Media.Knet.Ca

NAN Press Release ...

NAN First Nations Recognized During Monumental Speech

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario James K. Bartleman recognized NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy and the many NAN youth who participated in his Aboriginal Literacy initiative during an unprecedented address to the Ontario Legislature Thursday December 7, 2006.

The Lieutenant Governor's Aboriginal Literacy Initiative was implmented in 2004 to address lower than average literacy rates among First Nation students in Ontario.

There were three phases to this initiative, including book drive, school twinning, and summer camps in communities across NAN.

By engaging a strong partnership network, His Honour James K. Bartleman was able to collect 850,000 useable books to establish and fill libraries in schools throughout NAN territory. He then developed a pen-pal system where NAN schools were twinned with schools in the Greater Toronto Area. Students were able to share resources and cultures, breaking down barriers between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth. The third phase was introducing summer literacy camps in many of NAN's 49 communities. These very successful camps included traditional educational components as well as cultural practices.

Mr. Bartleman is the first Lieutenant Governor to be asked to speak to the Ontario Legislature.

For more information on the Lieutenant Governor's Aboriginal Literacy Initiative please visit the following web site:

http://www.lt.gov.on.ca/sections_english/welcome/literacy_main.html

Posted by: Communications and Media jyoung@nan.on.ca.
12/9/2006

From http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2006/12/08/nonprofit-activity.html

Non-profit sector accounts for billions in economy: study
Friday, December 8, 2006 - CBC News

Non-profit organizations in Canada generate billions in economic activity every year, a study by Statistics Canada concluded on Friday.

"Non-profit organizations not only play an important role in the well-being of Canadians, they also constitute an economic force," the agency said.

In an account of non-profit institutions and volunteering, Statistics Canada found that in 2003 the gross domestic product of the non-profit sector amounted to 7.1 per cent of the total economy or $80.3 billion.

The study, which looked at data collected over a seven-year period, found that economic activity by the non-profit sector as measured by GDP outstripped the pace of the overall economy from 1997 to 2003.

It said that GDP for the non-profit sector grew at an average rate of 6.4 per cent every year over the seven years, faster than the average rate of 5.6 per cent for the total economy during that time period.

In 2003 alone, GDP for the overall non-profit sector grew 6.3 per cent, a rate of growth greater than that for the total economy, which rose 5.6 per cent in 2003.

Statistics Canada divided the sector into two groups to analyze the data. The first group includes hospitals, universities and colleges, while the second group, described as the core of the sector, consists of mostly smaller organizations.

The agency said revenue for the core non-profit sector came from a variety of sources, including sales of goods and services, government transfers, membership fees and individual donations.

For hospitals, universities and colleges, however, the main source of revenue was government transfers and sales of goods and services.

"Hospitals, universities and colleges accounted for nearly two-thirds of economic activity in the overall non-profit sector between 1997 and 2003. The generally smaller organizations in the core sector accounted for the remaining third," it said.

Economic activity in the second group or core non-profit sector increased 7.6 per cent between 1997 and 2003, a rate faster than the 5.8 per cent growth for hospitals, universities and colleges. The core's share of the GDP in the sector overall rose 34 per cent in 1997 to 36 per cent in 2003.

The GDP of the core non-profit sector reached $29.1 billion in 2003, representing 2.6 per cent of the total economy. The entire non-profit share rose to 7.1 per cent when the GDP of hospitals, universities and colleges was included in the total.

Non-profits are big business
Statistics Canada reported that the overall non-profit sector generated economic activity greater than that of the mining, oil and gas extraction, and retail industries.

Even the smaller core sector was about twice the size of the agricultural industry and larger than the accommodation and food services industry in Canada.

The analysis also looked at volunteering, concluding that the value of volunteer work was more important than individual donations to the non-profit sector over the seven-year period and that volunteering mainly occurred in the three main fields of culture and recreation, social services and religion.

Of the three main fields, culture and recreation relied more heavily on volunteers than on paid workers, the analysis found.

Related External Links

StatsCan: Account of non-profits and volunteering - http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/061208/d061208a.htm

See the CBC News story after Deputy Chief Alvin Fiddler's document ...

