KO member First Nation residents invited to join the "Quit Smoking Challenge"
November 24, 2005 - 4:40pm | by AnonymousKO Tobacco Control Strategy Presents: Quit Smoking Challenge! Quit smoking for 10 days for your chance to win an Xbox 360. For the communities of Deer Lake, Fort Severn, Keewaywin, North Spirit Lake and Poplar Hill.
Please visit http://nahsema.knet.ca for more details
First Ministers' meeting on Aboriginal issues start today in Kelowna, BC
November 24, 2005 - 9:15am | by AnonymousAs the First Ministers' Meeting starts today, there is a wealth of background information concerning First Nations that is being posted on various web sites across the country. The Assembly of First Nations has gathered a lot of the information concerning the First Nations positions, papers and resolutions onto one web page at http://afn.ca/article.asp?id=1826 (see below)
First Nations Caucus 6:00 p.m. - Agenda
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Ramada Lodge Hotel – Redwood Meeting Room
2170 Harvey Avenue
Highway 97 North
V1Y 6G8
Kelowna, BC
Agreement IN PRINCIPLE compensation package for residential school victims announced
November 23, 2005 - 11:04pm | by AnonymousGovernment PRESS RELEASE
Government of Canada Announces AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE Toward a Fair and Lasting Resolution of the Legacy of Indian Residential Schools
OTTAWA (November 23, 2005) – The Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister responsible for Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada, the Honourable Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Honourable Andy Scott, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development announced today that the parties involved have reached an Agreement in Principle toward a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian residential schools.
“The Government’s Representative, the Honourable Frank Iacobucci, has reached an Agreement in Principle with the Assembly of First Nations, legal representatives of former students of Indian residential schools and representatives of the Churches involved in running those schools. The parties to Mr. Iacobucci’s discussions are in agreement on the ways to recognize the common Indian residential school experience of former students” said Deputy Prime Minister McLellan.
“The Agreement in Principle proposes a common experience payment to be paid to all former students of Indian residential schools, an improved alternative dispute resolution process for claims of serious abuse, as well as measures to support healing, commemorative activities, and further investigation and education concerning past policies and their continuing impact on Aboriginal Canadians and their families” added the Deputy Prime Minister.
“I would like to thank the Honourable Frank Iacobucci for his extraordinary efforts over the past six months,” said Minister Cotler. “The historic agreement he has reached with former students’ counsel, the Assembly of First Nations, and Church representatives reflects a shared vision of a fair, just and lasting resolution of the Indian residential school legacy.”
“This Agreement in Principle is a landmark agreement,” said Minister Scott, “and as we prepare for the First Minister’s Meeting on Aboriginal issues, today’s announcement reaffirms the Government’s commitment to strengthening relationships with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people across Canada.”
$1.9 Billion has been set aside for the direct benefit of former Indian residential school students. The Government also announced that eligible former Indian residential school students 65 years of age and older will soon be able to apply for an advance payment of $8000.
For more information on the Agreement in Principle, please refer to the attached background documents.
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For further information, contact:
Alex Swann
Director of Communications
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Ph: 613-991-2863
Sarah Mangione
Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer
Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada
Ph: 613-947-5006
From CBC Online
School abuse victims getting $1.9B
Last Updated Wed, 23 Nov 2005 14:31:14 ESTThe Liberal government offered tens of thousands of survivors of abuse at native residential schools up to $30,000 each in a $1.9-billion compensation package announced Wednesday morning.
- INDEPTH: Aboriginal Canadians
 |
Grand Chief Phil Fontaine breathes in sweetgrass during a purification ceremony before the announcement Wednesday. |
Another $195 million will be spent on a truth and reconciliation process, a commemoration program and other projects designed to promote healing in First Nations communities.
"We have made good on our shared resolve to deliver what I firmly believe will be a fair and lasting resolution of the Indian school legacy," Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan said at a news conference in Ottawa.
