Media.Knet.Ca

Neskantaga First Nation is hosting its Annual Summer Festival on the dates of Wednesday August 17th to Saturday August 20th. The Festival has been hosted in Neskantaga since 1977. We Invite all our members and visitors to come and visitors to join in the festivities that we will be hosting.

Some of our events will be:

• $30.000.00 Jackpot Bigfoot Bingo
• Green River Revival Band (CCR Tribute)
• Hillary Duff Tribute
• Native Hip Hop Group Team Rez Official
• CWF Wrestling
• $1000.00 Fishing Derby
• Slam Dunk Contest
• $5000.00 Texas Hold'em Tournament
• $1000.00 Canoe Race ( Male & Female)
• $1000.00 Square Dance Contest (Male & Female)
• $1000.00 Awesome Dancer (Male & Female)

Raffle Draw Top Prize:

• Touring Ski-doo GTX FAN 380F
  Or
• Honda Four Wheeler TRX 350FN 4X4
  Or
• $5000.00

A daily schedule has been attached below along with this bulletin.

For info, please contact:

Allan Moonias @ (W) (807) 479-2570 (807) 479-2600
or check out: http://neskantagarecreation2004.myknet.org

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Schedule

Day 1 - Wednesday August 17, 2005

9:00am - Fishing Derby (returning time 12:00pm)

1st - $1,000.00
(Entry fee: $25.00 per canoe)

9:00am - Free Breakfast (Neskantaga Point)

12:00pm - 20' Canoe Race (2 men & 2 ladies)

1st - $1000.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

1:00pm - Daily Games

4:00pm - Bingo ($1,000.00 Jackpot) ($30.00 for 9 to view)

6:00pm - Supper Break

6:00pm - Basketball Slam Dunk Contest (All Ages) $5.00 a person

9:00pm - 70's & 80's Rock'n'Roll Contest (must dress up like 70's & 80's) (Ages 14 and up)

Men's Ladies

1st - $400.00 1st - $400.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

$20 will be given to non winning participants in the R&R contest

(Age's 10 to 13) (Age's 9 and under)

Boys Girls Boys Girls
1st - $40.00 1st - $40.00 1st - $40.00 1st - $40.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

Day 2 - Thursday August 18, 2005

9:00am - Free Breakfast (Neskantaga Point)

9:30am - Texas Hold'em Tournament ($100.00 entry fee) first 40 to sign up

1st $5000.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

1:00pm - Daily Games

4:00pm - Bingo ($2,000.00 Jackpot) ($50.00 for 9 to view)

7:00pm - Loonies and Toonies Toss $1000.00 worth

8:00pm - Green River Revival Band (CCR Tribute) Concert

10:00pm - Dance Mix Contest

(Age Category Dance Contest)
Men/Ladies Men/Ladies Boys/Girls Boys/Girls
(14 to 27) (28 and over) (9 &under) (10 to 13)
1st - $200.00 1st - $200.00 1st - $40.00 1st - $40.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

Awesome Dancer Man/lady - $1,000.00 each

Awesome Dancer Boy/Girl - $100.00 each

Day 3- Friday August 19, 2005

9:00am - Free Breakfast (Neskantaga Point)

11:00am -20' Men's Canoe Race & Ladies Canoe Race

• Men's Ladies
  1st - $1000.00 1st - $1000.00
  (Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

1:00pm - Daily Games

4:00pm - Bingo ($3,000.00 Jackpot) ($80.00 for 9 to view)

6:00pm - Hilary Duff Tribute Concert

8:00pm - Green River Revival Band (CCR Tribute) Concert

11:00pm - Square Dance Contest

Men's Ladies
1st - $1,000.00 1st - $1,000.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

Boys/Girls Boys/Girls
(9 &under) (10 to 13)
1st - $40.00 1st - $40.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

Day 4 - Saturday August 20, 2005

9:00pm - Free Breakfast (Neskantaga Point)

12:00pm - Men's and Ladies Short Distance Race

Men's Ladies
1st - $100.00 1st - $100.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

1:00pm - Daily Games

4:00pm - Monster Bingo ($50,000.00 payout) $250.00 (12 to view booklet)

7:00pm - CWF Wrestling Show @ Arena

9:00pm - Square Dance Contest

Men Ladies
1st - $200.00 1st - $200.00
(Also 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes)

11:00pm - Raffle Draw

12:00pm - Dance Mix Contest

*Note:

Ticket Prices for the Concerts and Wrestling will be announced later.