Canada's Blood Diamonds? What DeBeers and the Canadian Governments Are Doing To Aboriginal Communities and the Environment in Canada’s Boreal Forest.

This holiday season, when more diamonds are sold in America than any other time of year, the Hollywood movie “Blood Diamond” is causing many people to reevaluate purchasing ‘conflict diamonds’. They will be looking to buy diamonds from other places in the world where responsible companies are treating local people and the environment fairly and responsibly. And mining companies will be trying to sell them diamonds from Canada.

Unfortunately, many Canadian diamonds are anything but conflict-free; ongoing aboriginal rights and environmental concerns should make consumers think twice before purchasing a Canadian diamond, too.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which means the people and the land, represents some 45,000 Cree and Ojibway people scattered over 49 communities in Canada's Boreal Forest—the world’s largest intact ecosystem and Earth’s last line of defense against global warming. At 1.4 billion acres, the Canadian Boreal Forest is one of the largest unspoiled forest ecosystems remaining on Earth, a mosaic of interconnected forest and wetland ecosystems, teeming with birds, fish, plants and animal life. Canada’s Boreal Forest is also a potential treasure chest of timber, oil and gas, and minerals, including diamonds and is under heavy development pressure.

At present, less than ten percent of the Boreal is protected from industrial development. Unless something changes, corporations will carve it up without regard to the impacts to the people or the environment.

While few American’s have ever heard of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation or the Boreal Forest, scientists will tell them what the peoples that live there already know: it’s critical to the earth in so many ways, and must be protected.

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation, along with many other First Nation communities throughout the great Boreal Forest have been in the grip of a diamond exploration boom led by companies like DeBeers.

That and other intensive resource development is causing environmental devastation.

A complicit Canadian government seems to be turning a blind eye.

We need and welcome responsible resource development, but with an emphasis on the word responsible.

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation communities are among the poorest in the world, ranked 69th in the U.N.'s Human Development Index, with the lowest life expectancy in Canada, the highest youth suicide rates in the world, and an unemployment rate of more than 60 percent.

With diamonds on our lands our communities should be wealthy.

Instead the hunt for theses rare gems from the heart of the earth has meant only conflict and strife for us.

De Beers plans to develop massive open pit diamond mining projects in our traditional territory but it is not honoring our treaty rights or working with us to win our consent for the projects.

Their army of airplanes, helicopters and claim stakers have been trespassing on the traditional lands of many of our communities, despite our calls for moratoriums on diamond exploration.

The link between diamond exploration and aboriginal and treaty rights violations fits the pattern of diamond conflicts in Africa. In these former European colonies, the scramble for control of diamond mining territory has helped to fuel a cycle of conflict. Will the cycle be repeated in our lands too?

Before they can claim to have done the right thing in Canada, DeBeers and other Canadian diamond mining companies must demonstrate a different attitude and pattern of behavior. They must allow us to determine where, when and how diamond mining will take place, if at all.

They must also work with us and the Canadian governments to protect the great Boreal Forest ecosystem and make sure it continues to provide clean air, clean water and abundant wildlife for our communities and for the world.

The battle over diamonds will be largely fought in the US, where annual sales of diamond jewelry represent almost half of the $55 billion sold world wide.

The time is now for U.S. consumers to connect the dots and weigh in. Tell De Beers, other diamond miners and Canada that unless things change, Canadian diamonds are no better than conflict diamonds from Africa.

Alvin Fiddler
Deputy Grand Chief Nishnawbe Aski Nation
www.nan.on.ca  

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From http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2006/12/08/conflict-diamond.html

First Nations leader slams Canadian diamonds
Friday, December 8, 2006 - CBC News

A First Nations group in Ontario is trying to dissuade Americans from buying Canadian diamonds this holiday season, saying the jewels are mined at the expense of its people.

Alvin Fiddler, deputy grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, said De Beers Canada in particular is causing environmental devastation and disrupting his community of 45,000 Cree and Ojibwa in northern Ontario.

"They're not clean diamonds; they're not conflict-free diamonds," Fiddler told CBC News. "People are paying a price for these diamonds and it's our people in the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. Our people, our children, are languishing in poverty while these resources are being extracted from their territory."

