Media.Knet.Ca

The Ontario Native Education Counselling Association is leading an effort to reverse the federal government's decision to begin taxing Aboriginal students' post secondary student support funding as their income. Included in this income is tuition, book allowance and living allowance, scholarships, bursaries and travel dollars.

ONECA's Taxation Action web site contains information that can be used as back up information and actions that individuals, organizations and communities can taking, including:

• Your individual petition. (To be submitted by ONECA on your behalf)
• A printable petition form to collect signatures in your community or organization. (Just print the page that opens)
• "Letter to the editor" from President of ONECA Kimberly Smith-Spencer
• "Letter to President Bernard (Cambrian College) from Kimberley Smith-Spencer"
• "Third National Survey of First Nations On-Reserve on Education and Culture ".
• "The Impacts of the Taxation of Post Secondary Support Fund"
• "Briefing Note To The National Chief, AFN Education"
• "Motion put forth by the Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Assembly"

Notices are being received about various scholarships that are available for Aboriginal students attending post-secondary school in the fall. Xerox Canada has a June 30 deadline for this year's scholarship program.

Xerox Canada's Aboriginal Scholarship Program is designed to assist the advancement of Aboriginal Peoples' participation in an increasingly technologically enriched workplace and the new digital economy.

The Ontario First Nations SchoolNet web site provides links to additional resources for Aboriginal students and education staff. For example, be sure to check out ...

INAC's E-Directory of Scholarships, Bursaries and Awards for Aboriginal Students that helps eligible Aboriginal students to quickly access a national directory comprising of organizations and institutions that offer more than 500 awards, totalling more than $2.5 million!

Lakehead University Dean of Education impressed with KiHS and other KO ICT applications...

The Education Director of Samson Beardy Memorial School is pleased to announce the Samson Beardy Memorial School Graduation Ceremonies happening today in Muskrat Dam, Ontario, June 17, 2004 @ 1:30 PM.

The Community members, members of the Chief and Council, Muskrat Dam Education Board members, School Staff and Students are pleased and very happy to annouce that 6 young people will be graduating from Samson Beardy Elementry School this afternoon. June 17, 2004.

Also graduating from the Kindergarten Program will be 7 students.

Graduation Ceremonies are scheduled to commence at 1:30 PM.  

Following this will be the Annual Student Achievement Awards. The Teaching staff will be recognizing the students for their acheivements by presenting them with plaques.

Immediately following the awards presentations will be the Community Feast, which will be at 4:00 PM.

Later on the evening, the staff, students and community members will be joining the graduates with the Graduation Dance at the School Gym.  

Grade 7 & 8 School Trip

On Friday morning, June 18, 2004 at 6:00 AM, the Grade 8 Graduating Class along with the Grade 7 Class will be leaving on the School Class trip to Toronto, Ontario. The students will be travelling back to the community on June 26, 2004

Keewaytinook Okimakanak is Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet regional management organization (RMO) for Ontario. The http://firstnationschools.ca web portal created for this program is collecting and posting a variety of online resources on this site under the title "On-line Educational Resources".

Everyone is invited to submit their upcoming education conferences and events, as well as their favourite web sites and on-line resources to brian.beaton@knet.ca to be included on this site. Be sure to check out the existing First Nation web sites as well as the different First Nation schools web site that are being developed under this project.

All First Nation schools and communities are invited to use the existing domains (firstnationschools.ca and firstnation.ca) to create their own web site using the on-line resources being made available under this SchoolNet program.

The present categories listed include:

• Aboriginal Resources
• Cool Websites
• Education Organizations
• First Nation Businesses
• First Nation School Websites
• First Nation SchoolNet Projects
• Kids Educational Websites
• Library Resources
• Local Sites and Organizations
• Native Language Resources
• Other Schools
• Preparing Today for Careers Tomorrow
• School Yard Bullying
• Special Education
• Teachers Resources
• Upcoming Events
• Youth Resources

The students attending Pelican Falls developed an on-line presentation documenting all the different traditional educational activities undertaken during the 2003-2004 school year. Wayne Mercer, Pelican Falls Principal reported that Paige Mawakeesic who is seen in many of the pictures used many of the skills gained during her cooperative education placement at K-Net to coordinate the production of this web site. Click here to see their Traditional Activities home page.

The different activities documented include:

• Trapping
• Dog Sledding
• Ski Trip
• Snowshoeing
• Fish Net Setting
• Quinzee Building
• Spring Hunting
• Canoe Building

The project is described as ...

"This project was part of a joint effort between NIS (Network Of Innovative Schools) and Pelican Falls First Nations High School. The project's goal was to introduce & enhance ICT's into the classroom and use it as a tool to communicate the students unique First Nation culture and heritage to others around the world. Two curriculum areas worked in partnership to make this project a reality. Two Interdiciplinary studies classes with curriculum focus on traditional technologies and traditional skills provided material for the website recording and writing about their endeavours. The computer class learned to construct & build webpages then used the material to create the unique website seen here. Native Language classes and student volunteers also helped with the project.

Partnerships were also created with the Ojibway & Cree Cultural Centre in Timmins, Ontario, to produce a book of the bark canoe project. Overall, the project was a big success and teachers and students look forward to next years projects."

In September 2004, Oshki-Pimache-O-Win Education and Training Institute, in partnership with Cambrian College, will offer the Native Early Childhood Education Program. This 2-year program will be delivered through a modular format and is designed to prepare graduates for employment in licensed child care settings.

For further information please contact Joan Hardy at (807) 346-2784, or by email at jhardy@oshki.ca.

In September 2004, Oshki-Pimache-O-Win, in partnership with Cambrian College will begin delivery of the Business Administration (First Nation Specialization) Certificate Program. This one-year program will be delivered through a modular format, providing students with the flexibility of earning a BA certificate, while remaining employed in their home communities.

For further information please contact Joan Hardy at 1 807-346-2784 or by email at jhardy@oshki.ca.

In partnership with Trican Multimedia and Statistics Canada, Oshki-Pimache-O-Win Education and Training Institute has developed Statistics Canada’s Aboriginal Statistical Training Course for distance delivery. The course is designed to prepare participants to locate, collect and effectively utilize statistical data, and may be of interest to anyone involved in organizational or community-based planning, programming, evaluation, or decision-making.

The course will be piloted beginning June 22, 2004 and we are looking for participants to be part of this initial offering. Because this is a pilot course, only ten participants will be accepted. All participants must have a working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and be familiar with using the Internet and e-mail. The deadline for applications is Thursday, June 10, 2004. Qualified applicants will be accepted on a first-come basis. There is no fee for this pilot offering of the course.

For further information, or to register for the course, contact Stephen Chase at (807) 346-2779, or by e-mail at schase@oshki.ca.

Sterling Hall School in Toronto, has donated thirty boxes of books to KO First Nations for use in their schools and community libraries. The books were recently received in KO's Thunder Bay office by Geordi Kakepetum.

Arrangements are now being made to distribute these books to the KO communities. For more information about these books, contact Brian Walmark at 877-737-5638 (KNET) ext 51260 or by e-mail at brianwalmark@knet.ca