Daily Games will be held at the Point, if raining it will be held at the Arena.

Transportation will be provided from airport to Neskantaga

Accommodation will be provided upon arrival.

"Enjoy The Festival"

Heritage Canada's Canadian Culture Online Program has posted a new call for proposals under their Gateway Program.  They are requesting that applicants forward this information to other groups to help ensure that this information is distributed as widely as possible to interested parties.

The Gateway Fund is a component of the Department of Canadian Heritage's Canadian Culture Online strategy (CCO), a framework to stimulate the development and production of Canadian cultural content on the Internet. Canadian Culture Online is pleased to announce a call for proposals under this fund that specifically targets the development of online access points that aggregate Canadian cultural content for educational purposes in the kindergarten to grade twelve (K-12) teaching environment, or the maternelle to secondaire teaching environment in Quebec.

 Projects funded under this call will develop online access points focussing on curriculum related themes that are relevant to K-12 studies, and maternelle to secondaire studies in Quebec, of a social and cultural nature, with advanced features that allow teachers to quickly search educational cultural content from multiple sources in a seamless manner, then easily identify and use the content that is relevant to their curricula.

The focus of this call is on the design and creation of these access points, and the coordination of parties that hold recently developed online educational cultural content. As such, the costs associated with the digitisation or development of cultural content will not be funded under this call.

Eligible applicants include Canadian not-for-profit and public sector (excluding federal organisations and crown corporations) organisations that are active in culture, education or other fields relevant to this call.

The application process for this fund has two stages: an Expression of Interest stage, and a Full Application stage.  The deadline for submitting Expressions of Interest is Tuesday, October 11, 2005.  A Full Application may only be submitted upon the request of Canadian Culture Online after review of all Expressions of Interest.

http://chroniclejournal.com/story.shtml?id=28460

Chiefs press funding lawsuit

By Staff - The Chronicle-Journal

August 13, 2005

Sioux Lookout-area chiefs will move ahead on a day-care funding suit against the Chiefs of Ontario and the federal government.

The chiefs’ “political group” had put the civil court action on hold for 30 days to allow newly elected Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse time to put together a new funding package for remote First Nation day-care centres.

However, officials said Toulouse’s report to the Sioux Lookout Area Aboriginal Management Board’s (SLAAMB) annual meeting in Sioux Lookout this week “did not adequately address the (chiefs’) concerns and issues.”

Sachigo Lake First Nation Chief Alvin Beardy said in a news release that “our infrastructure does not meet the demands of our people or communities.”

“Our First Nations are severely under funded in all areas,” he said.

Big Trout Lake First Nation Chief Donny Morris explained earlier that “the decision to cut the SLAAMB funding from $538,928 to $300,006 came with no consultation, and after assurances from representatives of Human Resources Canada and the Chiefs of Ontario that its funding for the 2004-05 fiscal year would remain the same as the previous year.”

In a lawsuit filed in December, SLAAMB is seeking $250,000 in operating money and up to $23 million in capital funding for additional day-care facilities from Human Resources and the Chiefs of Ontario.

The day-care funding issue arose during negotiations between Sioux Lookout-area First Nations and Ottawa over financial support for employment and training services in 25 communities in Northwestern Ontario. While an agreement was reached in April, the chiefs said more talks were needed “to clear up a few outstanding issues.”

They include funding to meet program and service costs in remote communities; child care facilities; and the ongoing development of a government-to-government working relationship.

The following article was published in The Ottawa Citizen this week (August 11). Their definition of "broadband" is more about commerical internet service offering wireless connections. This commerical service is different than the type of service being provided in northwestern Ontario but many of the uses and challenges for these connections are the same ...

