Media.Knet.Ca

Nishnawbe Aski Nation press release ...

NAN Chief demands action before another Kashechewan

     THUNDER BAY, ON, Oct. 3 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Stan Beardy supports Marten Falls First Nation Chief Eli Moonias as he demands immediate rectification of a water and sewer emergency declared by he and council after a July sewage spill in the remote, fly-in community approximately 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay.

     "Our concern is the danger of the continuing spillage of effluent into the pristine Albany River threatening to contaminate our water intake which is downstream from the spill," said Eli Moonias, Chief of Marten Falls First Nation also known as Ogoki Post and one of 49 First Nation communities part of NAN.

     "Myself and the council realized the danger back in July and reported it immediately to the provincial spill agency which in turn advised INAC, Health Canada, and the federal department of the Environment," he added. "Despite recommendations from an Environmental Health Officer, federal government agencies didn't act with the urgency required in matters of health and instead are using regular bureaucratic processes causing delays in repairs and long-term upgrades."

     Moonias' comments come after a July 17th sewage spill occurred upstream of the water intake in his community of approximately 300 people - similar to the situation that led to the presence of e-coli in the drinking water in Kashechewan First Nation and subsequent evacuation of 1,700 people last October.

     The July 2006 sewage spill was a result of a lightning strike to the lift station of the water treatment plant destroying its automatic function. As a temporary fix, the community operator ran the lift station manually, however shut-downs caused by over-heating resulted in sewage overflows, a subsequent spill into the Albany River September 8th, and continued raw sewage overflow still occurring today.

     In addition to this year's sewage overflow and spills, turbidity, slow filtration rates, and the lack of capacity of the current water treatment plant not only resulted in a boil water advisory one year prior, but continues to deteriorate water quality in Marten Falls today.

     The lacking capacity of the current water treatment plant forces the community to shut it down overnight in order for it to fill enough to circulate properly. Limited to no water is available during this time, increasing the community's vulnerability to fire.

     "The federal government wants to fix this problem with a business-as-usual attitude and since Marten Falls isn't on the INAC priority list of communities with most-urgent need of repairs for water and sewer, it could be years before an upgrade is done to satisfy and rectify the whole situation," said Moonias, adding water plant upgrades typically take three years to complete once on the list.

     "If this isn't going to be recognized as an emergency situation by the feds, we really have no other choice but to go about having it fixed ourselves because the longer we wait the more chance there is for contamination to occur, especially due to the limited filtration capacity. The danger of something like the crisis of Kashechewan happening in Marten Falls is growing daily."

     In a September 25th letter Health Canada advised boiling drinking water must continue in Marten Falls and recommended bottled water be made available to all members of the community until necessary repairs are made to the water treatment plant.

     It's expected Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) will follow up to Health Canada's recommendation. INAC was aware of a boil water advisory in the community one year prior to the July 2006 spill.

     "It's almost one year since the evacuations of Kashechewan and we said then it was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of faulty water treatment plants and design flaws across NAN territory," said NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy who represents NAN communities within James Bay Treaty 9, including Kashechewan and Marten Falls. "It seems like every solution is simply a band-aid on top of another band-aid which clearly isn't working and costing governments more in the long-run."

     Beardy's comments come about one month after the Safe Drinking Water Panel concluded its public hearings across Canada. The panel did not visit any NAN First Nation communities directly.

-30-

/For further information: Jenna Young, Director of Communications, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, (807) 625-4952, (807) 628-3953 (mobile)/

From http://www.anglicanjournal.com/issues/2006/132/oct/08/article/former-students-urge-fairness-in-settlement/

Former students urge fairness in settlement

Marites N. Sison, Staff Writer, Oct 1, 2006

Ten former students of Indian residential schools, among them former Keewatin bishop Gordon Beardy, took the podium on the last day of the Ontario hearing for the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and raised objections to parts of the deal struck this year between the federal government, churches and some native groups.

Bishop Beardy, who is Oji-Cree, said the agreement’s provision limiting the Common Experience Payment (CEP) to all residential schools students who were alive as of May 30, 2005 was “unacceptable.”