She was flanked by other federal cabinet ministers and abuse survivors, including Grand Chief Phil Fontaine of the Assembly of First Nations.
"It's a wonderful day," said Fontaine, speaking of the years of negotiations that led to the agreement in principle. "I know that every moment has been worthwhile. Justice has prevailed."
- FROM THE CBC ARCHIVES: A Lost Heritage: Canada's Residential Schools
Fontaine said the package covers "decades in time, innumerable events and countless injuries to First Nations individuals and communities."
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler also hailed the package, calling the decision to house young Canadians in church-run native residential schools "the single most harmful, disgraceful and racist act in our history."
The agreement must still be approved by the courts because of the high number of outstanding lawsuits launched over residential school abuse, McLellan said.
She said she hopes the seven courts in different provinces that have been dealing with class-action suits will see that the deal "is fair and just and will bring an end to this complex set of litigation that we have seen for many years."
A federal official said the courts will be approached as early as May to approve the agreement, once it is put into formal language.
Tens of thousands of former students could benefit
As many as 86,000 native Canadians who attended church-run schools across the country may be eligible for payments under the plan.
For decades, they had been fighting to have the government recognize the abuses they suffered in the school system that Ottawa supported financially between the 1870s and 1970s.
Tens of thousands of First Nations young people were taken from their families for months at a time and deprived of their culture, and many were sexually or physically abused by school staff.
The average age of survivors is 60, Fontaine noted Wednesday.
The package includes:
- A "common experience payment" of up to $10,000 per person, plus $3,000 for every year a victim spent in the schools, at a cost to the federal government of $1.9 billion.
- Compensation for claims based on sexual and physical abuse, as well as loss of language and culture.
- A speeded-up process to get an initial $8,000 payment to claimants aged 65 and over while the rest of the program's details are sorted out.
- Five-year funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, totalling $125 million.
- $60 million for a truth and reconciliation process.
- $10 million to commemorate what happened in the schools, to assist in victims' healing.
- An agreement that victims accepting compensation payments cannot sue the federal government and the churches running the schools except in cases of sexual and serious physical abuse.
- An alternate dispute-settling process to deal with separate claims for sexual abuse and serious physical abuse.
The federal government's package did not include a national apology for the abuses. McLellan said that was not a part of the negotiations "for this process."
Karen Shaboyer, a former residential school student who works at an aboriginal cultural centre in Toronto, said the agreement is a good start. She hopes it will open the eyes of non-native people, at the very least.
"You see a lot of my people today who may be staggering on the street, and people just call them down, but really, that person is holding a lot of pain and they don't know how to deal with it," said Shaboyer.
Package called 'deathbed conversion'
NDP native affairs critic Pat Martin calls the package a deathbed conversion on the part of the Liberals.
He says the looming federal election likely prompted the announcement, which came a day before Prime Minister Paul Martin attends a first ministers' conference on native affairs in Kelowna, B.C.
- FROM NOV. 22, 2005: Ottawa, provinces ready to commit to native issues
"The government is doing the honourable thing, but it does have the stink of desperation to it," the New Democrat MP said.
In May, former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci was appointed to help Ottawa develop a plan to compensate victims and avoid the costly lawsuits facing the courts.
About 12,000 survivors of residential school abuse are now suing Ottawa.
KO wraps up strategic IT planning session with NOSM IT Director
November 23, 2005 - 10:56pm | by AnonymousKevin Pashuk, IT Director at NOSM, spent two days at the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Sioux Lookout office discussing IT development strategies with members of the K-Net team. Tom Terry, NOSM's Aboriginal Community Placement Officer for the Sioux Lookout Zone joined the meeting on Tuesday afternoon and evening. The information sharing and planning sessions resulted in the K-Net team planning to submit a proposal to NOSM's IT unit to facilitate the development and maintenance of connectivity services in the Aborginal communities that are hosting the first year medical students in their first year of studies at NOSM.
Online Digital Libraries for and with Aboriginal communities workshop - Nov 25
November 23, 2005 - 6:57am | by AnonymousEVERYONE is invited to participate in this online workshop by joining the webcast of the event and sharing your thoughts and questions through the chat feature on the webstreaming server. Click here for more information about participating in this day long workshop web site.
The Faculty of Information Studies (FIS) at the University of Toronto is partnering with Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) to organize a day-long workshop on "Digital Libraries for and with Aboriginal communities". The workshop is being held on Friday November 25th, 2005, from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm (EST). The workshop is devoted to discussing the best possible models for providing information resources and services to the communities in the remote areas of Northern Ontario. The aim is to devise a strategy to create a digital library for elementary and secondary school students. Such a digital library would serve all remote and isolated communities in Ontario's far north and even those outside of the membership of KO....
The workshop will be a hybrid of physical and virtual (via video conference) meetings with two main nodes: one at the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto, and the other in the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) offices . There will be meeting sites in Sudbury, Ottawa and other northern communities. The participants at the various nodes will interact through IP videoconferencing. Everyone else interested in participating in this workshop can watch, listen and share your thoughts, questions and suggestions through the online chat service available on webstreaming server.
Click here for a copy of the agenda.
Click here to test your connections for participating online.
Aboriginal Voices final report recommendations highlight online opportunities
November 23, 2005 - 6:56am | by AnonymousRecommendation 5 is all about e-learning celebrating the successes of the Keewaytinook Internet High School.
The following text contains the summary of all the recommendations from the report ...
Building Sustainable Capacity
Recommendation 1: Aboriginal eGovernment should be a priority on a national agenda of transformation.
Recommendation 2: A national commitment by all governments in Canada is required to bridge the digital divide for Aboriginal communities and institutions within the next fi ve years, and for all Aboriginal peoples within the decade. Achieving these goals entails highspeed broadband Internet access that is affordable to users, coupled with governments investing to create sustainable capacity within Aboriginal communities and organizations to maintain and support ICT systems and applications development.
Recommendation 3: Aboriginal governments and their structures must be the central building blocks for an Aboriginal eGovernment agenda.
Recommendation 4: A Community- and Citizen-centred approach, driven by Aboriginal governments, should be adopted as the primary underpinning of Aboriginal eGovernment.
Aboriginal eLearning
Recommendation 5: Governments should make Aboriginal eLearning a national priority and facilitate and resource the building of a national online Aboriginal eLearning portal that would serve as a focal point for a national eLearning networks tailored to the different needs of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. First Nations, Métis and Inuit educational and training organizations, need to be resourced to fully participate in this national initiative. Characteristics of a national eLearning portal and networks would include:
An open source resource web/network;
National collaboration, with regard to more advanced communities and users acting as role models and mentors to those who need to build capacity; and,
Open source information and resources that would be accessible to all Aboriginal learning organizations, while maintaining the ability to allow communities to cater the information and applications to their learning needs.
Recommendation 6: Federal, provincial and territorial governments should commit to providing long term funding and support in order to sustain current Aboriginal eLearning infrastructure and initiatives.
Recommendation 7: Aboriginal organizations, governments, and post-secondary institutions should collaborate on an assessment and action plan on how ICT can be used to increase Aboriginal post-secondary participation and achievement.
Recommendation 8: Working in collaboration with Aboriginal leaders and organizations, federal, provincial and territorial governments should promote and invest in First Nations, Métis and Inuit Centres of Excellence for eLearning with a mandate to advance and share information and knowledge about best practices and facilitate their diffusion into education and training systems and into the community.
Recommendation 9: National and regional research granting agencies should invest dedicated resources to support the advancement and innovation in Aboriginal eLearning.
