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Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund Hosts First Nations Renewable Energy Forum with leading Industry in Thunder Bay

An impressive line up of First Nation energy developers, regulatory agencies, power authorities, technologists, energy consultants, lawyers and investment firms are among the experts who will be in Thunder Bay on March 22nd and 23rd 2005 for the ground breaking Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund "First Nations Renewable Energy Business Forum". This intensive two-day business forum will focus on the essential processes for renewable energy projects and aims to provide a meeting forum for regional First Nations and major industry players.

Hosted by Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund in partnership with the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs, the forum involves presentations from First Nation project developers and leading energy organizations such as Ogilvy Renault Barristers & Solicitors, Ontario Waterpower Association, Acres International Ltd, McMillan Binch LLP , Horizon Legacy, Regional Power Inc, Hydro One, and BLG Law Firm, to name a few.

Says Michael Fox, Partnership Development Advisor for Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund; "We are thrilled to see so much interest from both the First Nations and the wider private sector for this critical business forum. The uptake for this regional event from Bay Street and Toronto has been better than expected and I am quite pleased with the key stakeholders and private sector partners who are participating in order to outline the current processes for First Nation renewable energy projects. I believe that this forum will provide both strategic information and a networking function that will help fill a void that has been evident for a long time when it comes to First Nation energy initiatives."

Topic presentations will include; "MNR Waterpower Policy and Procedural Directives", "How to Negotiate an Effective Power Purchase Agreement", "The Energy Pathfinder Program" and "How the next RFP may look and the role of the Ontario Power Authority", amongst others.

The conference will also play host to a press conference announcement on Wednesday 23rd 2005 at 11.00am in the Scandia Room at the Valhalla Inn regarding a major First Nation/Private sector energy initiative.

Registration for the event is still available. Those interested should contact: 807 767 4443 or 807 623 5397.

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Media Enquiry Contact:
Stephanie Ash
Firedog Communications;
Tel: 807 767 4443 or email: stephanie@firedogpr.com

RICTA founding meeting in Balmertown creating many spinoffs

PRESS RELEASE
Weaving Threads of Healing

Weaving the world together can be more than a metaphor!

 “Some say our world is hanging by a thread. I say—a thread is all we need.  I embrace the hope that our shining thread of humanity will someday weave our nations into a single tapestry of compassionate diversity.”  - Terry Helwig founder of ‘The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth’

On March 21, Sioux Lookout residents and visitors will have the opportunity to participate in an inspirational international initiative called The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth. The Anti Racism Committee and local Thread Ambassadors, Laurel Wood and Garnet Angeconeb invite everyone in the community to bring a thread to add to an actual world tapestry that is being woven from fibres collected from around the world.  The project has been integrated into Race Relations Week 2005, which has taken on the theme Weaving Threads of Healing.

“I believe that in our hearts we all have room to always strive for better understanding and improving relations - within ourselves, our families, our communities and nations, and within our world,” says Angeconeb. “We all must learn from our past mistakes and build upon our hopes and aspirations for a better tomorrow. That's healing and reconciliation.”

People are encouraged to bring their thread offering to a gathering, Monday, March 21 at 7 pm at St. Andrew’s United Church. Participants may wish to select a thread that carries personal meaning. Ribbons from baby booties, shoe laces, fishing line, thin strips of clothing, home-spun thread, even kite tails have been tied on. If you wish to share a personal “story” about your thread, you will have the opportunity to do so.

As the founder of The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth, Terry Helwig is overseeing the gathering and weaving of single threads sent by thousands of people worldwide. Over 50 countries are represented thus far. Fishing line, guitar strings, yarn, shoe laces, thin strips of cloth, ribbon, and dozens of other fibres -- including a piece of bicycle tire -- have been woven into World Cloths called Hope Materializing, Threaded Harmony, Ariadne's Prayer and Weaving Reconciliation. Different weavers in El Salvador, Guatemala, Greece, India and the United States have woven 25 of the projected 49 panels.  The 26th panel, the first for Canada, will be woven right here in Sioux Lookout.

“I am very pleased to have this opportunity to gather together members of our community to participate in collecting threads and weaving a panel of Weaving Reconciliation”, Wood says. “When I offered to weave a panel for the project, I requested Weaving Reconciliation because I thought the theme of this World Cloth was very appropriate to our community with its population of approximately half Euro-Canadian and half First Nations people.

Aboriginal people in Canada are actively seeking healing and reconciliation from the consequences of years of residential schooling and the abuses (physical, sexual, cultural, spiritual and emotional) that occurred in these institutions.  They continue to struggle with the ongoing intergenerational effects of systemic racism.

