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On Wednesday, December 4, the Timberwolves will travel to Kenora to play against each other for the second time.

Pelican will try to tie their season record with the Timberwolves with o­ne a piece after o­nly losing o­nce to the Beaver Brae Broncos.

Diocese of Keewatin

PRESS RELEASE
December 2, 2002
for immediate release

Diocese of Keewatin Ratifies Residential Schools Settlement Agreement

Kenora, o­ntario

- The Diocese of Keewatin through its Diocesan Council, meeting at St. Alban’s Cathedral o­n Friday, November 29, was the first of 29 Anglican dioceses to ratify the agreement between General Synod and the Federal Government in respect to a settlement fund. The fund is being created to pay settlements to victims of sexual and physical abuse in the Indian Residential Schools administered by Anglican entities o­n behalf of the Federal Government.

"This settlement will allow us to be the church again and focus our ministry and resources to healing. It enables us to continue to walk in partnership as brothers and sisters." commented the Rt. Rev. David Ashdown, Bishop of Keewatin.

Members of the Council expressed concern that the fund will not be able to address cultural issues such as loss of language and will not be available to Anglican students who attended schools operated by other denominations. There is a commitment within the Diocese to continue to address the cultural issues through programs and to develop a pastoral response to aid the former students of other schools.

Archdeacon of Keewatin, the Ven. Larry Beardy, a former residential school student, told a story," When I attended the residential school I was not able to use my language. I lost my language. When I returned to my community, I could no longer speak to my parents and my people. It was by going to church, that I regained my language. The church has kept our languages alive."

By ratifying the agreement the Diocese has committed to raising its share of the 25 million dollar settlement fund. That share will be approximately $175,000 over five years. The Diocese has no available assets from which to make its contribution to the fund. There is no money in the bank for this purpose, no money set aside that can be used. The Council meeting also accepted an operating budget for 2003 that will require fund-raising of approximately $50,000. in addition to securing the resources needed for ministry projects.

"Many of our parishes are small, but the Anglicans in this Diocese are dedicated. I believe that we will meet this challenge together. Raising funds for the settlement is morally the right thing to do. Raising funds to do ministry is a part of who we are as Christians. " stated Diocesan Treasurer, the Rev. Susan Barclay.

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for further information contact the Diocese of Keewatin Synod office 807 547-3353

A curriculum development meeting for the new Northern Medical School is taking place in Sault Ste. Marie o­n January 16-18. It is limited to 200 participants, who will be compensated for travel and accommodation.

You do not need to be a doctor, nurse or other health care professional to attend this meeting. Any o­ne with an interest in improving the quality of health care in the North can attend. We need to be well represented at this meeting. We need representatives from the leadership and Elders, educators, health care people and telecommunications specialists.

It is critical that Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the Tribal Councils and our various agencies be well represented at this meeting. We should not accept the principle that o­ne person can represent all of the NAN territory.

To prevent this, NAN, the Tribal Councils and our various agencies should write a o­ne or two page letter to the dean of the new medical school. It should contain three key pieces of information:

1. Reminder that the NAN BCR supporting the Northern o­ntario Medical School was conditional o­n NAN participation in the Governance, Development of Curriculum and a number of seats set aside for NAN Students.
2. Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Tribal Councils played a major role in the lobbying effort to get the o­ntario Government to change its mind and make Lakehead University a full and equal campus to serve the Northwest.
3. The contribution that you and your organization can make in the development of curriculum.

The letter should be addressed to:

Dr. Roger Strasser
Founding Dean of Medicine
Northern o­ntario Medical School
955 Oliver Road
Thunder Bay, o­ntario
P7B5E1

VIA FAX: 346-7944

CC: Dorothy Wright, Project Development Officer, Lakehead Campus
Ann Moro, Project Coordinator, Laurentian Campus

The K-Net servers received a total of 6.8 million hits during the month of November 2002. Increases were seen in the photo galleries server as well as the hosting server and the myknet.org server.  Small increases were seen in the other servers..You can see the results at http://tech.knet.ca/~tech/monitoring/webalizer/It is great to see so many people from the north using these communication tools and creating so much interesting content!!

KEEWAYTINOOK OKIMAKANAK
(Northern Chiefs Tribal Council)

Is now accepting applications for the position of
RECEPTIONIST/SECRETARY
(Full time position)

Location: Balmertown Office
General: Reporting to the Executive Secretary, the receptionist/secretary is responsible for answering an 8 line telephone system for office of over 30 people and to provide office support.

Qualifications:

Typing and Word processing skills essential.

Must have excellent verbal and communications skills.

Must have excellent organizational skills.

Ability to communicate professionally with the public.

Ability to work independently.

Knowledge of internet usage and email.

An awareness and sensitivity to the native culture.

Ability to speak Oji-Cree an asset.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Answer telephone and direct calls accordingly or take messages.

Pick up & delivery of mail/comats, sort and distribute accordingly.

Make bank deposits o­n a timely basis.

Record incoming/outgoing faxes/mail and distribute accordingly.

Maintain the purchase order log system.

Make travel arrangements as requested.

Prepare correspondence as requested.

Prepare outgoing COMATS for all office staff.

Maintain filing system.

Assist other department secretaries as required.

Submit resume and references to:

Hiring Committee
Keewaytinook Okimakanak
Box 340, 127 Mine Road
Balmertown, o­n P0V 1C0
Fax (807) 735-1383

Closing Date: December 5, 2002

Taking the Next Step

On November 20, Les Meekis, KO’s Community Manager for the Smart project, facilitated a virtual gathering of the smart teams from the five Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) First Nations. Les chaired this video conference meeting from the Deer Lake band office video meeting room. The five site link was coordinated by Jeremy Sawanas, Deer Lake’s Computer Technician with support from Lars Dixon, the KO Network Technician in Balmertown. The Fort Severn team joined the meeting by telephone because their video link still requires some work to ensure the quality of service is available o­n it after the conversion that took place a week ago.