Broadband comes to the North
(Part 1): High-speed satellite links will bring Canada's remote communities into the 21st century. It's about time, say residents

by Jeff Buckstein, The Ottawa Citizen, Thursday, August 11, 2005

Tucked into a jagged glacier carved fiord off the aquatic rich Cumberland Sound in southeastern Baffin Island, the village of Pangnirtung, population 1,276, is nestled on a tundra flat flanked by majestic granite mountains towering up to 1,000 metres. It seems like one of the most remote communities on earth.

But the large satellite dish on the picturesque hamlet's western shore symbolizes a very different scenario. Newly connected state-of-the-art 2.5 GHz wireless broadband technology provides Pangnirtung and 24 other fly-in communities in Nunavut, who are connected to a network called QINIQ -- named after the Inuktituk root word for search -- with vital high-speed Internet access to the outside world and to each other.

The residents of Pangnirtung (which means "place of the bull caribou'') are excited about the effect high-speed broadband access might have on their personal and business lives. Mika Etooangat, 21, has already noticed several significant improvements over dial-up access. "I can download music a lot quicker, and it's great for instant e-mail and chatting with friends. Before when I used dial-up, it was not only slower but would sometimes disconnect on its own,'' says the assistant senior administrative officer of the Pangnirtung Hamlet Office & People's Community Centre.

Peter Wilson, general manager of the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts, which sells Inuit artifacts around the world, including soapstone carvings, prints, and tapestries, is bullish on the potential economic advantages broadband access to the Internet will present. He plans to have an e-commerce website up and running before the end of the year. And he's also looking at broadband-enabled, voice over Internet protocol telephony.

"Long-distance telephone charges for business are so high here. But with voice over IP, we could end up paying a lower fee and, if all is working well, have better sound quality, too. That's a real important way broadband can improve business telecommunications not just in Pangnirtung, but throughout Nunavut as well,'' he says.

Donna Copeland, manager of the town's Auyuittuq Lodge, also has dreams for broadband access. Her lodge houses many of the region's backpackers before and after their trek through the pristine Auyuittuq National Park (translation -- "the land that never melts''), site of the 5,100 square-kilometre Penny Ice Pack glacier and many of Nunavut's highest mountain peaks. She'd like to have the service available for cruise ship passengers -- seven ships will visit Pangnirtung this summer, for instance -- to be able to come into her motel and get quick access to their office and personal e-mail.

Copeland already enjoys broadband Internet access personally, calling it a "godsend'' in part because it features speed "that is just phenomenal.'' The 19-year resident of Pangnirtung signed up for a broadband connection in her home at the first opportunity last winter when she volunteered to sample one of the new modems, several months before they went live to the rest of the hamlet.

She became an instant convert. "Dial-up served a purpose, but now that I can compare the two, there's really no comparison,'' Copeland says. "Broadband offers the power and speed I need to complete my transactions.''

The fact wireless broadband access has been deployed across Nunavut at all is, in and of itself, a magnificent technological feat. At 1.994 million square kilometres, Canada's newest territory occupies one-fifth of Canada's total area. But it is isolated. Only about 30,000 people inhabit this vast, mostly pristine space, whose largely treeless landscape sparks to life in the perpetual light of summer, sporting brilliant hues of tiny purple and yellow flowers like Purple saxifrage and Arctic poppies on its hillsides.

The population is dispersed over 25 communities and three time zones. Approximately 7,000 live in the capital Iqaluit (meaning "place of many fish''), near the southern end of Baffin Island.

Travel from one community to the next is usually only possible by air. Some ports also have a limited shipping season (generally from July to October in the Eastern Arctic). Only two communities -- Arctic Bay and Nanisivik, some 20 kilometres apart at the northern end of Baffin Island -- are connected by road.

How then, did wireless broadband Internet access become a territorial-wide reality?

