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The Keewaytinook Okimakanak / Northern Chiefs Council is inviting student applicants for a seven (7) week Summer Student Position with a focus on support activities for our Aboriginal Elders and their Culture.

2006 Summer Experience Program
Summer Student Position

The Keewaytinook Okimakanak/Northern Chiefs Council is inviting student applicants for a seven (7) week Summer Student Position with a focus on support activities for our Aboriginal Elders and their Culture.  The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Health Promotion is providing funding towards their “2006 Summer Experience Program”.  The Keewaytinook Okimakanak/Northern Chiefs Council’s shared goal is to provide supervised work experience for youth in summer positions that develop career related and transferable skills.

The Candidate will:

• Maintain client confidentiality;
• Operate Video-Conferencing equipment;
• Promote and coordinate the monthly “Kitchi-a-hah Wii-kwun-diwin” Elders Gathering among twenty-five (25) remote First Nation communities.

The Candidate will possess:

• Basic computer skills;
• Ability to meet timelines;
• Ability to work independently;
• Ability to speak Oji-Cree an asset;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Youth must meet the following eligibility criteria of the program:

• All youth must have reached the age of 15 and not yet reached the age of 25 upon starting work or 29 for persons with a disability if disabled within the meaning of the Human;
• Youth must be residents of Ontario;
• Youth must be eligible to work in Canada.

Youth interests and career goals should relate to the job for which they have applied. 

Note:   Youth are expected to work 35 hours/week for 7 weeks at $7.75 per hour.

Employment will start on Monday, July 10th and conclude August 25th 2006.

Please forward your resume and cover letter, along with three references (work/personal) to:

Summer Student Hiring Committee
Keewaytinook Okimakanak
PO Box 340
Balmertown, ON
P0V 1C0

Cover letters and resumes will be accepted via regular mail, facsimile (Fax: 1-807-735-1383) or
Email: educationprogram.telehealth@knet.ca

Closing Date for Applications:  June 30, 2005

The work goes on… Almost hundred First Nations people and public officials gathered in Toronto and on-line to participate in the “Gii-Kaan-Dann” Ontario First Nations Telehealth Conference, a two-day forum to brief First Nations community health champions across Ontario.  To learn more, see the website at http://meeting.knet.ca (select the HEALTH - CONFERENCES zone. 

To see photos from the gathering click here.

“We want to understand better what First Nations want to do with telehealth and this conference is an incredible first step in achieving that and we are here to support that,” said Ed Brown, MD, the Chief Operating Officer of the Ontario Telehealth Network (OTN).

Keewaytinook Okimakanak was under contract from the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) to facilitate this conference.  KO staff and KO community members including Community Telehealth Coordinators (CTCs) conducted presentations during the conference.

Chiefs of Ontario is pleased to present:

Gii-Kaan-Daan Ontario First Nations Regional Telehealth Conference

(Aboriginal Know-How) : Balancing Culture and Technology

Register online TODAY @ www.meeting.knet.ca !

This is a great opportunity to participate in promoting and strenghtening Telehealth in your community and throughout Ontario.

The online "meeting place" environment features a live webcast, discussion forums, technical support, PowerPoint Presentations, presenter bios, archived sessions, links and other resources.

Continue to follow and contribute to the post-conference discussions online, complete a feedback form and to read the resulting Regional Workshop Report which will contribute to AFN's National First Nation TeleHealth Strategy.

View the Conference Agenda

Visit and register for the online conference at http://www.meeting.knet.ca

Wayne Zimmer, Coordinator of Apprenticeship Programs at Seven Generations Education Institute spent most of Wednesday learning about the Kuhkenah Network. Wayne is working on developing a strategy to link the Aboriginal Post Secondary Consortium to a common platform where programs can shared across the province.

As well, Wayne is interested in seeing the Fort Frances area First Nations connected to a network service that will support video conferencing and other broadband e-learning applications for the effective delivery of apprenticeship programs.

Once these apprenticeship programs and services are available online, other First Nations from anywhere in the province will be able to access these services.

Video conference meetings were also held with Brian Walmark from the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute (KORI - http://research.knet.ca) and Carl Seibel, Telecom Officer, Industry Canada FedNor.

Wayne's contact information is:

Wayne Zimmer
Coordinator of Apprenticeship Programs
Seven Generations Education Institute
115 Chipman Street, 3rd Floor
Box 1640, Kenora, ON, P9N 3X7
Tel: 807-468-3096
Fax: 807-468-7358
e-mail: waynez@7generations.org
web: www.7generations.org

A team from Keewaytinook Okimakanak presented how they are working online with Community Based Researchers (CBRs) in KO First Nations to prepare health care information for the new PepTalk online resources.

Kanina Terry and Adam Fiser are working with CBRs in Deer Lake, Fort Severn, Keewaywin, North Spirit Lake and Poplar Hill to gather local health information, resources, organizations and people so the information can populate the online database tools. Community meetings will also provide an opportunity for the CBRs to showcase their work and get feedback from community members about these new health tools and resources. See the pictures from this meeting at http://photos.knet.ca/albuo42.

from http://peptalk.ca ...

The Patient Education Prescription project is developing high quality, clinical multimedia learning materials to assist patients learning how to live with chronic disease.

These interactive multimedia learning materials include video, graphics, text, clinical simulations, and self-assessment tools. Online materials are delivered in personalized educational prescriptions, under password protection and in a format that is adaptable for various levels of functional literacy, disability, and multiple languages. In addition, the materials and online delivery mechanism is to be used to enable clinicians to learn about the role of Information Therapy and how patient empowerment through access to appropriate education and tailored resources can lead to better outcomes.

