THURSDAY

Welcome and Opening Remarks – Robert Holden, National Congress of American Indians, Cindy Mitchell, NRCan, Leonard Thomas, President, First Nations Forestry Council

Water, fish, wildlife, air and contamination know no borders.  This session, focusing on the Columbia River Treaty area, will look at issues that affect Nations that border on each other within BC and across the 49^th parallel.  Historically people moved freely across the land but are now living under different jurisdictions where different legislation and policies affect their daily lives.  How do we take the theory of data access and make it real.  What data do we need to support what issues?  Who is the authoritative source of that data?  How is access provided?  What policies or standards need to change?  How and what information can be shared?  Where are we with the harmonization of datasets?  What tools are currently available?  Can tools be equally useful Nation to Nation within Canada and Nation to Nation across our international borders? 
 

Making sure you collect the quality data you need"--Terry Tobias--More than three decades after aboriginal groups started using the map-biography method to document their use of resources and occupancy of territory, much of the resulting research product, including that of recent efforts, has fallen short of meeting communities' needs at planning and negotiation tables. In a discipline that has been dominated by GIS interests, an emphasis on data analysis/presentation and a corollary disregard for data quality, there is an emerging awareness that perhaps "the cart has been placed before the horse." The issue of data quality, which is determined during data collection, is now receiving attention. The presenter will talk to the issue of data quality. Key points to be covered include:
Lessons of the BC Traditional Use Study Program; the nature and
measures of data quality; the research principles that guide you to
quality product; what good versus poor maps typically look like; and
how to avoid the pitfalls that result by marking large polygonal
features at map interviews.

Collaboration at Work – Put Your Mind at Peace: Treaty 8, ICIS, Peace River Regional District, City of Fort St. John

There are many challenges encountered by First Nations in securing external geospatial data. This data is essential for proactively managing and analyzing land use. Leeanna Rhodes will present specific challenges that Treaty 8 has encountered in determining the availability and source of specific data sets. The panel will respond to these challenges and speak to the value of ICIS membership in helping to provide solutions. In addition, the panel will discuss how three levels of government in the Peace River Regional District collaborate to streamline their data sharing efforts eliminating duplications of effort, negotiation, associated work and cost. Additional discussion will brainstorm future challenges, opportunities and potential solutions.

The session will encourage and welcome interactive audience participation to expand on the topics.

7:30 - 8:30

8:30 - 10:00

Welcomes and Opening Remarks
Summit Masters of Ceremony:  Harry Adam and Norm Leech

Greetings from Bill Zaharoff, Director, Inter-Governmental Affairs, Indian and Nothern Affairs Canada.

We Are One With the Land-Namgis Nation:  Chief Bill Cranmer

Our people have lived in the ‘NAMGIS Valley since the first Thunderbird landed on the shores of our Gwa’ni River and turned into a Man. Everything we are comes from our Land. We define ourselves in a way that shares our spirit, our songs, our dances and our relationship to our Land that has sustained us for thousands of years.
In 1997 we have signed a Statement of Intent to negotiate a modern-day Treaty with the Federal and Provincial Governments. This process will provide us with a platform to gain access and control over our Land and resources to become a self-governing Nation.
‘Namegan’s Om Dlu’wans Awubagwisex – We Are One With the Land will highlight our people’s journey to our Land in the Summer of 2009. You will hear first hand accounts of the feelings of what it’s like to be there.
 

10:00 - 10:30

10:30 - 12:00

10:30 - 12:00

Denman

 "Living Proof: making best practices more than a cliche"--Terry
Tobias--A recently-released methods text for collecting
use-and-occupancy map data was originally expected to require a year
to research and produce. It turned into a seven-year journey.
Conference organizers have invited the author to make an informal
presentation about that journey, from which conference participants
might take away lessons about the nature of benchmarking and the
process of arriving at the synthesis we call best practices.

Nelson

Comox

What is the experience of Aboriginal students in post-secondary institutions? What issues arise in post-secondary settings due to misunderstandings or problems with cross-cultural communications? What should Aboriginal students know that will help them cope and succeed in post-secondary schools? In this facilitated discussion, participants who have attended post-secondary schools will be invited to share their experiences and "what they wish they had known" before they went. Participants who have not attended post-secondary school will be invited to share questions and concerns they may have about being an Aboriginal student in a post-secondary institution. The discussion will help to inform the development of an online resource to help Aboriginal students prepare for attendance at a post-secondary school and to help Faculty and staff members at those institutions be more culturally aware.

The Community Engagement Division (CED) in Continuing Studies at SFU is embarking on several initiatives to create online resources that will help Aboriginal students gain access to and succeed in post-secondary education. Support organizations for Aboriginal students and students cite cross cultural communication problems as one of the major barriers for students both considering post-secondary education and trying to navigate their way through it. Aboriginal students are often blindsided by some of the situations that they are confronted with both inside and outside the classroom. The facilitated discussion will help CED understand some of those situations, as well as the kinds of questions that prospective students might want to have answered before entering a post-secondary institution.  This understanding will allow CED to develop online resources that will be truly useful.

Beach

Groups around the Province and colleagues from Down Under describe various initiatives that are engaging First Nations youth in using technology to improve education and to seek out career choice.

Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of BC are asking : “How we get First Nation’s learners to take the first step, and what we can do to support the learners once they take the plunge. How we get the learners hooked at an early age so they take the courses in K-12 that give them the prerequisites to proceed with post secondary education without requiring a lengthy upgrade before starting a program.“

HOTWIRING A DIGITAL FUTURE FOR MAORI AND PACIFIC YOUTH: Mike Usmar, CEO, Computer Clubhouse Trust
As hotwiring refers to a technique of by-passing a cars ignition to get it started; the Computer Clubhouse project in Otara New Zealand reports on how it has by-passed a failing education system and entrenched attitudes and empowered an underserved community with a culturally responsive, modern integrated digital learning environment.
This includes the Computer Clubhouse learning model, free community wireless network, online learning portal and provision of low cost laptops for young people & the community it serves.
Meredyth (2003) states that public-private partnerships between disadvantaged communities; businesses, philanthropists and universities are a key to a successful approach in addressing digital inclusion.
Clubhouse project highlights the need for schools and learning institutions to cease being isolated places of learning and realise that as society moves to be electronically connected 24/7 that social & cultural capital has become the driving force of a modern economy & society.

Open and Distance Education – Using Technology To Learn
Tanyss Munro and Dr. Son T. Vuong, UBC

There are many barriers to accessing quality education for First Nations people. Many communities are remote, many speak English as a second language only, and a large number prefer to learn by traditional auditory means rather than the conventional text-book learning. In this presentation, we report on innovative approaches using open and distance learning and focus on a new system – Learning through Interactive Voice-based Education System (LIVES). This system, based on Asterisk, an open-source telephony software, can be used to distribute learning content using auditory means in communities with good penetration of cellular or landline phones. The architecture of LIVES is kept general so that it can be extended to distribute multimedia content comprising text, graphics and video in addition to voice for advanced mobile learning applications worldwide.
 

Pacific

This workshop will look at community technology planning, will look at various issues in information and computing and will compare the strengths and weaknesses of building a network with free Open Source software instead of the proprietary model.
 

Gilford

Presenter: Harry Adam, Principal - Silver Star Elementary School, SD22-Vernon, Vernon, BC Canada
This session will provide participants with an overview of strategies and approaches from a variety of sources they can use in their communities, schools and classrooms to bring gardening into their community and curriculum, and how ICT can connect participants in different communities and countries in the process. Participants will walk away from the workshop with practical suggestions, ideas and a current list of resources to help them get started. The session will also include building an actual garden in the room!
 

BAYSIDE

Internet Strategies for Aboriginal Academic Information: Linc Kesler

Several recent initiatives at the University of British Columbia have worked to define strategies for using the internet to provide good quality information in accessible formats to support Aboriginal education and education on Indigenous issues.  Three are profiled in this session.  The first, the FNSP Interactive Video/Transcript viewer, is a strategy with which we now have had considerable experience:  it is the use of a browser based tool to make oral history records, lectures, or any other form of video material, more readily accessible, and, perhaps most  significantly, searchable, online.  The second, Indigenous Foundations, is a more extensive website project that seeks to address the challenging circumstance that many students bring with them to Indigenous Studies classes at the university:  their lack of basic knowledge in Indigenous issues.  Indigenous Foundations provides basic and more advanced information on a set of foundational topics and includes many multimedia features.  It also pilots an innovative navigation system that works by developing contexts for information, rather than slotting it into silos and grids.  The final one is the development of the UBC Aboriginal Web Portal.  One of the challenges of a large university such as UBC is that many programs exist across the university but are often unaware of each other's operations, and people looking from either inside or outside the institution have no way of easily bringing all of the Aboriginal programs into focus. The web portal, driven by interviews and feature stories, seeks to remedy that and provide a single, useful view of UBC's Aboriginal programs.
 

12:00 - 1:00

1:30 - 3:00

Denman

Nelson　

We have learned that formal workshops are not the best delivery methods for Information and Communications Technologies ("ICT") training in Inuit communities. As a result, we modified our project and began to deliver training based on the expressed needs and demands of community members, and in hand-on, one-on-one and small group settings. As a result, we are running a contest for ICT Best Practices in Remote Aboriginal Communities and would like to showcase 10-15 best practices from across the three Territories that we have gathered so far. This contest will be opened up to remote aboriginal communities across Canada at this Summit.

Comox

Beach

Pacific

Gilford

The FirstVoices Language Tutor (FVLT) is an interactive online language-teaching application, designed to be populated by any First Nations community. The FVLT is capable of delivering graduated thematic language exercises in vocabulary development, reading comprehension, listening and speaking. Lessons in the language tutor are fully customizable, allowing for the creation of content targeted to specific age groups, or lessons that follow a particular curriculum.  Media-rich interactive lessons, student and teacher tracking mechanisms and the easy-to-use lesson building tool are three key components of the FVLT that make it a valuable resource in the development and delivery of interactive online language lessons.
Bring your laptop to this interactive workshop and discover how your community can take charge of their own language lesson development using the brand new FirstVoices Language Tutor Web Application. We will also be offering a sneak peak at the prototype FirstVoices Language app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
 

BAYSIDE

3:00 - 3:30

3:30 - 5:00

Denman

Nelson

Comox

Beach

Pacific

Grass roots approach to developing a sustainable technical
support infrastructure, for one or more communities, from within
the education system. Everything from: instructor training,
blinded e-learning and classroom training, student learning
styles, program support systems, courses, costs, equipment,
resources, partnerships, strategies, and more. It all begins
with a passion for teaching and technology, and a dream to succeed.
 

Gilford

CAP YOUTH INITIATIVE MAGAZINE:

Presenters:  Vancouver Community Network, Kevin Rowe 

This year the Community Access Program's Youth Initiative put together its first comprehensive publication, the CAPYI Online Magazine. Through a series of articles and photographs we have shared the many stories, successes and struggles of our 100+ CAP sites in the Lower Mainland. The project is based on the concept of "Bridging the Digital Divide." This means finding ways to give computer/internet access to the individuals and communities that have the highest need for these services due to age, language and income barriers. The magazine explores the diversity of the locations and those who access them. But it also is framed by the experiences of our interns, who are confronting the digital divide by helping people get the skills needed to live in a high-tech society.

CAP YOUTH INITIATIVE FILM CONTEST:

Presenters:  PCNA, Leanne Wright, CAP Youth Provincial Coordinator

In this Session we will explore the different way the PCNA used technology to try and build upon the current skill set of our CAP YI this term. 

6:45 pm

The Chinook Song Catchers 

Siyam (pronounced: see yam) Maurice Nahanee of the Squamish Nation, and a torch bearer of the 2010 Olympic games  and daughter; Mandy Nahanee one of the speakers at the Opening Cermonies of the Olympics. and his daughter Marissa, organizer for the Four Host Nations, and his back bone and wife  Delhia Nahanee.

Lets welcome The Chinook Song Catchers!
 

