Home

Keewaytinook Okimakanak team attend Prime Minister Martin sessions

April 30, 2005 - 4:13pm | by Anonymous
On April 28, Geordi, Peter, Cheryl, Darrin, Kevin and Brian met in Kenora to attend the regional municipal association session that included a presentation by Prime Minister Paul Martin. Roger Valley, Kenora Riding's MP, invited Geordi and Peter to join other supporters afterwards to meet with the Prime Minister. Geordi and Peter were able to briefly meet with the Prime Minister and present him with a letter, concept paper and DVD describing the e-Community work being done by KO in partnership with FedNor. Click here to see some photos from this event.

Earlier in the day, Brian Walmark, KORI Coordinator, attended the Prime Minister / FedNor's announcement at the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital. Click here to see the Chronicle-Journal coverage of this event - "FedNor will save us".

The package presented to the Prime Minister is now being circulated to groups involved in the Aboriginal Roundtable discussions. The following message is accompanying this material ...

These documents are being forwarded to the various organizations involved with the Aboriginal Roundtable sectoral discussions. Please feel free to distribute this information.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak (http://knet.ca) is a First Nations tribal council serving remote First Nations in northwestern Ontario. We have been developing and utilizing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and broadband infrastructure for several years for a variety of applications. These communication tools are supporting a variety of community-based initiatives. They cut across all sector boundaries and provide Aboriginal communities with the resources required for socio-economic opportunities. We hope the regional e-Community concept will be supported and applied for all Aboriginal people, organizations and communities across the country.
Aboriginal e-Community Concept - a tool for supporting the achievement of the Federal Government’s Aboriginal Agenda
 
Attached to this message are the two documents that were presented to Prime Minister Martin and his team by Geordi Kakepetum (Executive Director of Keewaytinook Okimakanak) during their visit to Kenora on Thursday of this past week. We are requesting your support to ensure the community-based initiatives highlighted in the documents and in the video, in particular the telehealth and internet high school, receive the funding required to sustain their operation in upcoming discussions and planning.
 
Attachments include ...
  1. Letter to Prime Minister Martin (2 pages) highlighting the achievements the Keewaytinook Okimakanak First Nations are experiencing in the use of local broadband infrastructure and communication technologies. Through an aggregated pricing arrangement and community owned network, these communication tools and infrastructure are now supporting the ability to cross local organizational, sectoral and institutional boundaries. As well, they are creating new economic opportunities, building capacity and services for community members.
  2. E-Community Concept document (2 pages) describing another Keewaytinook Okimakanak initiative that FedNor is supporting to further the work being done by our organization with First Nation schools under the Industry Canada First Nations SchoolNet program.
Included in the package presented to the Prime Minister was a DVD copy of a video production describing this work. The working title of this production is “Turning the Corner - Re-Thinking Broadband Funding In Canada’s North”. The content of the DVD is available on-line and can be viewed by clicking on the high bandwidth version or the lower bandwidth version ...
 
 
Also attached is a graphic we are using with First Nations to help describe the community broadband network model that is been successfully supported in communities across the north. A position paper is also being prepared describing how the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Telehealth program is transforming how health and wellness services are being delivered in First Nations across the province and the country.
 
We welcome everyone’s feedback about this work that is being done by Keewaytinook Okimakanak and other Aboriginal regional organizations that are working in partnership with our team. As the letter to PM states, everyone is welcomed to visit our offices to learn first hand how these tools are successfully supporting the Aboriginal agenda.
Tags: