• Greg Smith and David Boult traveled to Waswanipi, Quebec in November to work with the Waswanipi Cree First Nation on a reform process for the Waswanipi Cree First Nation Government. Waswanipi is one of nine communities that make up the Cree Nation in Quebec, and one of four inland Cree communities. Consilium will help to develop a process and schedule for establishing a governance structure that reflects the current needs and issues within the community.

Waswanipi River

• November saw a return to old turf and friends for Patti Black, who traveled to Inuvik to train Inuvialuit and Gwich'in staff on the use of a comprehensive Aboriginal Programs and Services Database developed by Consilium to help manage the transfer of Federal and territorial programs to Aboriginal self governments.
   

• And yet another road trip for Greg- this time to Roberval, Quebec, to help facilitate a planning meeting for the Chief and Council of the Cree First Nation of Mistissini. The meeting addressed  organizational reform and strategic planning issues.
   

• Greg Smith co-facilitated a national workshop for Aboriginal Broadcasters from across Canada, organized by the Department of Canadian Heritage, to help support the current Whiteduck-Consilium evaluation of the Northern Native Broadcast Access and Northern Distribution Programs. As part of the preparation for the evaluation, Terry Rudden completed a study of the origins and nature of public and Aboriginal broadcasting in Canada, and an analysis of the regulatory and policy infrastructure that defines both Aboriginal and Public sector broadcasting in Canada.
  

• Fred Weihs traveled to Yellowknife in November for further meetings on management of the ongoing clean-up of abandoned DEW Line sites. Fred, Terry Rudden and Patti Black are working with NTI and regional Inuit stakeholders to develop a long-term training strategy to ensure that Inuit can maximize their employment on cleanup projects.
   

Manar Idris setting up the
Consilium Library

• The Never-Ending Story of Consilium's resource centre ......Consilium staff, under the capable direction of Office Manager Leslie Sutherland, have almost completed the cataloguing of nearly a decade's worth of research, policy, training and northern resources, and will very, Very, VERY soon have a user friendly, functioning library. Thanks to Manar Idris for her help cataloguing and labeling!
   

GOSSIP

• Terry Rudden returned from his annual dive pilgrimage looking tanned and relaxed. Terry and Valerie spent two weeks in Bonaire (where Terry passed his final certification tests for Dive Master), then a week in Curacao, a small, beautiful island of Dutch/Caribbean culture just off the coast of Venezuela. Highlight of the trip was a close encounter at thirty feet with a school of forty squid. Terry will never eat calamari again.

Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage, speaking to Yew Lee, Chow Quen Lee (Yew's mother) and Avvy Go (legal counsel).

• Yew Lee has been working for redress for Chinese Canadians who paid the infamous "head tax", or whose families were affected by the Chinese Exclusion Act. After 17,000 Chinese workers helped complete Canadian Pacific Railway, the Canadian government decided that Chinese immigrants were no longer wanted. They first imposed a "head tax" applicable to Chinese only, then passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which remained in effect until 1947. Yew's father, George Lee, came to Canada in 1913 and paid a $500 head tax. He was not allowed to become a citizen or vote until 1948. Because of the Exclusion Act, Mrs. Lee was separated from her husband for most of the first 20 years of their marriage.
  
  The link for a video clip of Yew Lee interviewed by CBC TV is: http://cbc.ca/clips/ram-lo/roumeliotis_chinese001218.ram. People interested in more history of Chinese immigration to Canada can visit http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/chinese/
  migrants2.html