Preserving, Promoting & Protecting Aboriginal Cultures
Recommendation 10: The Federal Government, in collaboration with national First Nations, Métis, and Inuit organizations, should develop and implement a national policy commitment to promote the preservation and protection of Aboriginal cultures and languages and ensure Aboriginal children, wherever they live, have opportunities to learn their culture and language. A critical component of this commitment is to fully employ, with appropriate safeguards, the potential of ICT to preserve, store, transmit and enable active cultural learning. Having provincial and territorial governments and education institutions and agencies as partners in this national project will be critical to its success.
Recommendation 11: Working with the appropriate Aboriginal authorities, national and provincial archives and museums should accelerate the digitization of Aboriginal historical records and artefacts and make this information available online.
Recommendation 12: Financial and other resources should be made available for Aboriginal communities to collect and digitally preserve their histories and cultural knowledge for the benefi t of the community.
Recommendation 13: Aboriginal governments, organizations and communities should develop protocols to govern the online collection, dissemination and use of cultural information based on customary laws.
Recommendation 14: Aboriginal peoples should develop models for intellectual property protection of traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and folklore. These models should be recognized by governments and protected in law.
Creating Opportunities in the New Economy
Recommendation 15: Aboriginal governments should be supported and encouraged to develop and integrate ICT initiatives into their long term strategic planning in order to:
Facilitate community economic and business development and entrepreneurship;
Stimulate and sustain the development of an Aboriginal owned and controlled ICT business sector; and,
Foster community/private sector partnerships that provide access to necessary expertise and resources to assist and help promote technologbased economic development and growth.
Recommendation 16: Governments should provide assistance and create incentives for the Aboriginal business sector:
To adopt ICT into their production, business and service processes; and,
To increase business intelligence gathering and product and service marketing capacity to better identify business opportunities and reach out to regional, national and international markets.
Recommendation 17: Aboriginal governments, organizations, and business associations should plan a facilitative role in developing business capacities by providing information, better aligning programs and resources, and helping entrepreneurs build networks and partnerships. This would include developing online information and services to support business and local capacity development.
Recommendation 18: Aboriginal organizations, governments, community colleges and the private sector should collaborate on a long term strategy to actively support and promote Aboriginal participation in the knowledge economy.
Recommendation 19: Aboriginal training and business organizations, in collaboration with the relevant agencies of government, should undertake an assessment and stocktaking of the potential role of eTraining in developing the Aboriginal workforce and business sector.
Recommendation 20: Aboriginal governments should create an enabling environment that favours innovation and technology-based economic and business development.
Improving Service Delivery
Recommendation 21: Federal, provincial and territorial governments should commit funding and resources to enable First Nations, Métis, and Inuit governments and organizations to substantially improve their service delivery systems and infrastructure over the next five years with particular priority in the areas of health care, social and children’s services and education. These strategies will need to be developed on a partnership basis so that they are appropriately tailored and respond to diverse needs and circumstances.
Recommendation 22: Governments should invest resources to promote, support and facilitate the development of Aboriginal networks, including professional networks and communities of interest.
Treating Information as a Public Resource
Recommendation 23: Federal, provincial and territorial governments should reach agreements on a framework for information governance negotiated directly with each respective national Aboriginal organization that can serve broadly as guidelines for the collection, dissemination and sharing of information and data.
Recommendation 24: Federal, provincial, territorial governments and Aboriginal political leadership should support the creation of information capacity that will allow Aboriginal governments and organizations to be more accountable to both their citizens (constituents) and to have a shared accountability relationship with their government partners. Aboriginal governments and organizations should commit to using ICT to provide information that strengthens accountability and participation of their members and citizens in governance and decision-making.
Citizen Engagement
Recommendation 25: Governments and Aboriginal leadership need to build the organizational capacity, authority and resources necessary to engage and consult with Aboriginal citizens on policies, programs and services. These consultation resources should include the technological capacity to engage Aboriginal citizens, including recognizing their distinctive cultural and language needs. Governments should encourage pilot projects to assess the best way to engage Aboriginal citizens using online tools and methodologies.