FILM FESTIVAL 7:30 pm

SATURDAY

7:30 am - 8:30 am

8:30 - 10:00

Denman

Nelson

Comox

10:00-10:30

10:30 -12:00

Denman

Nelson

“Basic service” has been a cornerstone of public interest involvement in telecommunications since the early 1900s. This session will provide a brief history of “basic service” and its sibling “universal service.”
Panelists, some of whom have registered as interveners in the hearings, will discuss what is at stake in the current round and opportunities for public participation.
 

Comox

Beach

Mmm! Maps, File Management, and Multimedia: Getting Free and Open Source Software Working for Your Community: Charles Burnett (Geography Dept, UVic) 

In this talk, we will demonstrate how a free and open-source software data management system can serve three parts of a community: (1) maps and multimedia files are available to teachers at the Elementary-Secondary School to build lessons on culture and language;

(2) maps and ecological data are available to the Stewardship Office to coordinate monitoring programs; and (3) communication tracking and map reports are used by the Stewardship Office to manage consultation, including referrals, and produce automated reports. We will be demo-ing a live First Nations system, with map data coming from the University of Victoria , and the North Coast-Skeena First Nations Stewardship Society (NCSFNSS).

Pacific

Gilford

BAYSIDE

12:00 - 1:00

1:30 - 3:00

Hands-On Drupal Workshop: Making Image Galleries - Led by Neskie Manuel, Patrick Hayes, Charles Burnett 

In this 1.5 hour workshop technically-minded conference delegates will have a chance to see how a Drupal-based website is built from start to finish. The workshop will focus on how to create a slick image upload system and gallery for your community. Drupal is free and open source software (FOSS). The Drupal content management system is is an exciting tool for small communities; all you need is an old computer to play with. We'll discuss image processing (resizing), categories and permissions. Copies of the software will be handed out during the workshop on a fully functional USB flash drive.

Denman

What is the BCBA?
What is the purpose of the BCBA?
What are its goals and objectives?
Who can join the Association?
Who are the current Officers and Members of this Association?
Current projects

The session aims to introduce the audience to the newly formed association. The audience would learn from this presentation the rationale why the association was formed. Since most of the participants are coming from the ICT sector, we believe they could relate to our association's objectives.

Nelson

Presenters:

·     Susan Barthel – Fishing Lake Metis Settlement; Yvonne Pratt, University of Calgary; Robert Kershaw - Center for Digital Storytelling, Berkeley, California
www.storycenter.org; Bruce Hardy, Function Four Ltd.

Digital Strategies – From assessment to action, a community story of adapting to an increasingly digital world.

Fishing Lake Métis Settlement, along with 12 other Alberta Communities are well on their way to charting Digital Strategies for their communities to preserve their culture, increase their skills utilization of digital technology. This presentation follows Fishing Lakes journey to engage both their community and leadership to collectively participate in identifying priorities and directions for community investments in ICT’s, skills and identifying projects.  A Digital Story Telling project will highlight a key area of focus,  to enhance the employable skills of their youth and preserver their culture, will be highlighted. 

The Fishing Lake Métis Settlement successfully completed an Information Communications (ICT) and Technology assessment called the E-index. The result provided interesting conclusions about Fishing Lake’s knowledge economy and has already lead to innovative projects aimed at increasing the communities’ capacity and overall presence of ICT in the community. Fishing Lake received overall scores of B for infrastructure and skills, D for utilization, and C for affordability. This indicates that while the settlement has some areas that could be improved, some skills and infrastructure exist to ensure that investment in the other areas will not go to waste. Proper emphasis on the development of ICT in Fishing Lake has enormous potential to reap significant benefit for the community, its leadership, and its members.

The province of Manitoba is about to embark on a similar journey.  The plan is to work with 10 communities, utilizing the E-Index as the preliminary assessment tool.  We will share the plan for the future as a wrap up to this presentation.

Comox

First Nations creativity needs to have an economic outlet. Now is the time to take First Nations stories and values to the world with multimedia being the vehicle. This workshop will present a business vision of how animation can be used as an economic driver in First Nations communities. Participants will have a hands-on experience in creating animation.
 