One of the early visionairies was Adamee Itorcheak, who founded a small Internet Service Provider company named Nunanet Worldwide Communications Inc. in August 1995. "Adamee has worked tirelessly not just for Iqaluit, but all Nunavut access, for so long,'' says Lorraine Thomas, secretary-treasurer of the Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation. "Adamee had a vision of this wireless connectivity scenario in the late 1990s when nobody else had a clue about it, and he has devoted a lot of his energy, time and money into it.''

Itorcheak, a native of Iqaluit who in 2001 was named to the National Broadband Task Force, painstakingly built his business to help give Nunavut's capital city a leg up on technology when the new Territory officially came into being on April 1, 1999. But only 10 other communities in Nunavut at that time had Internet connectivity -- and that was mostly confined to government workers, many of whom heralded from southern Canada.

Despite the efforts of a few pioneering ISPs such as Nunanet, Sakku Arctic Technologies in Rankin Inlet, and PolarNet in Cambridge Bay, there weren't many cost-effective Internet services available to the Inuit people at that time, who comprise about 85 per cent of Nunavut's population. But things began to look up when the federal government signaled its intention of connecting Canada's North to the high-speed information freeway.

Industry Canada announced ia subsidy program in October 2000 (which many believed would have cost at least $1 billion), for the goal of providing all Canadian communities with high-speed broadband access by 2004. This was quietly shelved and replaced by the $105-million Broadband for Rural and Northern Development (BRAND) program in September 2002.

In 2001, the Nunavut Broadband Task Force was established as a local conduit to the National Broadband Task Force so that the fledgling territory's voice could be heard. It made 27 recommendations before completing its mandate, and was succeeded by the not-for-profit Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation (NBDC) in 2003. NBDC's initial job, in part, was to oversee implementation of several key recommendations from the territorial Task Force, including one calling for affordable, easy access to broadband services for residents of all communities, no matter how remote.

"When you actually do the math on how much it costs to put in a satellite infrastructure to, say Grise Fiord (Canada's northernmost settlement, with a population of less than 200 on Ellesmere Island in the High Arctic) versus Iqaluit, then compare that to the number of possible users and divide it on a per-capita cost, no business person would have connected Grise Fiord,'' Thomas points out.

But consistent with the Task Force's recommendation, the project wasn't assessed on a pure business model basis. All communities were connected, and basic broadband subscriptions for all users are now equitably priced at $60 a month across Nunavut. This equality exists in spite of the special challenges and costs that were involved to make high speed access a reality in the most remote communities.

Another major responsibility of NBDC is to ensure that broadband access enhances economic development within Nunavut. One strategy designed to fulfill this is by having community service providers (CSP) located in each of the Territory's 25 venues, thus ensuring some of the subscription revenues stay within the community.

In Pangnirtung, for instance, the Uqqurmiut Inuit Artists Association is the local CSP, represented by Wilson and craft gallery supervisor Jackie Maniapik of the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts. The CSPs in all 25 communities collect a margin of approximately 20 per cent of gross revenue for their endeavours. In return, they assist customers hook up their modems (which requires a downpayment of $150), and act as the initial troubleshooter should any problems occur.

NBDC also tendered bids for a contractor to build both the satellite infrastructure, and provide the so-called "last mile'' hooking up all houses and buildings to the satellite dish within communities. SSI Micro Ltd. of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, was awarded the contract for both those jobs in May 2003.

Although located in the neighbouring territory, SSI Micro had previous experience in Nunavut. In fact, they'd previously built satellite infrastructure in ten communities, including each of Nunavut's three regional capitals -Iqaluit, for the Baffin Region, Rankin Inlet, for Keewatin and Cambridge Bay in Kitikmeot, so those were among the first communities targeted for deployment.

The logistics of laying satellite infrastructure for the other 15 communities posed a number of significant challenges, admits Ryan Walker, manager of the solutions group at SSI Micro. "One of the toughest parts of building these sites was getting the civil work done. The satellite dish is 4.5 metres, so it's got quite a wind load on it, and you need a fairly sturdy foundation to handle that,'' he says.

Moreover, the weather was often a major thorn in the side. Nothing moves in a blizzard, and accommodations are notoriously expensive in Nunavut because of supply and demand, so SSI Micro faced extra costs of about $250/night per person when forced to keep crews weathered in for days at a time.