Partnerships & Collaborations
Recommendation 26: Consideration should be given to establishing an Aboriginal-led national multistakeholder vehicle, that includes government and other key stakeholder representatives, with a mandate to champion, sustain and facilitate the implementation of Aboriginal eGovernment.
Recommendation 27: Governments should support a national conference of Aboriginal and government leaders to develop and chart out an action plan to support and achieve the goals of digital equality and opportunity.
Chapleau-area First Nations to be part of Bell - Nortel broadband initiative
November 22, 2005 - 7:48am | by AnonymousFedNor Funds Chapleau-Area Broadband Initiatives
CHAPLEAU, Ontario, November 9, 2005 — Brent St. Denis, Member of Parliament for Algoma–Manitoulin–Kapuskasing, today announced FedNor support of $513,600 for two Chapleau-area connectedness projects. Of the total, $27,600 will be provided to the Township of Chapleau to hire an Information Technology (IT) Coordinator/Trainer to work on Project Chapleau, a wireless broadband initiative. An additional $486,000 will go to the North Eastern Ontario Communication Network (NEOnet) to provide three area First Nations with high-speed Internet service.
Both projects are designed to complement and bolster Project Chapleau which involves Bell Canada Enterprises, Nortel and the Township of Chapleau, collaborating on assessing the sustainability of wireless networks for serving small, rural communities.
“These initiatives bring us one step closer to the Government of Canada’s goal to make this the most connected nation in the world,” said Mr. St. Denis. “By capitalizing on the advantages of technology to increase access to education, health, government and business services, we are giving Northerners the opportunity to enhance their economic and social positions and to participate more fully in the knowledge-based economy.”
On July 15, 2005, Bell Canada and Nortel announced a joint commitment to deliver a pilot project enabling delivery of high-speed broadband to the Township of Chapleau. Project Chapleau will be the first Wireless Mesh Broadband Network pilot in Canada.
The role of the Coordinator/Trainer will be to work with the Bell/Nortel Project Manager to oversee training activities as they relate to the pilot project, conducting pilot sessions for new curricula, and “train-the-trainer” sessions as necessary.
The “Chapleau Area First Nations Broadband Project” will connect three area First Nations (Chapleau Cree First Nation, Brunswick House First Nation and Chapleau Ojibwe First Nation) via a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet solution. This will provide much needed high-speed access to area residents and businesses, as well as government, health and education facilities.
FedNor funds will support engineering costs associated with integrating DSL service for the three First Nations with the Project Chapleau initiative, as well as the purchase and installation of the necessary telecommunications equipment.
NEOnet’s role in this project will be to coordinate the efforts of the project team to ensure the initiative stays on track, on budget and on time. It will also provide Information and Communications Technology (ICT) workshops to make residents aware of the benefits and potential of broadband service while helping area stakeholders develop ICT applications.
“We are pleased to be part of this exciting venture, working with FedNor and building on the tremendous work being done by the Township of Chapleau and its partners,” said NEOnet Chair, Christy Marinig. “This project gives local First Nations the ability to increase their selfreliance while improving the technological infrastructure within the region.”
“This is a momentous day for the residents of Chapleau and the surrounding region,” added Chapleau Mayor, Earle Freeborn. “This community now stands at the forefront when it comes to connectivity and we will be a model for other smaller Northern and rural communities across the country.”
This investment builds on the Government of Canada’s recent $10 million commitment, through FedNor, to bring broadband access to every community in Northern Ontario and an additional $10 million over the next three years to support applications that make effective use of the broadband network. Since 1999, FedNor has contributed $47 million toward connectedness projects, including $22.8 million for telecommunications infrastructure and networking projects, and $24.2 million toward information and communications technology (ICT) applications, promotion and development. As well as working closely with First Nations SchoolNet, FedNor itself in the last eight years has established more than 100 Points of Presence (main Internet access points) serving Northern Ontario communities.
By supporting the Township of Chapleau, area First Nations and NEOnet through its programs and services, FedNor is opening doors and building futures for a prosperous Northern Ontario.
Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2005 federal budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.
To find out more about FedNor, visit us at: http://fednor.ic.gc.ca
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For more information, please contact:
Graeme Wilkes
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Andy Mitchell
Minister of State (FedNor)
(613) 947-5850
Mario Paluzzi
Communications Officer
FedNor
(705) 941-2064 or 1 877 333-6673
From the Globe and Mail Update
Bell, Nortel deliver broadband to Northern Ontario
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 Posted at 1:47 PM EST
Project Chapleau, a technology showcase developed by Bell Canada, Nortel and the Township of Chapleau, has started operations in high-speed networking and applications. Project Chapleau is designed to evaluate the economic and social benefits of communications technologies on rural communities.
As part of this technology showcase, Chapleau will benefit from wireless mesh, optical, multimedia communications and enterprise systems using an upgraded optical network. Bell Canada and Nortel have also opened the Chapleau Innovation Centre, where residents can learn about new technologies. Through the Centre they can also connect virtually with the Bell-Nortel Innovation Centre in Ottawa and the technologies and expertise being developed there.
The Chapleau Community Portal — www.chapleau.ca — now provides a virtual meeting place for the community and access to the global marketplace.
From the Canadian Press
Chapleau is now unwired
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Posted at 5:25 PM EST
CHAPLEAU, Ont. — After years of grumbling about the lack of Internet service available to them, residents of this northeastern Ontario community have become unwired.
Bell Canada and Nortel, along with the municipality of Chapleau, officially launched Project Chapleau on Wednesday, marking the beginning of wireless Internet in the remote community about 410 kilometres northwest of Sudbury, Ont.
"We began discussions 15 months ago," Bell Canada CEO Michael Sabia said. "This is the first city in the North using this kind of technology."
A wireless mesh network, made up of a series of radio transmitters, has been positioned around the city of 3,000 people and subscribers were to be activated on Thursday.
"It allows people to walk around the city with their PCs and always be connected," Sabia said.
"This is a very quantum leap forward for Chapleau," said Mayor Earle Freeborn.
"It gives local companies an advantage. They can now compete on an international level."
Chapleau is home to Tembec and Domtar paper mills and is in a region known for its hunting, fishing and eco-tourism.
The project will also give students and teachers more access to educational resources on the internet.
Health services should also be enhanced.
The project will also connect three First Nations in the area to DSL in the next year, Mr. Sabia said.
While it won't be the same wireless internet Chapleau will have access to, the First Nations will nonetheless be connected to services they didn't have before, said Lawson Hunter, Bell Canada's executive vice-president.
Project Chapleau could be a blueprint for other communities.
"There are 2,000 rural and isolated communities in Canada that don't have access to broadband," Mr. Sabia said. "This is not acceptable. Many people will be watching this."
Mr. Hunter said the residents will be provided with free Internet for several months.
"We want people to use it, and we want to encourage people to sign up," he said.
Two AKRC member First Nations to be connected to broadband infrastructure
November 22, 2005 - 7:48am | by AnonymousFrom FedNor Press Releases
FedNor Invests in First Nations Technology Initiative
KENORA, Ontario, November 8, 2005 — Roger Valley, Member of Parliament for Kenora, today announced a FedNor contribution of $310,000 to the Lake of the Woods Business Investment Corp. (LOWBIC), the Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) for implementation of broadband Internet services at two area First Nations.
This initiative will enable quality videoconferencing and other advanced information and communications technology (ICT) applications to be introduced and supported for at least five years at Windigo Island First Nation and Angle Inlet First Nation. These Aboriginal communities are accessible only by water. FedNor funding will trigger a Bell Canada investment in the fibre optic cable and telecommunications equipment needed to establish broadband points of presence.
“This project contributes to the Government of Canada’s plan to employ electronic connectivity to enhance social and economic development throughout all regions,” said Mr. Valley. “We are committed to investing in projects such as this that take advantage of the benefits of technology to improve residents’ ability to access health care, interact, transact, learn and improve their social position and prosperity.”