“To those of us with family members who died before May 30, 2005, this is not acceptable for us,” he said. Bishop Beardy had three siblings who attended residential schools: Tommy Albert, who died in 1987, Martha Lavina Kakepetum, who died in 2002 and Maurice, who disappeared 40 years ago. Tommy returned from residential schools “a very angry man,” said Bishop Beardy; Maurice was “stabbed and sexually abused and came back home for awhile and then left and disappeared,” and Martha went to the Pelican Falls residential school at a “very young age” and stayed there for six or seven years, he said.

Bishop Beardy, who was the first to approach the podium of the courtroom packed with former students who had suffered abuse while in residential schools, also took issue with the list of schools covered by the agreement, saying it was incomplete.

He also told Ontario Superior Court Justice Warren Winkler, who presided over the three-day hearing, that the government must address the “serious concern” about missing records of former students. He said that there are students, some in their 80s, who have been told by government employees that there is no record of their attendance in residential schools. (Anglican church negotiators had also earlier raised this concern.)

“Some of them were those who fled and escaped because of the abuse and stayed for a year and they don’t speak English,” he told Justice Winkler, “Our people are poor and struggling, I ask you to seriously consider our concerns.”

Rev. Andrew Wesley, a Cree priest who runs the urban native ministry of Toronto’s Church of the Redeemer, also raised the issue of missing records, citing his own experience.

“I myself requested my records and received a letter saying I never did attend the residential schools,” said Mr. Wesley. “But I did my time for 10 years.” Mr. Wesley attended the Anglican-run Bishop Horden Hall residential school in Moose Fort, Moose Factory, and the Roman Catholic-run St. Anne residential school in Fort Albany, both in northern Ontario. Mr. Wesley, who said he suffered abuse in residential schools, said he at least has a copy of a school report card, which had been kept by his parents. There are many others who have nothing, he said.

Two other objectors raised the issue of missing students who never returned from the schools and whose parents wonder, to this day, what became of them. The issue of missing students is not mentioned in the agreement.

“Nobody has mentioned the children that passed away or weren’t sent home. Some weren’t even registered,” a teary-eyed Shirley Roach said. “There should be a recognition of them because they were there and their parents never saw them again.”

Other objections focused on the amount of the CEP (the agreement provides a payment of $10,000 plus $3,000 for each additional year spent in residential school), which some referred to as “unjust” and “not enough to compensate for the pain” that they went through. There were an additional 100 written objections submitted to the Ontario court.

In response, government lawyers said that the amount was “the best we could get” and was a “step in the right direction.”

During the hearing, Justice Winkler clarified a concern raised by some former students who said that lawyers had informed them that aging claimants who received the advance CEP of $8,000 are to repay the money in the event that the agreement is not finalized. The agreement must be approved by nine provincial courts to become final (Ontario’s was the first court to examine the deal).

“No one is required to pay the $8,000 back. It’s a demonstration of good will,” said the government lawyers, in response to a query made by Justice Winkler.

At the hearing, one of the government’s lawyers, Paul Vickery, presented Justice Winkler with an affidavit that set out the government’s plan for achieving the agreement’s goal of having 2,500 hearings each year for cases involving physical and sexual abuse that will undergo the Independent Assessment Process. Earlier,  Justice Winkler had questioned how “realistic” the goal was.

The affidavit specified the government’s “current planning assumptions,” which include the hiring of 445 people to implement the process.

In an interview, Ellie Johnson, who represented the Anglican Church of Canada in negotiations for the revised agreement, said the affidavit did not address the issue of missing student records. Ms. Johnson, the church’s former acting general secretary, called the situation “very unfair” and said that while CEP claimants may appeal a national administration committee, those who have filed for advance payment have no such recourse.

“One of our jobs is to be ready with our (church) records if the attendance records are not found. There might be photographs that can help. People will need alternatives,” she said in an interview.

Justice Winkler said he was not certain whether to issue his ruling on the agreement before or after the eight other courts are done with their own hearings. The last hearing is scheduled Oct. 17 at the Supreme Court of the Yukon.

From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060926.RTELCO26/TPStory/Business

POSTED ON 26/09/06

Groups can appeal CRTC phone overpayment decision - SIMON TUCK

OTTAWA -- Consumers scored a legal win yesterday when the Federal Court of Appeal granted permission to appeal a CRTC decision to not return $652.7-million in overpayments to telephone customers.

