Media.Knet.Ca

Sandy Lake's local band is going to rock their local school tonight. Fans are welcome to come and watch their local rock band at the Thomas Fiddler Memorial High School gym.

Sandy Lake Outsiderz are planning to rock out more concerts for Sandy Lake at next week's halloween bash and then again on New Year's eve.

Check out our web site at http://outsidersband.myknet.org

The Keewaytinook Internet High School Steering Committee met at the Best Western in Dryden, to discuss the success of the program and to plan for the present year. The KiHS Steering Committee is made up of a member from each the 13 KiHS partner communities. The steering committee makes decisions that deal with policy and programming for the program and brings a better community perspective to the planning process.

The meetings on Wednesday and Thursday were very productive. It was commented many times that the program is providing some great opportunities to the students in the partner communities. Many students are now able to remain at home for longer periods of time before having to leave the community to earn high school credits.

Some of the issues that were discussed at the meeting were:

1. Student attendance
2. Ways to get parents involved more with the community classrooms
3. Local promotion of the program
4. Achievement levels
5. Ways to motivate the students
6. Program changes
7. Staffing
8. Funding

There were many other topics discussed and plans are made to include several of the suggestions over the course of the year. Overall it was a great two days of meetings and the steering committee left with many ideas to bring back to the community, parents, and students.

KiHS is becoming a very important part of our partner communities, and being able to stay at home and earn the same caliber of credits that students could get in any school in Ontario, is a factor which is motivating much interest.

If you are a student in one of the KiHS partner communities and are looking to earn high school credits, talk to the KiHS teacher, or contact the office at 807 735 1381. We are always willing to accept new students.

Darrin Potter
KiHS Principal

NOVEMBER 19-22, 2003

**8 TEAM FORMAT**

**ROUND ROBIN**

**ENTRY FEE: $1,000.00**

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

SANDY LAKE RECREATION OFFICE
(807) 774-5445

Representatives from Eabamatoong and Webequie spent the day meeting with K-Net staff and Carl Seibel, FedNor Telecom Projects Officer. Nanajean Waswa is the Eabamatoong Cable TV Manager. Lorraine Shewaybick, Employment Counsellor and Lisa Shewaybick, Distance Education Coordinator travelled from Webequie to attend the one day workshop. The workshop was hosted by K-Net to provide ongoing support for partner First Nations utilizing the public benefit C-Band resource for broadband connectivity.

Discussions included:

• challenges and issues concerning the present level of service;
• overview of the existing network and the various components;
• introduction of available support services, staff and resources;
• tour of facilities, systems and components;
• review of network costs and pricing formula;
• introduction of the on-line video conferencing booking and network management systems;
• future developments including the construction of the big dish, additional bandwidth resources, scheduling system and partnerships;
• demonstrations of network applications.

The partnership with Bell Canada is being strengthened today with meetings with the K-Net team and Industry Canada. Four members of the Bell team arrived in Sioux Lookout yesterday afternoon with an initial meeting happening at the airport over a coffee as some people arrived and another was leaving.

Nathalie Micucci and Steve Burton travelled from Ottawa and met Tricia Hartley and Gary Martin in Sudbury to complete the flight to Sioux Lookout. At the airport, they met with Geordi Kakepetum (KO Executive Director) and Brian Beaton (K-Net Coordinator). Today, they will be meeting with Dan Pellerin, K-Net Network Manager and Carl Seibel, FedNor Telecom Project Officer.

The K-Net team is working with the Smart Manitoba team in Brandon to deliver a live video conferencing demonstration highlighting the importance of broadband. The presentation is taking place at Brandon's annual Tech2003 conference today, Oct 22.

Over the past few weeks, Adi Linden and Dan Pellerin worked together with other members of the K-Net technical team to install and implement the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) feature on the K-Net Satellite Network Management System (NMS). The DVB is the return transport path for the data traffic going to each of the satellite served First Nations.