I hope that the gathering during Race Relations Week will symbolically unite our hopes for healing and reconciliation through the gathering and tying of threads. When our threads are gathered, they will be tied to those collected in other parts of the world and people will be encouraged to contribute to the weaving of the panel.  I believe the cloth we create will contain diversity, love, pain, hope and prayers and connect us to caring people throughout the world.”

Helwig says, "The cloths are meant to inspire hope in a fractured world. Their purpose is to celebrate our diversity, promote tolerance and encourage compassionate community. Sometimes we wonder what difference one person can make. When you see these cloths, made one fibre at a time, you begin to see that every thread, be it kindness or cotton, can and does make a difference."

Seven cloths will be woven, in different colours, to represent each continent. Each cloth is made of seven panels. Helwig says the number seven is a symbolic number of wholeness and completion. She anticipates the weaving will be completed by 2007, at which time she will consider a permanent home for the cloths. She adds, "I think these cloths would look nice in the United Nations, don't you?" Each of the seven cloths, resembling large wall tapestries, measures approximately 12 x 7 feet. Helwig's ultimate vision is to exhibit all seven multi-colour cloths in an 84-foot circle called Behold and Be Held. Outside the circle, viewers could behold the diversity of the cloth; inside the circle, viewers could experience being held by the threads of humanity.

"What touches me, " Helwig says, "Is that these cloths have become a woven repository of goodwill. People send threads because they care, because they want to live in harmony, because they have hope for a better world. What makes these cloths so special is that they are woven, not with just people's threads, but with their love, hopes, prayers, good intentions and, sometimes, even their pain."

What better way to symbolically mend our world than with a thread? The modest thread, a powerful archetype of creation, resonates deeply within the human psyche. In myth, Grandmother Spider weaves the four directions; in physics, the string theory suggests that the subatomic structure of our universe resembles loops of vibrating strings, and, in human experience, each of us enters the world threaded to our mother.

If someone doesn’t have a thread with personal meaning they can contribute any string or yarn or chose something from the threads provided at the gathering. Groups or organizations may wish to make a group thread. Anyone who can’t attend the gathering you can still contribute a thread by calling one of the numbers below. If anyone has questions about contributing a thread they can call one of our local Thread Ambassadors, Garnet Angeconeb (737-3169) or Laurel Wood (737-2174). 

More information about the project can be found on the web site of The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth, at www.threadproject.com.

Contact Laurel Wood
lawood@nwconx.net
737-2174

Geordi Kakepetum, Executive Director of Keewaytinook Okimakanak along with Ross Mamakeesick, All-Weather Road Coordinator and Dan Pellerin, Kuhkenah Network Manager met with the Honourable Andy Scott, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada on Sunday, March 13. Roger Valley, MP for the Kenora riding along with Robert Howsam and other members of the INAC team attended the meeting which was held in Kenora.

Geordi present the INAC minister with eleven briefing notes highlighting some of the different issues being addressed by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak team. The briefing notes contained the issues, background and requirements presently facing ...

• the Keewaytinook Internet High School
• the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Telehealth Initiative
• the Kuhkenah Network
• the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute
• the KO Regional Management Organization with Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program
• the KO Health Services
• the KO Financial Assistance Services initiative
• the KO Education Advisory Services
• the KO All-Weather Road initiative
• the KO National Satellite Initiative with Industry Canada
• the KO First Nations Infrastructure Requirements (ie Fort Severn's school, Keewaywin's water treatement plant, etc)