Fiddler this week had an editorial published in the diamond industry trade publication Rapaport News, in which he outlined his concerns about Canadian diamond exploration and mining. He says several communities have called for a moratorium on mineral exploration on land where the legal title is under dispute.

"The battle over diamonds will be largely fought in the United States, where annual sales of diamond jewelry represent almost half of the $55 billion sold worldwide. The time is now for consumers in the United States to connect the dots and weigh in," Fiddler wrote in his editorial.

"Tell De Beers, other diamond miners and Canada that unless things change, Canadian diamonds are no better than conflict diamonds from Africa."

Linda Dorrington, a spokeswoman for De Beers said the company is making an effort to negotiate with First Nations in Canada but said land rights need to be decided by government. The company has one project underway along with exploration work within Nishnawbe Aski territory.

"We encourage the government and these groups to continue to work together to get these matters settled," she said.

Fiddler said the diamond company should stop work until the government settles the land claims.

The trade in diamonds originating in conflict zones, sometimes called "blood diamonds," has helped pay for wars in Africa that have killed millions in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo.

Under heavy criticism from human rights activists, governments, non-governmental organizations and industry enacted the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in 2002, which tracks diamonds from the mine to the store.

Jewelers are bracing for more consumer scrutiny this season with the opening of the new film Blood Diamond set amid the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone in the late 1990s. Industry officials have launched a high-profile campaign, saying the Kimberley Process has curbed the "blood diamond" trade.

Related Links

• 'Blood diamonds' film sparks debate about illegal diamond trade - http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2006/12/06/conflict-diamonds.html
• Canada's diamond rush - http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/diamonds/
• International agreement reached on trade in 'blood diamonds' - http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2002/03/20/diamonds020320.html
• UN bans sale of Sierra Leone diamonds - http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2000/07/05/diamonds000705.html
• Criticism mounts against 'blood' diamond dealers - http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2000/06/14/diamonds_debeers000614.html
• The Kimberley Process - http://www.kimberleyprocess.com:8080/

A senior policy advisor for Health Minister Tony Clement is impressed with the work of KO Telehealth.

Donna Williams, KO Telehealth Manager, briefed Jo Kennelly, a senior advisor for Health Minister Tony Clement about the telehealth applications successfully being delivered in remote First Nations across northwestern Ontario.

Kennelly told the KO team that the government is hosting a health success stories across Canada conference in February and will recommend that KO Telehealth be invited to participate as a presenter.

To see photos of this meeting, click here...

From http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature6.cfm?REF=163

Huge changes looming in Telecom policy - Citizens' forum calls for government to put public interest first.

Dateline: Tuesday, December 05, 2006

by Marita Moll and David Murdoch

Federal Industry Minister Maxime Bernier is considering changes to the Telecommunications Act, stemming from recommendations by a somewhat obscure policy review panel, which could drastically affect our daily lives.

The Liberal government formed the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel (TPRP) in April 2005, to address major technological advances and changing market dynamics. But most Canadians are unaware of the process — much less the nature and the importance of the TPRP's recommendations — and for who are, it has been difficult to participate.

According to delegates at an Ottawa forum discussing these issues, the Telecommunications Act, which has historically played an important role in our national development, is about to take on a whole new flavour.

The Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum was organized by the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN). Policy experts, academics and representatives from over a dozen community and public interest organizations across Canada discussed the implications of these policy reforms in the context of social and community economic development.

Participants were critical of the direction taken by the Panel in its recommendations. The Report places far too much faith in "market forces" in an era when access to advanced telecommunications services has become essential to economic, social and political participation, according to the participants. If this direction is adopted, they said, government would be abdicating its responsibility to govern, by assuming that market forces could be relied upon to meet such needs.

Telcom recommendations would put too much emphasis on market control.

If the goal is universal access to broadband services, direct government action is an imperative both to the provision of services wherever Canadians live and to providing the means and the knowledge for Canadians to use those services effectively. For example, those who live in a rural or remote part of Canada not currently served by broadband (high speed internet) can't expect "market forces" to deliver what they will need in order to participate fully as members of Canadian society. "Market forces" will only deliver such services where subscribers are sufficient in numbers to make the service profitable.