The federal telecommunications regulator ruled in February that the telephone companies would be allowed to use the money for specific projects, such as new high-speed Internet services in rural and remote communities, that are deemed to be in the public's interest.

But just a few weeks after the ruling, consumer groups such as the National Anti-Poverty Organization and the Consumers Association of Canada sought leave to appeal the CRTC decision. With their win today, the consumer groups will now file the appeal documents with the Federal Court of Appeal. A hearing and decision are expected next year.

"We are pleased to have a chance to convince the court the money should be returned to consumers," said Michael Janigan, general counsel for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, which represented the consumer groups in the proceeding.

The overpayments, which amount to about $50 per telephone customer, are the result of a 2002 effort by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to encourage competition in the local phone services market by making rates high enough to attract new entrants. In effect, a cushion was built into the rates and the companies were told to put some of the money into so-called deferral accounts.

Despite that effort, however, the incumbents continue to dominate local service.

The expansion of high-speed Internet services has been a federal government priority for at least five years, although Ottawa has yet to allocate enough money to provide access in most rural and remote communities. As of last year, Canada had fallen to sixth among the 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the provision of broadband access, down from second place just a few years earlier.

Most urban residents have a choice of broadband providers, with most high-speed customers choosing a telephone or cable company. Most remote communities, however, do not yet have access to the service, which many analysts and government officials argue is quickly becoming essential.

Some consumer groups say that does not change their view that overcharged customers should get a refund. They argued that none of the money belongs to the phone companies -- or the regulator -- and that most subscribers will not benefit from the expansion of services they already get.

From http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2006/09/27/c2421.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html

More Ontarians To Benefit From Faster, Easier Access To Services

TORONTO, Sept. 27 /CNW/ - More Ontario families are benefiting from better access to government services now that they can go online to use an all-in-one application to register their child's birth, apply for a birth certificate and a Social Insurance Number, or request a marriage or death certificate, announced Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Also,

Premier McGuinty was at Women's College Hospital today to unveil the government's plan to put more services online. As of today, people can go to www.serviceontario.ca to apply for marriage and death certificates. These new online services will soon come with a money-back guarantee.

Visit http://www.serviceontario.ca for more information

KNOWLEDGE ONTARIO SUCCESSFUL IN ACQUIRING PROVINCE WIDE LICENCES FOR A CORE SUITE OF DIGITAL RESOURCES

The Ministry of Culture and the Management Group of Knowledge Ontario are pleased to announce that negotiations have been successfully completed to supply all publicly funded libraries in the Province of Ontario with a core suite of digital products.

The resources contained in these databases will provide access to information that is needed everyday by individual Ontarians and students of all ages.  The resources and materials go well beyond what is available on the Internet offering full text of newspapers, magazines and books.  

Access to these databases will be available from wherever people are in Ontario; at home, work, or school.  The variety of information to be found in the databases will satisfy the youngest school child, the researcher in a University lab, in fact any citizen of Ontario.

The databases roll out across the province beginning in January.  
Users authenticated on a library system through the web will have access to the astonishing range of information to be found in the databases.  To preview the databases which will be available through Knowledge Ontario go to http://access.gale.com/ontario/  to find a core list of databases to be supplied by Thomson Gale.  In addition to all the databases listed at this site, Knowledge Ontario has also licensed Canadian Reference Centre from Ebsco.

Training sessions on using the databases will take place in regional centres throughout the province over the next three months and will be held at OLA Super Conference 2007.  Marketing materials, press releases, in-house training webcams and other materials to aid individual libraries in launching this new service will be made available so that libraries will be ready before the databases go live on January 1, 2007.

We will undertake to keep you informed about where training sessions are being held and on what to expect through this listserv.  Stay posted.  Depending on what sector you belong to a letter to the Minister of Culture, the Minister of Education or the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities stating how important these resources will be to your institution would also be in order.

For more information please contact your sector representative on the Knowledge Ontario Management Group who will put you in touch with your sector representative on the Digital Information Resources Committee.