Even when equipment did move during the construction phase in 2004 and 2005, things didn't always go according to script. "The biggest surprise we had was when our dish for Clyde River showed up in Grise Fiord, which is of course the most inaccessible, furthest away community you can imagine,'' Walker says, adding that it took about one and a half months to charter an airplane to get the extra dish moved to its proper destination.

Improvisation was often the order of the day, too, when smaller communities didn't have all the necessary equipment for installation. In one, SSI Micro's crew had to set up an artificial pulley system using a long gin pole at the end of a loader in order to get the elevation required to put the satellite dish in place.

There was also pressure from the federal government -- as a condition of its $3.885 million in funding -- to complete the project in one year, rather than two as originally planned. To meet the new March 31, 2005 installation deadline, SSI Micro had to order equipment a year earlier in order to ensure it would be aboard the sealift barges in time. There was little or no margin for error given the brief shipping season in the southern Arctic, and even shorter one in the higher latitudes where some communities can only expect one boat a year -- provided the ice breaks up enough to let it through safely.

Today however, with approximately $10 million having been spent to put the infrastructure in place as a resulting of funding from all three levels of government and private business, 2.5 GHz wireless broadband has become a reality across the Territory, with most of the smaller communities having joined the QINIQ network between May and July of this year. Concerns about whether this technological feat could really be pulled off have been replaced by the hopes and dreams of residents across Nunavut.

In Sanikiluaq, a town of about 700 in the Belcher Islands about 165 kilometres west of Quebec in Hudson Bay (territory belonging to Nunavut), Bob McLean, manager of Sanny Internet Services, is the hamlet's CSP. He helped establish a website listing various local artists' carvings, entitled Soapstone Artists of Sanikiluaq, back in 1998. The site subsequently became e-commerce enabled to sell Inuit art over the Internet to clients all over the world. He hopes the new broadband capacity will provide a much more cost-effective and quicker means for customers to transact through that website.

Darrell Ohokannoak is the manager of PolarNet, an ISP based in Cambridge Bay, capital of Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region, located on Victoria Island some 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle.

Only about 15 per cent of Cambridge Bay's 1,400 residents are connected to the Internet, but those who've chosen to take advantage of broadband access are "excited it's finally here,'' says Ohokannoak, who also chairs the NBDC board of directors.

Subscribers in the distant northern community are using it in much the same fashion as their counterparts in the south -- online shopping for items like electronics and clothing, online games such as poker, and Internet booked flights, hotels and car rentals for vacations outside Nunavut.

Broadband makes things much easier for members of such a remote community, not only because the service is much faster, but also significantly more affordable. "Before when we had to buy our bandwidth, it was really, really costly and we could only afford so much. To cover that bandwidth, we had to charge customers a rate probably 50 times higher than in the south, but we'd probably be 100 times slower because of our small population and base of users,'' Ohokannoak says.

In Cape Dorset, in southwest Baffin Island, Jim Williams is taking advantage of broadband access to teach an introductory business course at Fanshawe College in London, Ont. The newly appointed training and development officer with the Government of Nunavut's Department of Community and Government Services moved to Nunavut from southern Ontario in April 2005.

"I was teaching that course when I came up here, and (Fanshawe) asked me if I'd finish it online,'' he says. "When I first came up, we didn't have broadband, and (trying to do) that was awful. You would eventually get through (via dial-up) but it just took so long. Now with broadband access, it's so much easier. You can get back to students right away; it's phenomenal,'' he adds.

In Sanikiluaq, housing foreman Arthur Lebsack of the QAMMAQ Housing Association, who is responsible for inspecting all public housing maintenance in the hamlet, says broadband access to the Internet for such activities as pricing materials has saved him a considerable amount of time inside the office. This, in turn, allows him to get out in the field more to inspect buildings and "take care of the men I'm responsible for.''

The only downside to broadband access, Lebsack jokes, is that it gives him less time to satisfy his caffeine fix. "With dial-up, you could go out for coffee and then come back into the room,'' he laughs.

