Our Featured Celebration

In an effort to wrest the “Weird European Celebration” away from the Wife-Carrying Finns - on the Saturday before the fourth Sunday in August, the citizens of Ath in the province of Hainaut, Belgium, celebrate “Les Vepres De Gouyasse”, the Wedding of the Giants. Most Belgian towns have their own local giants, paraded through the streets on special occasions during the year. But the giants of Ath, representing different local guilds, are among the oldest (dating back to 1461) and the biggest (more than twenty-feet high). Goliath, the town's patron and protector, lumbers to the Church of Saint Julien with Madame Goliath, accompanied by several other giants.  Following the nuptials, the procession proceeds to the Gran' Place where the battle of David and Goliath is enacted. The play ends with this classic line spoken by Goliath, eerily evocative of Monty Python: “Je n'sus nieu co mort!”, or, loosely translated, “I’m not quite dead yet!"

NEW ARRIVALS

A big Consilium welcome to Olive, an eight-week old Labradoodle, who has just recently taken over management of the Grosset-Skrobecki household. Given her roots in Labrador, one of our favourite regions of Canada, we thought it appropriate to adopt her as the Official Mascot of the Consilium Corporate Group. Health alert – gazing at this photo for longer than twenty seconds can result in a serious Cute Overload.

NEW BEGINNINGS

Stonecircle will be working with the Chiefs of Ontario to develop a report and database regarding health promotion on all First Nations in Ontario. Welcome back, Wanda Brascoupe-Peters, who’ll be working with us on this project.

Aarluk has been hired by the Government of Nunavut Department of Community and Government Services (CGS) to conduct a Contractor Satisfaction Survey. The survey of contractors who have completed projects with CGS in the past three years will examine their experience with the Department, and identify areas for improvement. The questionnaires, in Inuktitut and English, went out to contractors in July and the report on findings will be delivered late in August. Aarluk team members include Greg Smith (Project Manager), Christian Cloutier, Geoff Rigby and Cindy Rennie.

Scientists around the world are working with indigenous communities, investigating traditional uses of plants as important leads for researchers. Stonecircle’s Dr. Valerie Assinewe will be facilitating an August retreat in Montreal, involving elders and healers from northern Cree communities and scientists from the Canadian Institute of Health Research. The topic will be medicinal plants and traditional medicine used to treat diabetes.

ONGOING PROJECTS

It took James Joyce seventeen years to write Finnegans Wake, and nearly that long to complete Jennifer David’s celebratory book of Aboriginal artists for the Canada Council for the Arts. But the end is in sight! Jennifer is writing photo captions and providing final input into the design, and the entire publishing industry is abuzz with word that the publication is going to print in September – just in time for Christmas and that awkward friend you didn’t what to buy for.

 

Stonecircle’s organization of the November National Aboriginal Health Conference continues. A sponsorship campaign is underway and a draft conference communication plan is being reviewed. Registration opens September 1. For more information on the conference, go to www.naho.ca/conference.

 

Aarluk continues to provide support to the Nunavut Community Wellness Project (NCWP) funded through Health Canada’s Aboriginal Health Transition Fund (AHTF). The NCWP is piloting projects in six Nunavut communities, working with local committees and hiring local coordinators to carry out various wellness related activities. The Aarluk team is providing ongoing evaluation planning and advice, and will provide interim and final evaluation reports to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) and the project steering committee over the next year. Aarluk project team members are Greg Smith and Alex Ker.

 

The Nunavut Community Infrastructure Advisory Committee has asked Aarluk to help prepare integrated community infrastructure plans for twenty four communities in the territory. The plans follow the principles of sustainable development, and integrate infrastructure that supports each community’s economic, social, cultural and environmental priorities. The Aarluk team includes Chris Grosset, Terry Rudden, Fred Weihs and Alex Ker, each of whom is leading a structured team to manage research, communications, administration and consultations.

HAPPY ENDINGS

The National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) has presented its evaluation report to Health Canada. The report contains findings from evaluation research conducted by Stonecircle, including team members Greg Smith (Project Manager), Jennifer David, Patty Saulis, David Boult and Terry Rudden. The process and impact evaluation examined NAHO’s most recent five-year mandate. The overall NAHO report also included survey results from another consultant.

Ron Ryan facilitated a strategic planning session for the Urban Aboriginal Strategy Ottawa Steering Committee, ably assisted by Stonecircle summer student Alyssa Whiteduck. Stonecircle just delivered a summary proceedings report and is also preparing a Draft Community Plan for review by the Committee.

Stonecircle submitted a final draft of an environmental scan for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health entitled "Aboriginal Addiction Treatment and Aboriginal Mental Health Services in Ontario: An Environmental Scan.”

Aarluk’s Chris Grosset and David Boult prepared Community Tourism Assessments for Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq as part of the Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement-in-Principle for National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries in the Nunavut Settlement Area. The “Conservation Areas Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement” or CAIIBA contains provisions for the development of sustainable tourism activities in Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq, related to the Wildlife Areas near each community. The reports were prepared on behalf of the communities for NTI and QIA.

BIRTHDAYS

Our August Birthday Boys are Finance Wizard Lei Han (August 16th, National Watermelon Day) and Everything Else Wizard Fred Weihs (August 9th, the 21st anniversary of the anniversary of Wayne Gretzky’s tragic trade from Edmonton to LA).

GOSSIP

Ah, vacation time. Yes, summer is the time to step back, re-energize, get away from the day to day. Take Fred for instance. Over the last month Fred took holidays – except for the meetings he came in for or organized and the emails he sent and received. Or Chuck, who was in pretty much daily contact through the miracle of his BlackBerry. Or Leslie, who booked several days off and then suddenly popped-up on MSN because she was doing “just a few little things.”

For such smart people, you’d think they’d be a bit clearer on the notion of a “holiday”, don’t you? Obviously not. So we all chipped in and bought them each a copy of this valuable new publication.

 

Terry Forth, on the other hand, knows how to have a terrific holiday unencumbered by work. The trick is planning an activity so interesting and absorbing that you don’t really have the inclination to think about work at all. Terry did just that: went and had knee replacement surgery, from which he is recovering astonishingly quickly – up and about just a week after surgery, and healing nicely. We had originally intended to provide photos of the operation, but decided against it in favour of this tasteful illustration. However, the entire procedure was videotaped and is available on YouTube.

 

Okay, but seriously, some people actually DO know how to holiday. Scott and Patti Black just returned from two glorious weeks cycling in France, sans enfants (who were staying with Grandma). They spent two days falling in love with Paris, and the rest of the vacation cycling through the medieval towns and countryside of the Dordogne region, near Beynac and Sarlat. Contrary to popular belief, the locals were actually quite friendly and fun-loving. We think it must be related to the fantastic climate, beautiful hillside towns, magret de canard, foie gras and plethora of excellent St. Emilion red wines. (Above, left to right: home base, the small village of Le Pech: Patti with Scott “Lance” Black; the castle of Beynac, the view from their front lawn.)

Last month we invited readers to contribute their suggestions for categories in the 2009 Crispies, the Annual Awards Party and Banquet held by Consilium, Stonecircle, and Aarluk. The Crispies are awarded annually for outstanding corporate achievement for things like having the most telephone numbers or the largest number of lunches decomposing in the second floor fridge.

The Winner is Constant Reader BM, who will receive free, gratis and without obligation, an attractive and stylish Stonecircle bag, perfect for – umm – carrying stuff in.

BM’s Proposed Category: Consiliumite Most Likely To Send You an Email Before 6:00 A.M. on a Sunday Morning.

Be watching next month for the electrifying results.

 

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