"Canada would do well to learn from the mistakes already made south of the border in the US, where we embraced aggressive deregulation sooner," suggested Ben Scott, Policy Director for Free Press, a Washington, DC media policy think-tank. Scott went on to point out that, since 2001, the US has fallen from 4th to 12th in OECD rankings for broadband penetration.

Direct government action is also essential to maintain services like the Community Access Program (CAP), which provides support to those needing access to new technologies. These include people on low incomes, seniors, aboriginals, recent immigrants and others who are being left behind as new technologies are becoming increasingly commonplace in daily activities. Currently, the more than 3,000 CAP sites across the country are experiencing a withdrawal of government funding. This massively successful, but financially fragile national network can easily be destroyed by short-term and market-focused thinking.

The Forum also affirmed that telecommunication performs an essential role in the maintenance of Canadian sovereignty and identity and that this principle should be retained in any new version of the Telecommunications Act. Philippa Lawson, of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), pointed out "the proposed rewrite of section 7 of the Telecommunications Act would eliminate important policy goals such as reliable, high quality service and the protection of consumers from telecom-specific marketplace abuses."

She continued, "It would also remove key provisions including the requirement for just and reasonable rates and the rule against unjust discrimination. Without these goals and basic ground rules, we can expect lowest-common-denominator approaches to telecommunications service in Canada and widespread marketplace abuses. More than ever before, we need such principles in order to ensure that telecommunications in Canada continues to serve the public good as well as the private shareholders of dominant players."

Marita Moll is a CRACIN co-investigator and David Murdoch is the coordinator of the Halifax Regional CAP Association. Both are board members of Telecommunities Canada, an alliance of CAP and other community technology centres. For more information on this issue visit the site below.

Related address:  www.cracin.ca

From http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2006/12/07/aboriginal-education.html

Most aboriginal youth not finishing high school: analyst
Thursday, December 7, 2006 - CBC News

Seventy per cent of young aboriginal adults living on Manitoba reserves have not completed high school — the highest dropout rate among on-reserve youth in Canada, a senior analyst said Thursday.

In a report released in October, Michael Mendelson, senior scholar with the Caledon Institute of Social Policy in Ottawa, found the problem extends across the country, but is especially acute in Manitoba.

"Aboriginal people, particularly on reserve, are failing to complete high school. Not only failing to go on to post-secondary education, but not even getting through high school," Mendelson said Thursday.

"About 70 per cent of young adults on reserve do not complete high school in Manitoba. That's the highest rate on reserve in any province."

Mendelson's research also found that nearly 50 per cent of young aboriginal adults in Winnipeg haven't finished high school. Overall, he said, aboriginal education should be one of the most serious issues facing the province today.

Economic repercussions

"How can a province like Manitoba be prosperous economically if 10 to 15 per cent of its labour force essentially can only be employed at very low skilled jobs that don't even require a high school graduation?" he said.

"There's fewer and fewer of those jobs all the time. Both socially and economically, this is kind of [a] long-term tsunami that's facing Manitoba."

Mendelson said he believes part of the problem is that reserves do not have educational supports, or even a school system. As well, remote communities do not have curriculum development, teacher evaluation or superintendents, he said.

As part of the solution, Mendelson said the federal government should create a new national education act to allow First Nations to create their own school boards and systems.

Related Links:

Low aboriginal graduation rates a concern for all Canadians: report - http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2006/08/10/aboriginal-graduates.html

Caledon Institute of Social Policy: Read the report - Improving Primary and Secondary Education on Reserves in Canada
Michael Mendelson, October 2006 - http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/608ENG%2Epdf

In his report Aboriginal Peoples and Postsecondary Education in Canada (Caledon Institute of Social Policy, July 2006), Michael Mendelson found that a very high percentage of Aboriginal students were not completing high school, especially those who lived on reserve.  In this commentary, Mendelson sets out proposals for improving primary and secondary education for residents of reserves.  He argues that many reserve schools are organized on the ‘village school’ model that prevailed in rural Canada before the creation of modern consolidated school boards.  He argues for the creation of a First Nations-owned and  -controlled school system.  Mendelson proposes that a First National Education Act replace the current education sections of the Indian Act to provide a legal framework enabling the evolution of First Nations school boards that reflect the characteristics of each region.