Local technicians are completing the installations using the directions Adi developed using the photo gallery located in the Network web site. Lyle Johnson did the first DVB conversion in his home community of Weagamow working with Adi. Then Madeleine Stoney completed the installation of the DVB unit in Fort Severn. Angus Miles made the trip over to Sachigo. Yesterday, Jamie Ray was in Webequie successfully getting that site up after travelling from Fort Hope where he got that site up. Bob Popovic travelled to Kasabonika. Ernie Buswa travelled to Cat Lake to complete the installation. Slate Falls will be the last site transferred over to DVB possibly by the end of this week. WHAT A TEAM effort ... Congratulations to everyone and GREAT work!!

Brian Walmark, KO's SchoolNet Special Projects Facilitator, is setting up an extension office for Keewaytinook Okimakanak on the fourth floor of the Kings Stereo building at 135 N. Syndicate Avenue in Thunder Bay. Jesse Fiddler, KO's Multi-media Coordinator, travelled to Thunder Bay to work with Brian is getting the office networked and set up the video conferencing facilities.

This office space will also strengthen our partnership with Conduit Technologies and Northwest Information Systems Inc and our partnerships with other First Nation organizations in Thunder Bay to deliver broadband connectivity across the region.

The project leaders from the twelve Smart Communities Demonstration projects were linked together via video conference for a four and a half hour meeting. Discussion areas included:

• project sustainability with presenatations from K-Net, Manitoba, Alberta and BC.
• project impacts with presentations from PEI, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

People are invited to watch and listen to this meeting on-line at:

http://streaming.knet.ca/SC-Oct20-meeting.wmv (requires Windows Media Player, 4.5 hours in length, 499MB)

After spending two years talking to key players, including people on the streets, Elders, Chiefs and Councils, service providers, and the general public, the Sioux Lookout Committee will join efforts with Sioux Lookout's Out of the Cold Committee to open the doors of a new homeless shelter and drop-in centre.

"Drop-in Centres are reported by homeless shelters in larger urban areas," says Deb Sider, the project's Principal Researcher, "as key points of entry, or links to more specific support services.  Services may include housing support, mental health, life skills, or addictions, for example." This is the model, this type of transition program, the Sioux Lookout Homelessness Committee proposes to coordinate within the new building.

On November 1, the Sioux Lookout Homelessness Committee and the Out of the Cold Program will open its doors at 25 Fair Street in Sioux Lookout.  "It's an ideal building," says committee member Susan Barclay.  "We had envisioned something very similar, even sketched it out on paper, before being presented with the opportunity to purchase the building on Fair Street."  The building will function as the Out of the Cold Shelter at night and house the drop-in centre throughout the day, complete with a food bank and soup kitchen.  What made the building perfect, according to Barclay, is the availability of transitional rooms for rent on the second floor and office space for rent in the basement.  Transition rooms are available anytime after October 17 at a rate of $25.00 per night or at a flexible monthly rate, based on income or shelter allowance.  Rooms are available to anyone in need.  Revenues will help make the programs sustainable.

"Yet, volunteer support will continue to be a vital component of the project's success," adds Barclay.  Rental revenues and grant dollars will not cover the entire cost of the programs.

The Sioux Lookout Homelessness Committee wants to take this opportunity to suggest there are many ways to support the initiative.  Anyone who does not have spare time to volunteer at the shelter may want to consider organizing a fundraising event within the workplace, or consider asking for non-perishable food items at your next community event and make a donation to the food bank.

The committee also proposes a new name for itself and the building on Fair Street.  Since project implementation, for the lack of a better word, the committee has used the term 'homeless' to refer to the project and the committee.  The term is inappropriate because most people who end up on the streets of Sioux Lookout do have homes in other communities.  Wii-chi way - E sha da win, which means helping "home" in Oji-cree was recently proposed.  The committee is pleased with the name because it encompasses the concept of safety, security, warmth, food, support, and sleep that it wishes to convey.  If you have comments or suggestions, or would like more information about the project you may call 807-737-7499 or 1-866-331-3389.