Broadband access could also potentially enhance the educational experience by allowing for greater online interconnectivity between students in schools within Nunavut and the rest of Canada, as well as for professional development of teachers, according to Murray Horn, Iqaluit based director of corporate services for the Government of Nunavut's Department of Education.

Broadband technology could also allow a specialized teacher based elsewhere to supplement secondary school instruction in a particular subject area such as physics to a remote community, where there might only be a single teacher to cover all subjects and perhaps multiple grades as well, he adds.

"I think we're limited only by our imagination in terms of what we can do with this technology,'' Horn says.

Another important civil application will be to improve municipal operations through shared knowledge. For instance, municipalities within Nunavut often experience a rapid turnover of knowledgeable staff in senior level positions, particularly those that involve southerners, who only tend to stay in Nunavut for a few years. Thus, each new person, particularly in a remote community, tends to "reinvent the wheel because they don't have access to what the other municipalities are doing,'' Thomas says.

"A new senior administrative officer (SAO) in Kimmirut, for example, may have no idea how to handle water truck delivery and sewage management. They'll run into a whole series of problems that other municipalities solved long ago. If they've never done it, how do they connect with other SAOs to figure out how? The way out is to provide training opportunities for people who live there,'' and broadband access will "connect these communities via the Internet in a useful way,'' she adds.

Another potential application in the planning stages is to provide residents of Nunavut with a geo-science software program that will give them satellite images of the Territory, which can in turn be further scaled down in considerable detail. This is especially important in a culture whose traditional activities are intensely land-based, such as hunting and fishing. Moreover, the Inuit people must first be consulted by business and government with respect to proposed commercial activities such as mining or oil drilling because of the potential environmental impact such activities could have on animal migration routes or other matters of importance to their traditional way of life.

For broadband access to ultimately succeed in Nunavut, admits Itorcheak, there will be a nurturing period involving a lot of trial and error and growing pains. "It's like with a newborn, where it takes time to learn to crawl, then to walk, then to run. Eventually people will pick up on it like they did with video and desktop conferencing. You can do a lot of different things, but it will take time,'' he says.

In the process, he adds, it is important that the traditional knowledge of the Inuit culture be respected and not completely trumped by technology. For instance, no matter what computer models say, there is no substitute for the experience of hunters who've passed down oral knowledge about things such as routes to avoid because of ice shifting at various times of the year.

"We've got to incorporate what we've learned about technology into our communication, but at the same time, keep in the back of our minds that we cannot abandon everything we learned from our parents and forefathers. We must also take into account traditional knowledge,'' Itorcheak says.

Cat Lake First Nation Website is now online, although it's uncompleted at the moment. There still needs to be info added to various menus on the website. Don't forget to sign the guestbook before you move on from the site.

http://catlake.firstnation.ca

from  the Canadian Press ... JUDY MONCHUK

CALGARY (CP) - Canada's premiers agreed Tuesday to support a 10-year plan that aims to eliminate aboriginal poverty and right historic wrongs.

"The gap that exists between aboriginal Canadians, First Nations and the general public is something we should all be ashamed of", B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said Tuesday after the premiers met with aboriginal leaders. Campbell, who will help draft the agenda for a first ministers meeting on native issues in the fall, said the changes will not come overnight.

"That plan should be created by the aboriginal leadership to lay out a plan for us that we can commit to and act on," he said. "The federal government will have to be part of that solution as provinces are already."

Native leaders wanted the leaders of the provinces and territories to support the ambitious plan, which was presented to Ottawa in June. It will address health care, housing, economic development and forging a new relationship between Canada's aboriginal peoples and the different levels of government.

The premiers met with aboriginal leaders in Calgary before their annual gathering, which begins in Banff on Wednesday.

Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, was thrilled with the endorsement.

"We'd like to see those changes happen yesterday, but if we can keep what we agreed to (Tuesday) as the starting point of this new relationship and a commitment to closing the gap, we'll be happy," said Fontaine.

"When we meet again in the fall, we won't spend our time debating the utility of such a commitment."