INAC press release ...

Reporting progress on plan of action for drinking water in First Nations communities - Government Tables Expert Panel Report

To read the full report visit  http://www.eps-sdw.gc.ca/rprt/index_e.asp

     OTTAWA, Dec. 7 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, today tabled a report from the expert panel on Safe Drinking Water for First Nations. This fulfils a commitment made as part of a plan of action for drinking water in First Nations communities, announced on March 21, 2006.

     The two-volume report has been shared with Minister Prentice, Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Environment, for their consideration and review.

     "Earlier this year Canada's new government announced plans to take decisive action to ensure that all First Nations reserves have access to clear, safe drinking water," said Minister Prentice. "This report, which was the result of public hearings across the country, takes us another step closer to this goal."

     The Government also tabled a report outlining progress made on all aspects of its five point plan of action, including the removal of several drinking water advisories, improvements to a number of water treatment plants, and increased assistance and training for operators.

     "The AFN welcomes the final report of the expert panel," said National Chief Phil Fontaine. "As almost one-third of all of our 633 First Nations were at high risk, we support the panel's recommendation to the government to deal with the water systems of these communities immediately."

     "This report has the potential to affect the health of First Nations in a positive way by providing workable and effective options for regulating the quality of drinking water on reserves," said Minister Clement. "I will review the report with interest, and look forward to taking the next steps with my colleagues, Minister Prentice and Minister Ambrose, toward addressing this important issue."

     "The expert panel report provides clear options for moving forward to address the issue of safe drinking water for citizens on First Nations' reserves. I am particularly pleased the panel is advocating a comprehensive approach that includes protecting the quality of drinking water at its source. Environment Canada has a particular interest in this area, and I look forward to working with Minister Prentice and Minister Clement as we consider how best to move forward," added Minister Ambrose.

     This news release, the progress report on the Government's plan of action, including the report of the expert panel, and more detailed information on both reports is available at http://www.inac.gc.ca

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/For further information: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; Minister's Office: Deirdra McCracken, Office of the Honourable Jim Prentice, (819) 997-0002; Media Relations Unit: (819) 953-1160; Assembly of First Nations: Bryan Hendry, Acting Communications Director, (613) 241-6789 ext. 320; Health Canada: Paul Duchesne, Media Relations, (613) 954-4807; Environment Canada: Media Relations, (819) 934-8008, 1-888-908-8008/

• Backgrounder - Progress Report - Plan of Action for Drinking Water in First Nations Communities
• Backgrounder - Progress Report on 21 Priority Communities
• Progress Report Plan of Action for Drinking Water in First Nations Communities
• Summary of Report
• Frequently Asked Questions on the Final Report

Sioux Lookout Exclusive Premiere!

Muffins For Granny

"A touching story told through the eyes of a grand daughter coming to terms with her Granny's residential school experience."

• Winner of Best Documentary - Winnipeg Aboriginal Film and Video Festival, 2006
• Honourable Mention for Best Documentary - ImagineNative Film and Media-Arts Festival, 2006 in Toronto

Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Sioux Mountain Public School
7pm-9pm
Ages 14 and up

Question & Answer to follow with featured Elders and Director, writer, producer Nadia McLaren

*coffee and muffins will be served

*****

As reported by Garnet Angeconeb ... "Muffins for Granny is a great production about the legacy of the Residential School system. Don't miss it. This is a powerful production by Sioux Lookout artist Nadia McLaren."

The KO team at the AFN meeting in Ottawa led by Geordi Kakepetum shared success stories and challenged the new managers of First Nations SchoolNet to ensure that the program grows and prospers.

The Keewaytinook Okimakanak team took some time to meet with the new INAC managers of First Nations SchoolNet. KO’s Geordi Kakepetum and Brian Walmark shared the successes, hopes and challenges faced by K-Net, the Regional Management Organization (RMO) for Ontario. Geordi told those around the table about how First Nations SchoolNet, in particular the access to broadband and the applications, have changed the learning opportunities available for students in remote and isolated First Nations Schools.

First Nations SchoolNet is being transferred from Industry Canada to the Department of Indian Affairs as part of an overall restructuring initiative to make INAC responsible for all economic development on-reserve.