A list of the members of the Knowledge Ontario Management Group follows:

Public Libraries – Ken Roberts – kroberts@hpl.ca
School Libraries – Liz Kerr – liz_kerr@kprdsb.ca
College Libraries – Janice Hayes – Janice.hayes@bibliocentre.ca
University Libraries – Gwen Ebbert – gebbett@uwindsor.ca
Government Libraries – Vicki Whitmell – Vicki_whitmell@ontla.ola.org
Peter Rogers – Chairman of the Management Group – rogerscottage@homail.com
Gerda Molson – Interim CEO, Knowledge Ontario Project – molson430@yahoo.com

______________________________

Larry Moore, AMLS, Executive Director,
Ontario Library Association
50 Wellington St. East, Suite 201,
Toronto, ON     M5E 1C8

416-363-3388 or 1-866-873-9867 ext 24
FAX 416-941-9581 or 1-800-387-1181
lmoore@accessola.com

www.accessola.com

The announced $1 billion in program cuts will hurt the least served across Canada as the Conservative finds new ways to fund their war machine. Announced cuts to FedNor, the Community Access Program and other community and regional programs will negatively affect all communities in northern Ontario and elsewhere across Canada. First Nation programs are being targeted as well (see Tobacco Strategy program cut news story below).

The Federal Government has announced that it is cutting uncommitted funds for the social economy, along with a long list of cuts to grants and contribution programs for community non profit organizations. 

The full announcement and links follow ...

Today the President of the Treasury Board announced a series of measures <http://www.fin.gc.ca/news06/06-047e.html>  to achieve expenditure savings and focus resources on government priorities. 
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/media/nr-cp/2006/0925_e.asp

Amongst those targeted:
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, Industry (FedNor), Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council & Western Economic Diversification - Elimination of Non-Committed Funds for Social Economy Programs $39.276M

Also listed is:  Elimination of Support to Canadian Volunteerism Initiative $9.744M, cut in Social Development Partnership program $13.8M, cut in youth employment programs $55.4M, cut in workplace skills programs $17.6M, cut in adult learning/literacy $17.7M.

From http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=e59139cb-7247-4bb2-9af7-e9dad5773733&k=47951&p=1

Aboriginal group slams Tory government as discriminatory after spending cuts

Alexander Panetta, Canadian Press - Published: Wednesday, September 27, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's largest aboriginal group is claiming discrimination after the new Conservative government cut funding for a First Nations health program.

The government announced Monday it will kill the First Nations and Inuit Tobacco Control Strategy at a savings of $10.8 million to taxpayers over two years.

The Assembly of First Nations denounced the move and pointed out that other smoking awareness programs aimed at non-aboriginals were left untouched by Monday's cuts.

"We see this as discriminatory treatment," assembly chief Phil Fontaine said in an interview Tuesday with The Canadian Press.

Fontaine said he's starting to detect a pattern.

First, the Tories turned their backs on a $5 billion deal for aboriginal housing, education and health care that the previous Liberal government signed with the provinces and native groups.

Then they joined Russia as the only two countries in the world to oppose the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Now this.

"We ask ourselves if this government really cares about First Nations," Fontaine said.

"Is it concerned about the single most important social-justice issue in this country?"

The government says it is scrapping the awareness campaign because it failed to reduce smoking rates among aboriginal people. And it says it will work with aboriginals to produce a more effective strategy.

"It is eliminating funding of the First Nations and Inuit tobacco control strategy . . . because the program has been ineffective in achieving its goal of lowering the smoking rates among First Nations and Inuit," said Health Canada spokeswoman Carole Saindon.

But Health Canada's own statistics fail to support the government claim.

Its most recent numbers date back to 2003 and they indicate a three percentage point drop in aboriginal smoking rates from 1999.

Smoking rates among aboriginal people were at a staggering 62 per cent in 1999, the tobacco program was created in 2002, and the rates were at 59 per cent the following year.

Late Tuesday, the government offered a new rationale for cutting the program when told their figures failed to support their initial explanation.

The program was being cut, government officials said, because aboriginal smoking rates continue to be roughly three times the Canadian average.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was unapologetic.

"That's a program that didn't work," he said.

"It just didn't work effectively in reducing the incidence of the use of tobacco. So then what do you do if you're in your own household or in your own business or in the government?

"You look and say, 'Hey, we better find a better way of doing this, a better way of spending the money so that we accomplish the goal of reducing smoking.' "

Fontaine said the smoking announcement added insult to injury.

Just a few months ago, he noted, the government said it couldn't afford the $5 billion Kelowna accord.

"Then to learn (Monday) they're going to apply $13 billion to the debt is just mind-boggling to us," he said.