Beach

Community-Based Health: Services Integration Using Open Source Software and Maps - Charles Burnett (UVic Geography) 

Demo of an integrated health IT solution based on free and open software followed by a discussion of health information requirements with an emphasis on supporting individual, group and community health initiatives. In this presentation we'll be showing off some innovative research and health mapping tools that are available to communities now, and which are relatively inexpensive. These include: support for asset mapping, exercise program tracking like pedometer challenges, health asset tracking, emergency planning, and online surveys with automatic report generation.

Pacific

Hear how First Nations Telecommunications Companies are moving forward, connecting their citizen to the world and delivering quality high speed connectivity.
 

Gilford

Re-engaging Youth through a De-institutionalized Approach to Learning

Many educational institutions create barriers to learning for our youth. Once youth are disengaged, institutional approaches become a downward spiral for regenerating their interest and curiosity. How do institutions and communities help our youth to become curious again? This session looks at both the challenges to learning and what one institution has learned when it comes to re-engaging our youth.  The session will draw on the lessons learned from both an urban and remote community that learned to use technology to reconnect to its past and, in doing so, create its future.

3:00 - 3:30

3:30-5:00

COMPUTER LAB: Hands-On Drupal Workshop: Adding Maps to Your Site -  Led by Patrick Hayes, Charles Burnett, Neskie Manuel 

In this 1.5 hour workshop technically-minded conference delegates will have a chance to see how a Drupal-based website is built from start to finish. The workshop will focus on how to create a slick image upload system and gallery for your community. Drupal is free and open source software (FOSS). The Drupal content management system is is an exciting tool for small communities; all you need is an old computer to play with. We'll discuss image processing (resizing), categories and permissions. Copies of the software will be handed out during the workshop on a fully functional USB flash drive.

Denman

The FirstVoices Language Tutor (FVLT) is an interactive online language-teaching application, designed to be populated by any First Nations community. The FVLT is capable of delivering graduated thematic language exercises in vocabulary development, reading comprehension, listening and speaking. Lessons in the language tutor are fully customizable, allowing for the creation of content targeted to specific age groups, or lessons that follow a particular curriculum.  Media-rich interactive lessons, student and teacher tracking mechanisms and the easy-to-use lesson building tool are three key components of the FVLT that make it a valuable resource in the development and delivery of interactive online language lessons.
Bring your laptop to this interactive workshop and discover how your community can take charge of their own language lesson development using the brand new FirstVoices Language Tutor Web Application. We will also be offering a sneak peak at the prototype FirstVoices Language app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Nelson

To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the internet stable and interoperable.

"At-Large" is the name for the community of individual internet users who participate in the policy development work of ICANN. More than 120 At-Large Structures representing the views of individual Internet users are active throughout the world. You can learn more about the community and its activities as well as how to join and participate in building the future of the worldwide Domain Name System (DNS) at this session.
 

Comox

Beach

Pacific

Gilford

BAYSIDE

6:30 - 9:00

SUNDAY

7:30 to 8:30

8:30 to 10:00

Denman

First Nations Connectivity Initiative: Pathways to Technology 
Presenter:  Jamie Sterritt

All Nations Trust Company has been provided with funding from the federal (Health Canada) and provincial (Network BC) governments, for the purpose of ensuring that all First Nation communities in BC have, at minimum, a consumer-grade level of Internet connectivity.  A complex and comprehensive planning process is well underway, and substantial construction and local connectivity work is expected to roll out in 2010.  Join ANTCO representatives at this information session to learn about the work undertaken and have your questions answered.

Connecting Remote Communities Takes More Than a Satellite: Lynne Croker, OmniGlobe Networks; Heather Bohn, FNTC

21 of the most remote First Nations are being connected by broadband satellite. Connectivity is the first step. Other services are available but in order to use these services, we need to know how to use a computer, navigate the web, and understand some interactive sites. Come hear some success stories from the National Satellite Initiative currently being implemented.
 