During the friendly and informal meeting, Geordi outlined to Juliet Balfour, the Director of Socio-Economic Policy and Regional Operations (Education Branch) and Barbara Caverhill, her Senior Policy Manager, several key challenges that require attention from the Department. He said to maintain the access and applications used by teachers and students in First Nations schools across Canada First Nations, it was essential that funding be restored to levels before recent cutbacks. "We can’t afford to provide the schools with the resources they need for upgrades in software and hardware," he told the INAC officials.

Geordi emphasized that it was critical that decision-makers at the community level must know that First Nations SchoolNet will continue after the end of the fiscal year. He feared that without an official announcement from Canada many First Nations Schools would have to advise the telecom providers that they could no longer afford broadband fees in the new fiscal year. "Many people are not aware that First Nations SchoolNet has been transferred to INAC or even know that the program will continue."

Juliet Balfour, INAC’s new First Nations SchoolNet Manager said it would be difficult to make an announcement until funding receives final approval. She said her department is seeking the authority to run First Nations SchoolNet for two years. During which time, INAC will go to Treasury Board to get the necessary authorities to transform it into a permanent program. She assured Geordi that she would determine what kind of announcement her department could make in the interim.

Geordi emphasized the importance of the Regional Management Orgnizations (RMOs) and how they were responsible for the rapid migration of broadband to almost every First Nation School in Canada that wanted it. "This is a big country. Each region is different. The RMOs know the challenges faced in their regions and they know the players. That’s why we can get things done." He added that there is a lot of sharing that takes place between the RMOs such as the video bootcamp created by the RMO in Atlantic Canada which was available on-line for First Nations participants across Canada.

Joe Poirier of IHAB had just returned from a tour of Ontario’s far north and reported what he had seen with the Keewaytinook Interent High School and G8, the grade supplementary on-line program in literacy, mathematics and science, two applications created by K-Net as part of First Nations SchoolNet. "Because of KiHS, young people in the north can get a high quality education without having to leave their families and go to high schools in the south." He said he could see how engaged KiHS students are in the classroom. Brian Walmark added that KiHS is currently being evaluated by a professor from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). "His preliminary findings sound very favourable," he said. Geordi pledged to provide the INAC officials a copy of the evaluation as soon as it was available.

Geordi invited the two INAC officials to come to Balmertown where they could see for themselves KiHS in action and some of the other applications created as a result of First Nations SchoolNet. Juliet Balfour and Barbara Caverhill said they would check their schedules to determine if they had any dates in January available for a visit.

Juliet said that she needs to have the successes of First Nations SchoolNet, the activity of the RMOs and K-Net in particular documented so that she can use them to lever the kinds of the funds the program needs to continue. The K-Net team recommended that INAC sponsor a face-to-face meeting in the new year of all of the RMOs where each could present its success stories. It would also provide the new INAC managers with the opportunity to meet all of the key players at the RMOs. In the interim, Juliet pledged to either participate or have members of her staff participate in the monthly on-line meetings of the RMOs.

Following the breakfast briefing, Brian Walmark provided Juliet Balfour and Barbara Caverhill with an on-line tour of the K-Net website. He showed them some of the digital video produced by community youth and some of the other applications made possible with funding from First Nations SchoolNet. "This program puts tools in the hands of people," he told them.

Juliet Balfour expressed great interest in what other areas beyond education could be served by broadband in First Nations communities such as health and economic development. The KO team told her about Jesse Fiddler who worked at K-Net for many years before taking his skills back with his family to Sandy Lake First Nation where he has created a thriving IT business serving clients on and off-reserve.

To see photos of the meeting between the KO team and First Nations School as well as other pictures taken at the AFN meeting in Ottawa, Click here ...

Read the CBC online coverage of this important ruling following the AFN press release ...

AFN press release ...

Assembly of First Nations Applauds today's Supreme Court of Canada rulings on Sappier/Polchies and Gray cases

     OTTAWA, Dec. 7 /CNW Telbec/ - "This is a victory for the Mi'gmaq Nation and Maliseet Nation," said AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine. "We congratulate those who have successfully met yet another challenge to the recognition of Aboriginal rights.