© The Canadian Press 2006

An opportunity for everyone to contribute their ideas about sustainable development in First Nations ... ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT to share your ideas (deadline of September 30)!!

Visit http://topics.developmentgateway.org/environment/discussion/default/showDiscussion.do~id=1441

Virtual Consultation Forum with Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples in the framework of the First Inter-American Meeting of Ministers and High-Level Authorities on Sustainable Development 

Welcome to the Virtual Consultation Forum with Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples organized by the Department of Sustainable Development (DSD) of the Organization of American States (OAS) in cooperation with the Summit of the Americas Department and Development Gateway Foundation

May 17th – September 30th, 2006
 
Forum’s Moderators: Specialists from the Department of Sustainable Development of the Organization of American States on the three themes selected for the Meeting.

Forum’s Facilitators: Denise Senmartin (Development Gateway) and Oscar Ceville (Department of Sustainable Development, OAS).

This Virtual Forum for Consultation with Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples has been created to facilitate the discussion on three priority areas that will be examined during the First Inter-American Meeting of Ministers and High-Level Authorities on Sustainable Development: (1) Integrated Water Resources Management; (2) Risk Management of Natural Hazards; and (3) Environment Management through Sustainable Agriculture, Forestry, and Tourism.
 
The objectives of the forum are:

1. Mobilize civil society and indigenous peoples support for the preparation of the Santa Cruz Declaration.
2. Build consensus positions and recommendations among representatives of civil society and indigenous peoples and obtain recommendation and follow-up activities on the three themes to be analyzed during the meeting.
3. Benefit from the best practices efforts, including advocacy, of civil society and indigenous peoples work on the three themes to be analyzed during the meeting.

Key Forum Questions:

1. What are the needs on sustainable development that require an immediate response from competent organisms?
2. What do you think should be the priority on sustainable development during the discussion of ministers and why?
3. What are the benefits of using adequate practices for sustainable development?

Reference Documents:

• Invitation to Virtual Consultation Forum
• Consultation Process: how will your comments reach Ministers and High-Level Authorities on Sustainable Development
• Annotated Provisional Agenda
• Announcement
• Background Document: Summary of Preparatory Workshops and Key Guiding Questions for Discussion
• Background Document for the Preparatory Workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management
• Background Document for the Preparatory Workshop on Managing Risks of Natural Hazards
• Background Document for the Preparatory Workshop on Sustainable Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism
• Final Report of the Workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management
• Final Report of the Workshop on Managing Risks of Natural Hazards
• Final Report of the Workshop on Sustainable Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism
• Summary of postings (updated weekly)

To access the documents http://www.oas.org/dsd/MinisterialMeeting/VirtualForumCSandIP.htm
Visit http://www.oas.org/dsd/MinisterialMeeting/ReunionInterAm_eng_v1.htm for more information about the Ministerial

Elections for Chief and Council of Lac Seul First Nation were held on September 26.

The new chief is Clifford Bull, elected with 334 of the 565 votes cast.

The new council includes:

Frenchman's Head

Rod Wesley (84 votes)
Dorothy Trout (78 votes)
Merv Ningewance (69 votes)

Kejick Bay

Hilda Ross (81 votes)
Stan Littledeer (73 votes)
Karen Ningewance (69 votes)

Whitefish Bay

Jack Angeconeb (pending)

Press Release at http://news.gc.ca/cfmx/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=240999 - September 21, 2006 

Government of Canada invests in Aboriginal training for Northern Ontario diamond mine
 
FORT ALBANY, ONTARIO-The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, today confirmed federal funding of $7.87 million for the James Bay Employment and Training project under the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership (ASEP) program. This ASEP project brings together Aboriginal communities, industry and other orders of government to offer skills development and employment opportunities in the DeBeers Victor Diamond mine operation located near Attawapiskat, a First Nations community in the James Bay lowland in Northern Ontario.

"Canada's new Government is proud to fund this project which will positively impact the future of hundreds of First Nations men and women, their families and their communities," said Minister Finley. "This training program will also help address the need for more skilled workers in the mining sector, which has always been a core part of the economy not only to the North but to Canada as a whole."