Nelson

Comox

Presenter:  Nikos Theodasakis

Nikos is an advocate for meaningful education and is the architect of the InStill Life, Preserving Your Culture and The Director in the Classroom education projects. He is founder and executive director of the OliveUs Education Initiative Society, a non profit organization that provides rich learning projects around the world that promote personal connection, purpose and meaning. Nikos is one of thirty entrepreneurs in Canada to receive the Financial Post Best Canadian Business and Arts Partnership award for innovative leadership in connecting  business, community and education.  

Drawing upon his experiences and observations in his many fields of interest (filmmaker, educator, author, Greek restaurant owner, film festival producer, dad) his thoughtful presentations invite personal reflection and inspire collective action towards creating meaningful opportunities and experiences for citizens of all ages. 

Bring a notepad and start creating projects in your community that matter! 

http://www.nikostheodosakis.com
http://www.OliveUs.ca
 

Beach

Exploring the role of  the “learning centre” and the challenges, rewards and lessons learned along the way…

Join us in a question and answer session designed to capture the experience of establishing 4 unique learning centres in  Ktunaxa Nation, Yekooche First Nation, Aotearoa Clubhouses in New Zealand, and the demonstration centre being established at Royal Roads University in Victoria. The questions to be addressed will explore the challenges, successes and lessons learned in creating the 4 ‘learning centre’ environments and how the technology has been used/will be used for capacity building and learning opportunities in their communities.

Representatives from each learning centre will briefly share their story, followed by questions that focus on the key strategies in the development of their centre and the purpose and goals of centre’s vision.  Strategies will be discussed for defining purpose and vision, seeking funders, writing proposals, identifying key resources, to addressing the challenge in drawing and keeping community interest. This workshop will be provide insight into benefits and challenges in establishing a learning centre in your own community.

Pacific

10:00 - 10:30

10:30 - Noon

Denman

Review of the results from ongoing research into the provision of rural and remote broadband connectivity in BC. Focus is on quantitative measures and statistical analysis of aggregate traffic in a selection of rural communities which received broadband connectivity for the first time in 2007. Concludes with implications from from the research and next steps.

There is a clear need to see how the network is being used, where it could be improved, and where planning for expansion is necessary. Our analysis will assist ISPs, backbone providers, and policy makers better rationalize their use and deployment of the network.

Nelson

Using Open Source Software in First Nation Government Networks

This presentation will compare the strengths and weaknesses of building a network with free Open Source software instead of the proprietary Microsoft model. We will learn some of the lessons leaned in going this direction with direct experience in Yukon first nation networks. Real examples of networks include all the infrastructure running Linux including desktop applications. How it is done, what are the paybacks, does it save a lot of money, will my existing data be usable, what happens when we work with a network that isn't using Open Source, how hard was it to setup and what about all the expensive software we already own?. There are many challenges in keeping networks secure and protecting the privacy and intellectual property of the organization.

During this presentation we will share some of the end user experiences gained while transitioning to this exciting alternative. How best to harness the power of Open Office, working with stability and MySql databases. There will be knowledge about how to bridge between these two different systems, what works and what the future holds for open source networks. What exactly does free software mean? Understanding the licencing and business models that make this happen. In house user generated support models that reduces dependencies from third party contractors and create knowledge bases.

Comox

Staying the Course - Staying Alive:  : Fundamental Truths Frank and Kathy Brown

The idea for this book was inspired by Frank Brown‟s experience as an advisor to the Biodiversity BC Steering Committee during its preparation of the report Taking Nature’s Pulse: The Status of Biodiversityin British Columbia, published in 2008. After listening to scientists discuss the significance of various threats to biodiversity in BC, Frank wanted to establish a connection between the scientific assessment of biodiversity and the traditional knowledge and practices handed down through multiple generations among his own Heiltsuk people on the central coast. He felt that much of this traditional knowledge could be conveyed as core principles or fundamental truths that would complement current scientific knowledge. How can we use technology to support critical issues that are facing us?

Beach

Pacific

Gilford

This session is directed to those individuals who want to separate the theoretical business planning and the Federal model to the “on the ground and at the trapline” practical version that clearly defines a “Self Determination and Self Reliance model of proposal writing and budget development”

12:00 - 1:00