On Friday, March 11, Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy,together with Muskrat Dam First Nation Chief Frank Beardy, and Fort William First Nation North Stars team president Gerald Bannon, launched the Daniel Beardy Memorial Hockey Fund today at a news conference at Bannon's Gas Bar in Thunder Bay.On the occasion of the late Daniel Beardy's birthday, NAN Grand Chief together with Muskrat Dam First Nation Chief and Fort William First Nation North Stars team president Gerald Bannon, launched an annual Memorial Hockey Fund that will  promote the success of other young hockey stars.NEWS RELEASEFriday March 11, 2005THUNDER BAY Friday March 11, 2005: Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy, together with Muskrat Dam First Nation Chief Frank Beardy, and Fort William First Nation North Stars team president Gerald Bannon, launched the Daniel Beardy Memorial Hockey Fund today at a news conference at Bannon's Gas Bar in Thunder Bay."It's our goal the memorial hockey fund will build the confidence in both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth that with determination and the proper support their goals are unlimited," said NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy."Not only will the fund promote the success of young hockey stars, but it will celebrate Daniel's life and the positive values he stood for." Daniel Beardy, who passed away August 1st 2004, played goalie for Fort William First Nation North Stars a local Junior 'A' Hockey team that won the 2003-2004 Superior International Junior Hockey League Championship. Beardy, who had been playing hockey since he was five years of age, was voted the top goaltender of the league for the same season. He had a "goals against" average of 2.06 in the regular season which ranked him second among all goalies in the Canadian Junior 'A' Hockey League. He lost only one game in the 21 he played. The annual award will be granted to an Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal hockey player between the ranks of 'AA' and Junior or an active player in a remote location. All applicants must be residents of Ontario and full-time students. A selection committee will select the applicant who best demonstrates his or her commitment to their hockey practice and game requirements, community involvement, and their ability to act as a role model to other youth on and off the ice.Contributions to the Daniel Beardy Memorial Hockey Fund include tax deductible donations, hosting fundraising events, and corporate sponsorship. Funds raised are for the administration of the Memorial Fund only. The Memorial Fund is strictly volunteer and no financial remuneration is involved."We wish to encourage all businesses and individuals to contribute to the Daniel Beardy Memorial Hockey Fund so that Daniel will continue to be a role model and positive influence for youth," said Muskrat Dam First Nation Chief Frank Beardy.Initial contributions have been made to the Fund by Wasaya Airways, Muskrat Dam First Nation, Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund, Independent First Nations Alliance, Springhill Lumber Wholesale Ltd., and Northern American Charters.***For more information please contact:Jenna YoungCommunications OfficerNishnawbe Aski Nation(807) 625 4952Daniel Beardy Memorial Hockey FundP.O. Box 27134Thunder Bay, ON P7C 5Y7Email: hockeyfund@nationbase.ca

Attawapiskat First Nation is making a presentation in Thunder Bay  on March 16 about the potential for joint venture opportunities between businesses in Thunder Bay and the Attawapiskat First Nation in relation to the DeBeers Victor Diamond Mine Project.

TIME: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
LOCATION: Confederation College - Rotary Lecture Theatre (Shuniah Building - 1450 Nakina Drive)
Free Registration
Please RSVP by March 15 to:
City of Thunder Bay
Tourism and Economic Development Division
807-625-3960

(from the ad in the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal - March 12)

DeBeers Canada is proposing to establish a new diamond mine approximately 90 kilometres from the Attawapiskat First Nation located on the James Bay coast. The DeBeers project involves an initial capital investment of $860 million and is expected to generate approximately 600 jobs during construction and 380 permanent positions when the mine is in full operation.

For further details on the Victor Diamond Mind project, please visit http://www.debeerscanada.com/files_2/victor_project/factsheet.html

The March 16 presentation will be an excellent event for businesses in Thunder Bay interested in obtaining information on a broad range of potential opportunities. Examples of key partnership opportunities relate to contruction/engineering firms, mining contractors, maintenance, catering, industrial supplies, etc.

Registration is now open for the upcoming English Literacy course which is scheduled to begin on April 11, 2005. Grade 8 teachers are invited to visit the G8 Program website (www.g8.firstnationschools.ca) or call 1-877- 737-5638 ext. 51345 for more information and to register their school (space is limited).

Researchers from Canadian and American researchers are in Balmertown for the founding meeting of RICTA...For the story, click here...

The latest video to join the growing collection of material that is being posted by Keewaytinook Okimakanak is the information video about the Keewaytinook Internet High School (http://kihs.knet.ca). Cal Kenny worked with the KiHS team to gather the video material and put together this 4 minute production.

Click here to check out the KiHS introductory video that shows how the program is set up to provide First Nation families with choices that they never had before.

Another video production about education and the use of ICTs in remote the Keewaytinook Okimakanak First Nations can be seen at http://streaming.knet.ca/fednor/education_300k.wmv. Another production was created for the "Harnessing ICTs in Remote First Nations" and can be found at http://streaming.knet.ca/ICT/education_300k.wmv

1. Everyone can watch, listen and share their thoughts using a computer AND a high speed internet connection. This is being done using two programs being made available by Keewaytinook Okimakanak (K-Net). Each computer does require some plug-ins to be loaded so these programs are able to display all the information.
2. The first program is called Breeze (produced by Macromedia). It allows meeting participants to watch the powerpoint presentations and chat on-line with other people who are also connecting to the meeting over their internet connection. Adam Fiser is managing the breeze presentation for this meeting. Everyone can connect to this on-line meeting at http://breeze.knet.ca/r29635251/
3. The second program is a Video Streaming program (produced by Starbak) that will webcast the video conferencing portion of the meeting providing the picture and sound for the meeting. Everyone is invited to check out the short test session that took place on Tuesday at http://webcast.knet.ca/RICTA
4. If people need HELP getting their computers set up then they are welcomed to call our helpdesk toll free at 877-737-KNET (5638) and ask for John or Jamie or Lars to walk through the steps of testing their machines so they can see the Breeze environment and the Webcast using the video streaming service.