WHAT’S HAPPENING AT CONSILIUM…In this corner of our site we’ll be posting notes on new people, new projects, and new online materials you may find interesting. Enjoy, and come back often.

MORE NEW PEOPLE! 

 

 

 

NEWLY COMPLETED 

    

  • Ed Weick and Patti Black coordinated and moderated the "NTI Roundtable" sessions of the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Cambridge Bay. The Symposium is an annual event attended by over 200 representatives of the mining industry, government, regulatory bodies and land claim organizations. The Roundtable was a lively session that brought together high profile panelists from both the Industry and Regulatory sectors to discuss the challenges of working within the land and resource regime in Nunavut. Key issues and next steps were identified in the Roundtable Report, to be circulated by NTI shortly.

  • Shannon Ward's Nearly All Grrrl team (including honorary grrrl Terry Rudden) has submitted a comprehensive report to the Beaufort Delta Self Government office, setting out a range of strategic options for transferring federal and territorial programs to the governments and organizations taking shape under the new self-government structure. Working with Consilium on this exciting project was Stephanie Fox.

  • Greg Smith has headed Consilium's participation in a two-year demonstration project to use videoconferencing for a variety of community development purposes in Igloolik. The other partners were the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Inullariit (Elder's) Society of Igloolik. The project was a great success, with hundreds of participants at both ends being linked for planning, education, meetings, and family reunions. Other sites connected to Igloolik through the project included Yellowknife, Washington, Quebec City and Oklahoma. Hopes are to continue using the technology to plan a local museum in Igloolik, and to encourage its spread to other northern locations.

NEW PROJECTS

  • Greg Smith will head a Consilium team evaluating the Aboriginal Languages Initiative, a national program funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage focused on language acquisition and retention in the home. Announced in 1998, the program has provided $20 million in funding over four years, and is delivered through the collaborative efforts of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada and the Métis National Council.

  • Consilium and McLeod Farley and Associates are assisting 11 communities in the Mushkegowuk region in the preparation of community and regional economic plans, and community and regional human resource plans. The project is a joint initiative of Wakenagun Community Futures Development Corporation and Muskegowuk Development Corporation and Muskegowuk Council Employment and Training Services.

From left:  Rich McLeod Farley, Patricia Black, Fred Weihs, Peter Dixon, Ron Ryan and John Rickard (Flo Frank not shown).

NEW GOSSIP!

  •  Mexico may be replacing Almonte as the Consilium vacation destination of choice. Terry and Valerie started the trend in '98 with a dive trip to Cozumel. Ron Ryan spent two sun-drenched weeks at Cancun in February: Greg and Marianne Smith just returned from ten days touring the Yucatan and relaxing in Playa Del Carmen, and Terry and Mehrun Forth, fresh from the Arctic Winter Games and Tooniq Tyme in Iqaluit, are travelling to Puerta Vallarta as this page goes to press...without laptops or cell phones.

  • In our excitement over one partner's 50th birthday, we forgot to mention the cornucopia of significant April birthdays: Marianne Smith also turned 50 on April 18; Leslie Sutherland and Greg Smith (both born on April 13th, a birthday they share with Catherine di Medici, Don Adams and Thomas Jefferson) and Ron Ryan (born on April 24th, along with Shirley MacLaine and Barbra Streisand). Trivia buffs will be pleased to know that Hank William Senior's song "Lovesick Blues" was topping the Billboard Country Charts the day Ron was born.
     

CHECK BACK EVERY MONTH FOR MORE CONSILIUM NEWS, TOOLS, AND GOSSIP.