• Ron and Carol Rowan have been working with ITK on a series of proposals to Health Canada to ensure that Inuit participate meaningfully in the national Early Childhood Development (ECD) Strategy.

• It may not win him an Oscar, but Terry Rudden recently returned to his theatrical roots to play the complex and challenging role of "The Adjudicator" in a video produced by Jennifer David for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. While his onscreen appearance lasted approximately six seconds, and involved no actual speaking, Terry feels that he brought a textured, nuanced subtlety to the part that discerning viewers will no doubt appreciate.

• Ron Ryan will facilitate a planning and review session for the Waswanipi Development Corporation (WDC) to follow up on previous strategic planning sessions. . The WDC was established to foster and promote economic development of the First Nation of Waswanipi, Quebec.
   

ONGOING PROJECTS

• More than 150 delegates have already registered for the 'Redefining Relationships' Land Claims conference in Ottawa, November 11-14, 2003. Co-chaired by Joe Kunuk and Richard Nerysoo, the conference features high-profile speakers including Pita Aatami, President of Makivik Corporation; Dr. Joseph Gosnell, President of the Nisga'a Lisims Government; Ed Schultz, Grand Chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations; and Tony Penikett, past Premier of the Yukon.  Follow the Redefining Relationships link at www.consilium.ca/alcc  for more information.

• The Board of the Nunavut Implementation Training Committee will be reviewing Consilium's recommendations for five-year strategic goals later this month. Check out the NITC website www.nitc.ca  for further details.

• Aarluk Consulting and Carol Rowan have just completed a comprehensive reference manual for the Board of Directors of Children Societies in the Baffin region of Nunavut. This manual was prepared for Community Programs, Nunatta Campus, Nunavut Arctic College in partnership with Kakivak Association as part of their childcare training program in the Baffin. Training will take place in seven communities over the next couple of months, using this manual has a reference.

• Greg Smith, Terry Rudden and Ryan Lotan are finalising arrangements for an audience survey for Nunavik’s Inuktitut language radio and television broadcaster Taqramiut Nipingat Inc. (TNI). The survey questionnaire is ready and in translation, and fieldworkers in all 14 Nunavik communities will be trained to interview a total of approximately 275 residents.

• Fred Weihs, Ryan Lotan and Patti Black are completing work on the first phase of development of an employment registry for Cree in the Mushkegowuk region of Ontario. The Registry will cover the various communities in the region, providing data for measuring the impact of major projects, for human resource and training planning, and for linking people in the communities looking for jobs with potential employers. Surveys, data entry and reporting have been completed in 3 communities in the initial phase of the project. The Registry project is being prepared under the direction of Mushkegowuk Council Employment and Training Services by Consilium and MacLeod Farley and Associates.

•  And more on the policy front....Consilium is completing policies and procedures manuals for the administration and operation sides of the Eeyou Economic Group (EEG), a community future group situated in Waswanipi, Quebec. EEC provides financial assistance and support to the nine communities along the James Bay of Quebec for economic development.
   

HAPPY ENDINGS

• Terry Rudden and Dan David designed and delivered a workshop on diversity management for the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC). The workshop will help the national television network achieve its goals for diversity, both on air and on staff.

• Greg Smith recently taped a video interview for the 20^th anniversary broadcast of the Inuvialuit Communications Society (ICS), which provides Inuvialuit language television and other media services. Greg was instrumental in helping to establish ICS in the early 1980’s and was the organization’s first Executive Director. He would like to use this space to send greetings to any old (or not so old) friends from the Western Arctic and to wish ICS many more years of continued success.

Bill Goose and Greg Smith...long, long ago...

• Ron, David Boult and Robert Higgins have been busy working with the Department of Economic Development of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in the development of discussion papers on National Aboriginal Resource Allocation Model (NARAM), Contribution Agreement Templates and the Urban issues in the renewal of the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy (AHRDS) II scheduled for April 1st, 2004.

GOSSIP

• When not charting the course for her new company, ARDOS President Valerie Assinewe likes to engage in other forms of steering. Here she is on a recent vacation in Tobermory, Ontario, at the helm of the popular dive wreck Niagara II. The wreck is nearly intact, as you can see: this picture was taken at a depth of about 70 '.
   

• Aarluk President Helen Klengenberg is moving from Rankin Inlet to Iqaluit, the Aarluk head office. Spouse Paul Murphy will be heading over in early October, followed by daughter Michelle and family. Bon Voyage, all!

• Fred Weihs, in a personal time warp of several decades, attended the Rolling Stones SARSStock concert in Toronto with his daughter Rosina and 500,000 other enthusiastic rock ‘n roll fans. While the Stones themselves were somewhat disappointing, AC/DC stole the show, followed in close second by a reborn Guess Who. A great time was had by all, even though one trip through the crowd back to the rest station (i.e. outhouse) took an hour and a quarter (two and a half hours round trip)
   

Vejlefjord Bridge

• Greg and Marianne Smith have just returned from a two week visit to friends and family in Switzerland (Marianne’s country of birth) and Denmark and Sweden, where Greg spent time living and working as a teenager and later as a graduate student. In Switzerland they joined 24 other family members to celebrate her mother’s 80^th birthday and in Denmark hoisted a couple of Tuborgs on the terrace of a hotel overlooking Vejle Fjord, where Greg was a mason’s helper during construction in the 1960’s.

Three noteworthy celebrations this month.

• Our latest arrival, Ryan Lotan, celebrates his birthday on October 15. Funny, he always reminded us strangely of both Friedrich Nietzsche and Richard Carpenter, both born that day.

• October 22nd marks Independence Day in Zambia...oh, yes, and Valerie Assinewe's birthday.

You guessed it....St. Crispin

• And finally...October 25th is St. Crispin's day, an official Consilium Holiday, sort of. Consilium's Ottawa offices are located in St. Crispin Towers, and we normally celebrate by buying new shoes on that day (St. Crispin being the patron saint of leatherworkers).