrich and inform the dialogue and agenda of the Crossing Boundaries National Council by raising their awareness of Aboriginal specific e-issues."