Under the project, the James Bay Employment and Training (JBET) project will provide a range of employment tools to assist Aboriginal people in achieving long term, sustainable employment in a region that has traditionally offered limited employment prospects. Employment tools include job information workshops, career counselling, training and work experience interventions, permanent job placements and advancement programs. It is expected that over 600 individuals will take part in training opportunities, with at least 190 Aboriginal people obtaining long-term employment at the Victor Mine operation.

Partners in this initiative include the Attawapiskat First Nation, Weenusk First Nation, Fort Albany First Nation, Kashechewan First Nation and Moose Cree First Nation along with DeBeers Canada, Northern College, and the Province of Ontario.

"James Bay Employment and Training welcomes the contribution made by the Government of Canada for this valuable project," said JBET's Executive Director, Philip Sutherland Jr. "This partnership will provide Aboriginal people in the James Bay region with the opportunity to gain the skills they need to find employment at the DeBeers Victor Project."

The James Bay Employment and Training project is one of nine projects currently underway receiving multi-year funding under the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership (ASEP) program. ASEP is an $85 million private-sector program partnership designed to complement the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy (AHRDS) and fill a gap in training for large-scale economic development projects across Canada. ASEP is scheduled to sunset in March 2009.

For more information, see the attached backgrounder.

- 30 -

For more information (Media Inquiries Only)
Colleen Cameron
Press Secretary for Minister Finley
819-994-2482

BACKGROUNDER

JAMES BAY EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROJECT UNDER THE ABORIGINAL SKILLS AND EMPLOYMENT PARTNERSHIP (ASEP) PROGRAM

The Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership (ASEP) program is a five-year initiative launched in late 2003 with total funding of $85 million. Its overall objective is to create sustainable employment for Aboriginal people in major economic initiatives across Canada through collaborative partnerships, leading to lasting benefits for Aboriginal communities, families and individuals.

ASEP funding proposals are submitted by partnership consortia that include parties from the private sector, Aboriginal groups, and the province or territory where the large economic or resource-based project is located. Other key partners may include learning institutions, sector councils, labour, and other Government of Canada departments or agencies. Each partnership consortium must set out a comprehensive training-to-employment plan for Aboriginal people that links skills development to specific job opportunities.

A significant amount of funding for a project is expected from the partnership; the Government of Canada's normal contribution to a proposal will not exceed 75 percent. The private sector must also demonstrate, at minimum, 50 long-term sustainable jobs for Aboriginal people once Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) has completed its funding.

ASEP is administered nationally by HRSDC. It also complements the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy (AHRDS), a five-year initiative that began in 1999 and was renewed until 2009. ASEP also complements the Northern Strategy by providing training and human resource development that is responsive to the needs of community and regional labour market conditions and economies.

The James Bay Employment and Training project is one of nine projects to receive funding under the ASEP program since its launch in October 2003.

JAMES BAY EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING (JBET)

The De Beers Victor Diamond project is an open pit diamond mine located approximately 90 km west of Attawapiskat First Nation in the James Bay lowland. The project has an expected life span of 16 years, requiring 390 workers for the operations phase of the mine with approximately 50 percent of available positions to be filled by Aboriginal people.

Labour market analysis suggested that limited experience and education would hinder access to employment at the De Beers Victor diamond mine. In light of that analysis, the overall objective of the JBET project is to help Aboriginal people in the James Bay lowland region of northern Ontario to prepare for, obtain and advance in jobs at all levels at the De Beers Victor Diamond mine. The training is also intended to provide Aboriginal people of the region with transferable skills that will open doors in the James Bay region and elsewhere in Canada.

PARTNERSHIP

The stand-alone, not-for-profit partnership consortium consists of:

ABORIGINAL

• Attawapiskat First Nation
• Weenusk First Nation
• Fort Albany First Nation
• Kashechewan First Nation
• Moose Cree First Nation

INDUSTRY

• De Beers Canada

EDUCATON

• Northern College

GOVERNMENT

• Province of Ontario
• Government of Canada

FUNDING

The estimated total project cost is $11,901,932, of which:

• Human Resources and Social Development Canada - $7,870,958
• De Beers Canada - $1,730,974
• Mushkegowuk Employment Training Service - $1,000,000
• Province of Ontario - $1,300,000

From http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=25452be5-ec96-4217-87ed-04199f74f7d1&k=45665&p=1

Nunavut hooked on Internet - EBay a big draw for isolated northern communities  

Nathan VanderKlippe, CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, September 17, 2006

YELLOWKNIFE, N.W.T. - Like many women in Nunavut, Billy Etooangat's wife spends days every fall picking tundra berries on the steep fiord slopes near Pangnirtung, their home on the east coast of Baffin Island.