The project will improve the efficiency of services of the First Nations and other agencies who can connect to the wide area networks of their central offices for file sharing, videoconferencing and other ICT applications. They will also be able to access online services and readily interchange data with government and residents.
LOWBIC is the CFDC servicing Kenora and an area around Lake of the Woods, including Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls and Minaki as well as nine First Nations communities. It provides loans, business counselling and advisory services to small and medium-sized enterprises within its catchment area, in addition to community planning and economic development services.
“This project will enable these remote communities to utilize technology to overcome challenges created by distance and geography,” said Judy Bechard, Chair of LOWBIC. “As the regional CFDC, we’re pleased to assist area First Nations to participate more fully in the knowledge-based economy.”
By supporting the LOWBIC through its programs and services, FedNor is opening doors and building futures for a prosperous Northern Ontario.
Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2005 federal budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.
To find out more about FedNor, visit us at: http://fednor.ic.gc.ca
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For more information, please contact:
Graeme Wilkes
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Andy Mitchell
Minister of State (FedNor)
(613) 947-5850
David Frood
Communications Officer
FedNor
(807) 766-1820 or 1 877 333-6673
High speed, satellite internet funding available for those without broadband
November 21, 2005 - 8:44am | by AnonymousThe Satellite Internet for Remote Areas Program (SIRA) is a new service being delivered by NEOnet out of their Timmins office. The program was created to support Northern Ontario's business and not-for-profit community secure cost-effective high-speed internet access. With the advent of the new 2-way, Ka-band satellite service, remote or rural businesses and organizations now have a viable option to dial-up internet. Click here for more information about this new NEOnet program.
SIRA includes First Nation businesses and band offices that aren’t able to access broadband connectivity services and that won’t be served in the short term, ie. over the next six months.
High-speed internet access is a critical tool for the business sector, as it facilitates marketing and communications efforts. Research shows that when properly implemented, it can also introduce significant operational efficiencies and cost savings. NEOnet recognizes the importance of connectivity, and acknowledges that many businesses are located beyond the reach of traditional high-speed internet service.
Eligible applicants may receive up to 75% of the supported costs of equipment and installation of 2-way high-speed internet service (Ka-band), to a maximum of $1000. Supported costs include the satellite dish and associated connectivity equipment, and installation fees. The service provider chosen must be an authorized Telesat reseller. Travel costs incurred by the vendor to install the equipment may also be considered eligible if the business is located more than 50 km from the nearest satellite equipment provider. This program is available for a limited time and you may apply for assistance while the available funds last ($75,000).
Click here to learn more about ka-band satellite internet.
NEOnet Inc.
124 Third Avenue
Timmins ON, P4N 1C5
P (705) 360-1353 x2
F (705) 360-8537
sgallant@neonet.on.ca
http://www.neonet.on.ca
- NEOnet -
Enabling Opportunities through Information and Communications Technology
First Nation schools in Quebec share their ICT success stories online
November 20, 2005 - 11:01am | by AnonymousSix First Nation schools across Quebec are featured in a new "SchoolNet Success Stories" publication being distributed by the First Nations Education Council (FNEC). Click here to read this 19 page report (PDF, 870Kb)
Everyone is invited to download and share this publication with others. The stories show how these schools are working with FNEC and Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program to deliver effective education programs and services using ICTs in the First Nations across Quebec.
The FNEC is Industry Canada's First Nation SchoolNet's Quebec Regional Management Organization.They are located in Wendake First Nation, near Quebec City.
Similar stories exist in the five other Regional Management Organizations (RMO) serving all the First Nation schools across Canada. Visit the RMO web sites for the latest information about how First Nation schools and their communities are getting connected to broadband services and applications. Click on the regions listed below to visit the RMO web site and learn about this important work that is happening in the First Nation schools.