The project provides accessible, relevant and empowering self-management education to patients with various chronic illnesses, including Breast Cancer, Oral Cancer, Stroke/ TIA, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, and general health literacy. Online educational prescriptions can be accessed online within Community Health Care centres, hospital clinics, physicians’ offices, Long Term Care facilities, community pharmacies, in the patient’s home or other healthcare settings.

Our community partners (St Christopher House and the Olive Branch of Hope in Toronto, and Keewaytinook Okimakanak in Ontario’s north) are active participants in creating culturally relevant and appropriate online material in a variety of languages. These “cultural translations” of clinical education material will enable community participants to learn new skills in creating online educational media, and be able to see themselves as active and engaged participants in determining their own health and in fostering better community health overall.

Three members of the Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO) team traveled to Sioux Lookout to learn about the Kuhkenah Network. Loma Rowlinson, Alain Lefebvre, Glen Lipinski are visiting MNO locals across northern Ontario to deliver and set up video conferencing equipment for a mental health initiative. 

MNO, working with K-Net and FedNor, is developing their video conferencing and telehealth services in the locals in Dryden, Kenora, Fort Frances, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Sudbury, North Bay and Timmins. 

See the pictures from the visit at http://photos.knet.ca/albuo41

Around A Virtual Campfire
Sparking The Furture of ICT in Ontario - an online conference

The Keewaytinook Okimakanak office in Sioux Lookout is one of four conference sites hosting the Community Learning Networks Ontario regional two day conference starting today, Thursday May 25 and running until Friday, May 26.

The four conference sites include:

• Sioux Lookout hosted by Keewaytinook Okimakanak (with support from FedNor and SLAAMB),
• Timmins hosted by NEONet,
• Ottawa hosted by HRSDC, and
• Toronto hosted by St. Christopher House and CRACIN.

The sites will be linked by the Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) using a variety of communication tools. Conference participants can join the virtual gathering using their computer (click here for the webcast site) or by registering to join the workshop sessions at one of the video conference sites. Click here to view some pictures from the virtual gathering.

In Sioux Lookout, the event is being held in the SLAAMB boardroom. Lyle Johnson (lylejohnson@knet.ca - 807-737-1135 x1387) is coordinating the local site.  Lyle is also monitoring the online chat session so everyone's questions and contributions are presented to the entire conference.

Visit http://cln-ontario.org for more information about this event and to join the online discussion forums.

The following PDF documents are available online -

• REGISTRATION FORM,
• FORUM AGENDA,
• WORKSHOP SESSIONS,
• HOW to ACCESS the Live Webcast session.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak's Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) is working with its partners in the Thunder Bay area to strengthen and further develop the local Nishnawbe Aski Nation wireless network and provide better online access to the First Nations.

KO and NAN are working with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and Lakehead University, to construct a common meet-me environment where other networks across the region are able to interconnect with each other. The construction of this open access meet-me environment will support direct connections between NOSM, Lakehead University, Confederation College and other networks directly to the First Nations and their organizations who are presently being served by the Kuhkenah Network.

In January 2006, Keewaytinook Okimakanak received funding from Industry Canada's FedNor program to construct this common meet-me site. The work also involves laying fibre optic cable at Lakehead University to connect the Regional Hospital and others to this meet-me site. The upgrade to the NAN wireless network will support video conferencing services as well as additional local organizations to be able to reach First Nations across the region. 

Visit the project web site at http://www.research.knet.ca/meet_me/home for more information.

K-Net is a managed network that provides broadband connectivity services supporting applications such as video conferencing, IP telephony and internet data. The network supports Quality of Service (QOS) so the different type of traffic (video, voice or data) can be prioritized. It is an alternative to the public internet that only provides a shared environment. K-Net is able to provide users with the bandwidth required to deliver a variety of applications (for example telehealth and e-learning opportunities), between local service agencies and remote Aboriginal communities and organizations.

adapted from KORI news at http://research.knet.ca ...

A Maori academic is eager to share best practices and lessons learned from New Zealand regarding promoting adult literacy. "We’re not here to tell anyone how to do anything. We’re hear to share with Canadian First Nation and Metis communities what our communities have created to combat illiteracy," said Dr. Rongo Wetere, a professor and former CEO of New Zealand’s first Maori-controlled and operated university.

He was speaking during an on-line video conference linking six First Nations communities in Ontario’s far north on May 3 that was hosted by the Fort William First Nation KIHS classroom and coordinated by KORI. Earlier, Dr. Wetere  had a tour of the KO Research Institute to see some of the services available there.

"In New Zealand, our communities have adapted and have harnessed technology to transform the lessons learned from Cuba and Finland in teaching people to read and write."

Dr. Wetere and his team have developed a 34-week multi-media program that provides people with all of the academic tools they need for employment, college or university work.

"This approach works because it does not depend on teachers and classrooms." Rather, it focuses on families who work together in their homes with the help of a full-time community facilitator who is paid to work with all of the people enrolled in the program.

Dr. Rongo Wetere’s discussion was entitled, “Literacy Alternatives for All: the Pathway Out - The New Zealand experience.”  The core of the literacy method is based on a Cuban model where post secondary education is mandatory and free for all people to the first level.  This method has been adapted to the Maori culture and circumstance. Dr. Wetere is working with British Columbia Aboriginal peoples and is seeking First Nations partners to work with Northwestern Ontario First Nations to adapt the literacy method to the Canadian Aboriginal experience.

"Anyone can participate in the program but its really a gift from the Maori to the rest of society."

Click here to see the archived video conference of Dr. Wetere’s presentation.

Click here to see the pictures of Dr. Wetere's and Marcia Krawll's visit