But this year, she's the talk of the town after Etooangat used a new high-speed Internet service to buy her a Swedish berry-picker, a device that's helping her outpick the other women.

"We never had that in the North, a berry-picker," he says. "So I found it and she liked it and everybody wants to have one."

Such stories are increasingly common in Nunavut, where thousands have leaped to take advantage of the new satellite Internet service, called Qiniq, which just celebrated its first anniversary.

"We're between 25 and 50 per cent over projected sales in every market," said Lorraine Thomas, project manager for the Iqaluit-based Nunavut Broadband Development Corp.

"We've met our end-of-second-year projections, and we're at the end of the first year. So we just expect to continue to grow."

The program's success has spawned plans to roll out Internet phones, online video conferencing for training and distance education -- even a kit that will power Internet access on the tundra using a snowmobile battery. It is also forcing Thomas to scramble for more government funding to keep the heavily subsidized Internet service running.

The Northwest Territories hopes to have a parallel service in place by October.

"In this day and age, it's almost a human right," said Margaret Gorman, whose Yellowknife-based Denendeh Development Corp. spearheaded the effort to bring Internet to 31 territorial hamlets.

"Everyone should have access to the same information and opportunities."

For $60 a month, the service offers speeds equivalent to the cable Internet sold in major Canadian cities. It has revolutionized Internet access in the North, allowing hunters to download satellite ice charts before leaving town and community art shops to sell Inuit crafts online.

"Everybody wants to have a laptop and get connected and make new friends, chat with people, keep in touch, get the weather," said Bob McLean, the Qiniq provider in Sanikiluaq, a hamlet of 800 located on an island in southern Hudson Bay and arguably Nunavut's most isolated community.

"EBay's pretty big around here -- people buying barbecues, Honda tires, Ski-Doo parts, stuff like that."

In Pond Inlet, a hamlet of 1,400 on the northern tip of Baffin Island, more than 100 people have signed up for the service, which also powers the community's municipal offices and major grocery stores.

Before Qiniq arrived, Martha Kyak used a fax machine to order supplies for Kisutaarvik, the convenience store she runs out of her basement.

"But there would be no pictures," she said. "With the Internet, I can actually see the pictures and it seems like it opened the doors to more variety of stuff."

Promoters of the service have billed Qiniq as a critical step in promoting the territory's economic development, allowing students and entrepreneurs access to information and markets never before possible.

Thomas once shared a cab with a person who told her, "It's the best thing that's ever happened in Nunavut."

"Better than hospitals? Better than Grade 2?" she asked herself, before reflecting on the importance of online access to health care and education.

"It's critical to every part of the services and products and economic development," she said.

In reality, said John Henderson, Pond Inlet's Qiniq representative, "I would bet that most people are on for chatting."

Some worry their kids are getting hooked on instant messaging programs, which have spread like wildfire across Nunavut.

"They spend too much time on the Internet," Kyak said. "They could be doing other stuff, but they end up being glued to the computer."

Increasingly, they're also accessing bandwidth-hogging material like videos. That, along with the program's unanticipated success, has sparked concerns over the cost of keeping the North online.

Ottawa kicked in nearly $4 million to install Nunavut's network, plus nearly $1 million per year over eight years to offset the cost of satellite bandwidth, which is hundreds of times more expensive than southern fibre optic connections.

But as people begin downloading movies and using their computers to video-conference, Nunavut will need to double or triple the size of its data pipes in the next few years. Thomas says the only way to do that is with more government funding.

"We're going to have to look at federal programs to make sure there's money flowing into Nunavut so (people) can turn around and purchase the bandwidth required to do what they want," she said.

There's no way around it in a place where everything from fuel to potato chips is subsidized, she said.

"It's actually a pretty small investment when you look at the cost of doing anything else," she said. "It's $1 million to build a kilometre of gravel road up here. Compare that to a few hundred thousand for some additional bandwidth for all Nunavut to share."

nvanderklippe@globaltv.com