The communities met to discuss the preparations for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Community planning workshops. These workshops are a vital component for sharing information about the progress of the Smart Community Demonstration Project in each First Nation. Under this smart project the KO First Nations are showcasing their communities to the world and demonstrating how community members and their organizations are using these new communication tools to enhance their economic aspirations, improve health services, educational standards and managing their Band programs and services.

The community workshop provide another set of tools for the local Smart team to develop and manage the Smart Demonstration project in their community. The workshops are scheduled at least annually so each local Smart team can share information about what has happened and determined the next steps they should be taking to support their community needs and priorities.

The workshops were initially introduced in each of the KO communities with much of the work being done by KO staff along with our partners, Telecommons Development Group. The community smart team provided the supported and local coordination to make these sessions successful. The reports of each of the workshops from Year 1 can be found at http://smart.knet.ca/smart2002/conference.html.

The workshop planning process is now being turned over the local Smart team who are expected to manage and facilitate the local session. As the community project participants gain experience in using these community planning tools, they will be able to better support local initiatives and applications utilizing ICTs. Taking ownership this process will further support the o­ngoing monitoring and evaluation of the project. The KO staff in Balmertown and Sioux Lookout are supporting and encouraging these developments in each of the KO First Nations. Learning what works and being able to meet the different challenges to make this project successful within the First Nation, will make this community engagement work that much more valuable for everyone. Having the workshops coordinated and delivered by local First Nation resource people will create new opportunities for further community planning in all the different areas and services being delivered in each community.

Last year’s workshops are being used to provide the format, the delivery and documentation tools, equipment and supplies that can be used by the local Smart team in planning this year’s workshops. KO staff will continue to work with local smart team to use these tools and enhance the local opportunities and the use of ICT applications in each community.

This development strategy has been shared with the KO Chiefs to gain their support for the process. As with any successful organization associated with the First Nation programming, the work is o­nly successful when done with the blessing of the Chiefs and other community leaders. The local smart team will meet with these leaders and respectfully request their input and recommendations to ensure the success of these workshops.

Knowing the learning process and priorities for their own community members will be an advantage that will work towards an effective planning strategy for the development of ICTs in each of the communities!

On Tuesday, November 19, four Health Canada officials (Roy Hart, Regional Director for IT, Lynn Baxter, Program Manager, Alvin Crane and Rick Frie, Sioux Lookout Zone IT Technicians) chartered a flight to Poplar Hill First Nation to learn first hand about the KO Telehealth Initiative and about the Kuh-ke-nah Broadband Network. John Rowlandson, KO’s Telehealth Project Manager and Brian Beaton, K-Net Coordinator also traveled to Poplar Hill to meet with the Chief and Council, local staff and the Health Canada officials. Check out the pictures from the meeting at the Poplar Hill e-Centre.

While waiting for the weather to clear, Roy, Alvin, Rick and Brian met at the Zone Administration Building to discuss the Kuh-ke-nah Network. The material distributed  (PDF document, 455KB) for this meeting provided an orientation about the work that has taken place to bring broadband connectivity to the First Nations across the region. Now the challenge is to find ways to ensure that all organizations and o­n-line applications are developing strategies to ensure they are utilizing the community network so this resource is sustainable and available for all community members.

While in Poplar Hill, everyone was given a tour of the Poplar Hill Nursing Station and had a chance to discuss with Cora Hunse and Barbara Strang, the importance of this connectivity for their work. John Rowlandson provided a tour of the telehealth room and a demonstration of the connections and the telehealth resources available in Poplar Hill. Then everyone went over to the local e-Centre to meet with the Chief and Council. John provided everyone with a powerpoint presentation (PDF document, 553KB) outlining the work that is taking place to ensure these services are continued to be supported by Health Canada and the First Nations across the region.

Equay-wuk (Women's Group) will be holding a Gathering & 2002 General Meeting December 9-13, 2002 at Sunset Inn, Sioux Lookout, o­n.  Various workshops will be held at this time as well, nominations are being accepted to sit o­n Equay-wuk's Board of Directors.  Contact Equay-wuk should you have any questions (807)737-2214 or toll free 1-800-261-8294.

Muskrat Dam is pleased to announce the 1st Annual Kanina Beardy Memorial Gospel Jamboree commencing November 29 through December 1.

Please tune in to Wawatay for live broadcasting.

For more information please phone

Doug Beardy at (807) 471-2524  (work)
Tilleya Nothing at (807) 471-2574  (work)

GREAT MOON GATHERING - FEBRUARY 2003

On February 13, 14, 2003 Omushkego Education is coordinating the Great Moon Gathering at Delores Echum Composite School in Moose Factory, O­ntario, to promote better educational opportunities for our children.

The theme of the conference is OUR STRENGTH, WORKING TOGETHER IN EDUCATION

Over 250 participants take part in this regional educational conference which includes workshops for Day Care, Elementary, and High School Staff, including Elders, Youth, Parents, Local Education Authorities, Administrators and other interested community members. Numerous workshops and presentations suited to meet the requirements of our schools are presented during the two days.

This year's keynote speaker is Jonathan Solomon, Hishkoonikun Education Authority of Kashechewan. The gathering also features entertainers including the Missanibe Cloggers, Kashechewan Step Dancers and Moose Factory Ministik School students.

For more information contact:Colleen Nelson at 705-658-4222, ext 233 or at cnelson@mushkegowuk.ca