Living conditions in Canada's aboriginal communities ranked 63rd in a recent United Nations report, while Canada overall ranked third.

"I don't think we're going to get much argument that too many First Nations communities live in Third-World conditions," said Fontaine.

Ontario's Dalton McGuinty said it's important that the deal calls for concrete steps to change those conditions.

"We've decided collectively we want to move the yardstick forward," said McGuinty. "It talks about a 10-year timeline where we establish indicators to show Canadians that things are getting better, not in some academic, esoteric manner."

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said there are critical health issues that must be addressed, noting that in his province, six aboriginal people each day are diagnosed with diabetes. That's three times higher than the rest of the population.

Doer said it's time to focus on prevention and getting treatment for aboriginals in their own communities as much as possible.

Numerous studies have shown that aboriginals are at higher risk for various diseases and that their overall health is poorer than other Canadians.

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, who is hosting the premiers meeting, said it's also important for the federal government to live up to its commitment to cover aboriginal health for those who live off reserve.

And while no price tag has been assessed for reforms, Ottawa's projected surplus of $8 billion means there is money available.

"We're not suggesting the entire surplus be directed to our issues, we just want a fair share of the resources," said Fontaine.

P.E.I. Premier Pat Binns said improving the situation for aboriginals will benefit the entire country.

"In Atlantic Canada, we know that a rising tide raises all boats," said Binns. "If we can raise the prosperity level of native people, we'll all be better off."

© The Canadian Press, 2005

Click here to read the CBC on-line coverage of this story

Click here for the AFN press release and position on this issue.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Calls on Premiers to Work With First Nations to “Close the Gap” in Quality of Life During Council of the Federation Discussions

Today in Calgary, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine called on provincial and territorial leaders to address First Nations issues as part of an effort to close the gap in the quality of life between First Nations and the rest of Canada. He issued the call at a meeting with provincial and territorial premiers and national Aboriginal leaders prior to the Council of the Federation meeting in Banff, Alberta.

“We have had a very positive and constructive dialogue with the Premiers and territorial leaders. They are recognizing that our approach is one of constructive engagement: we are presenting concrete proposals and options to address the issues that we raise,” stated the National Chief. “Simply put, we want to close the gap between ourselves and other Canadians and to enjoy the same quality of life and opportunity.”

The National Chief reiterated his calls to set a 10 year goal to “close the gap” in the quality of life between First Nations and other Canadians; establish an ongoing political relationship by convening a series of First Ministers’ Meetings to adequately address all health determinants, which includes housing, education and economic development and self-determination; and adding economic development to the First Ministers’ Meetings agenda, given its importance in improving socio-economic outcomes. He first issued the challenge at a meeting with federal, provincial and territorial ministers of Aboriginal affairs in June.

The National Chief also called for a more comprehensive and holistic approach to address First Nations priorities by integrating or coordinating government programming and services under increased First Nation control, with comprehensive models for financing services to First Nations people, including those living away from their communities.

“Focusing exclusively on 3 or 4 health determinants will not be sufficient to close the gap,” said the National Chief. “In our model, we have identified 14 key determinants that affect our overall health and well-being, including education, employment, justice, language and lands, in addition to the ones I have already mentioned. Here in Western Canada, we are already seeing pressure on the skilled and educated workforce. The First Nations population is young and growing and represents the workforce of Canada’s future. Here is an example of a shared priority that benefits both First Nations and Canada.”

The National Chief proclaimed his commitment to working with provincial and territorial premiers and governments to find solutions that will benefit First Nations and all Canadians.

“Provincial and territorial roles and agreements are especially important now, given that federal discussions are already underway,” said the National Chief. “We are keen to work with the provinces and territories to develop better relationships in order to work strategically with other governments. We enter this new millennium with a view of one another not as obstacles to progress, but as allies in partnership. We can work towards a new future and a new era of productivity and prosperity.”

The Assembly of First Nations is the national organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada.