     The Sappier/Polchies and Gray cases involve the First Nations right to harvest timber for domestic use.

     "These decisions are a positive signal for all First Nations because it opens the door for other communities to pursue access to resources for domestic uses," added National Chief Fontaine. "This is a step towards the eradication of poverty in First Nations communities

     "This ruling will provide access to much needed resources in our traditional lands to build shelter, provide transportation, tools and fuel," said AFN Atlantic Regional Chief Rick Simon, who noted today's decisions are based on findings of the importance of natural resources to traditional and contemporary First Nations culture.

     Today's decision provides more clarity with regards to proving Aboriginal rights among all parties. Furthermore, today's decision by the Supreme Court signals that a more flexible approach to recognizing Aboriginal rights is required by the courts and the federal government.

     "However, further negotiations with governments must move forward in terms of resource revenue sharing arrangements," added Regional Chief Simon.

     The Assembly of First Nations is the national organization that represents First Nations citizens in Canada.

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/For further information: Bryan Hendry, A/Director of Communications, (613) 241-6789, ext. 229, Cell :(613) 293-6106, bhendry@afn.ca; Nancy Pine, Communications Advisor to the National Chief, Cell :(613) 298-6382, npine@afn.ca/

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From http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/07/native-court.html

Top court upholds aboriginal logging rights on Crown land
Thursday, December 7, 2006

Native people have the right to log Crown lands for personal use, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a unanimous judgment on two New Brunswick cases.

'A practice undertaken for survival purposes can be considered integral to an aboriginal community's distinctive culture.'
-Supreme Court decisionThe high court judges decided three New Brunswick men who took Crown wood to make furniture, build a home and burn as firewood were exercising their aboriginal rights, not stealing.

The ruling upholds the decision of the lower courts in New Brunswick, which also ruled in the men's favour.

"The respondents possessed an aboriginal right to harvest wood for domestic use," the judges wrote in their summary.

In 2005, the Supreme Court had ruled against aboriginal people's right to log Crown lands for commercial purposes — but these men were clearly logging for personal use, the court said.

Darrell Gray, who is Mi'kmaq, was originally charged in 1999 for taking maple trees from Crown lands near three reserves. Clark Polchies and Dale Sappier, both Maliseet, were charged two years later for harvesting trees on Crown land without a licence.

The Supreme Court judges ruled that both Mi'kmaq and Maliseet people logged wood on those lands long before Europeans arrived in North America.

The judges said records show the wood was historically used for shelter, transportation, tools and fuel. It was key to native people's survival.

"A practice undertaken for survival purposes can be considered integral to an aboriginal community's distinctive culture," the judges wrote in their summary.

The judges said the right to harvest the wood must be allowed to evolve with the times. Historically, natives used the wood to build temporary shelters, but now the right must be allowed to evolve to the construction of modern homes, they wrote.

They stressed that the wood cannot be sold, traded or bartered for money, even if the money is used to build another home.

Native leader applauds decision

Jeff Tomah, chief of the Woodstock First Nation in New Brunswick, praised the decision. Sappier and Polchies belong to Woodstock First Nation.

"Housing has been an issue for quite some time and this case here, of course, will help," said Tomah.

"There's a lot of our people scattered and we haven't had time to build houses in a timely manner, but this is a landmark decision that will sure help our people."

The judges' decision follows a long legal battle.

After lower courts and the New Brunswick Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the men, the Crown appealed to the Supreme Court.

New Brunswick government pleased
The New Brunswick government is pleased the Supreme Court brought clarity to the issue.

"In this case, we really do have a well-written decision," said Education Minister Kelly Lamrock, speaking on behalf of the government.

"It is well reasoned and it is clear…. It's one that we certainly believe can be accommodated in our shared interest of managing the land."

Six provinces, the federal government and two forest industry associations intervened in the case, siding with the New Brunswick government.

Nova Scotia was one of the interveners.

The provincial government announced Thursday it will review the ruling to determine the potential implications for Nova Scotia.

Provincial Natural Resources Minister David Morse said an agreement signed in 2002 involving the Mi'kmaq, and the Nova Scotia and federal governments will lead to full negotiations on native rights issues, including forestry.