Contacts:

Don Kelly, AFN Communications Director
613-241-6789 ext. 320 or cell 613-292-2787

Ian McLeod, AFN Bilingual Communications Officer
613-241-6789 ext. 336 or cell 613-859-4335

Nancy Pine, Communications Advisor, Office of the National Chief
613-241-6789 ext. 243 or cell 613-298-6382

NNEC is auctioning off various items through their website. Beautiful donations from various individuals, local businesses and organizations are posted on-line and are now open for bids. Click here to visit the first page of the On-line Auction and then click on NNEC On-Line Auction to see the items currently available.

The instructions for participating in this fundraising event from the web site ...

NNEC is planning an auction called “I Buy”. It will be available to all Northern ON residents. All proceeds will go to the Pelican Falls First Nation High School hockey rink project. Please support our future hockey stars. *NNEC does not have PayPal* To place a bid: Phone (807) 737-2002 ext. 236 or toll free 1-800-465-3626.ext. 236 Mon.-Fri., between the hours of 9:00 AM and 4:30 PM (Leave bidding price, name and number of item and your name and contact information). Please email IBuy@nnec.on.ca same information as above

All bids start today, Wednesday August 10 and close Friday, Sept 23, 2005 at 4:30pm.

--2005-08-08 1:05 pm -->Message from the Director-General on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. 

In 2004 the first International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (1995-2004) came to an end. Its main merit was that it had centred the attention of the United Nations on the need for awareness of the problems encountered by indigenous peoples the world over. The time has now come to consider new perspectives and strengthen international cooperation in order to meet these peoples’ expectations.

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, 9 August, marks the day on which the Working Group on Indigenous Populations met for the first time in 1982. It should act as an occasion for thinking about this process and taking part in it.

Faced with the reality of the living conditions of indigenous people, which often remain precarious, the General Assembly of the United Nations, at its 59th session, proclaimed a second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, from 2005 to 2014.

The second Decade will provide UNESCO with an opportunity to pursue and intensify its efforts to promote the cultures of indigenous people and their fundamental rights. It will also offer the occasion to emphasize the need to mainstream culture in every development policy. Such mainstreaming is all the more necessary when indigenous people are involved, since they have a holistic vision of the world and maintain a special link with their environment.

It is therefore essential to strengthen the partnership with indigenous people by improving the mechanisms for the consultation of communities and arranging their participation in projects undertaken in UNESCO’s fields of competence. A central plank of our work will be to give greater thought to an issue of overriding importance for indigenous people – namely their informed, free and prior consent – and its application in the processes of project formulation and execution.

Moreover, UNESCO will pursue its efforts to protect and promote the diversity of cultures and ways of life peculiar to indigenous peoples. I hope that in 2006 the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will enter into effect, once it has been ratified by the thirtieth State Party. The Organization will also be presenting, at the 33rd session of the General Conference in October 2005, a preliminary draft convention on the protection of the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions. These international instruments may provide a framework for the protection of traditional indigenous forms of expression and the promotion of indigenous people’s contemporary creations.

We must at the same time emphasize the role of indigenous individuals, particularly women and young people, in the transmission and safeguarding of knowledge linked to their cultural and natural heritage. As guarantors of cultural diversity and biodiversity, young indigenous people should be proud of their identity and their culture and retain their specificity while taking their rightful place in a globalized world.

Consequently, UNESCO must renew its efforts, particularly in its action on education for all, to introduce curricula that are culturally and linguistically adapted to indigenous history, values and traditions. Formal and informal education for local communities, combined with the proper use of means of information and communication, should bring about an increase in the transmission of knowledge between custodians of traditional knowledge, young people and the rest of the world.

Finally, I wish to pay special tribute to indigenous women. Subjected to twofold discrimination, both as women and indigenous people, they are often especially vulnerable to all kinds of injustice. Nonetheless, their role in the safeguarding of traditions, in particular through the transmission of the mother tongue, is crucial for the planet’s cultural and biological diversity.

I conclude by expressing the wish that 9 August 2005 and the second Decade may provide an opportunity for making progress in the recognition of indigenous peoples’ cultures and rights, since their contribution is more vital than ever for the survival and development of humanity.