Our Featured Celebration

January is Hobby Month. Innocuous, right? Hah. Dig a little, and before you know it, you’re looking at a strange hobbyist underworld of people who play twin recorders with their nostrils, or make portraits of famous people out of toast, or collect airline –-- err--- airsickness bags. We did learn that the world’s fastest growing hobby in 2008 was Extreme Ironing (EI). The rules are simple: take an ironing board to a remote location and iron a few items of clothing. According to the official website, extreme ironing is "the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt." (Pictured below: Extreme Ironists at 110 ft. below the Red Sea, crossing the Wolfberg Cracks in South Africa, and at the Khumbu Icefall on Mount Everest.)

NEW BEGINNINGS

Aarluk has begun work on an Options Paper for the $5.6 million Inuit Fund portion of the pan-Nunavut Conservation Areas Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement (IIBA). Conservation areas are protected lands within the three regions of Nunavut: they include National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries. The Project Team, consisting of Fred Weihs, Terry Forth, Chris Grosset, James Forth, Cindy Rennie, and Geoff Rigby, will work closely with Implementation Officers in the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, the Kivalliq Inuit Association, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI). The Options Paper will ultimately help determine ways the Fund is to be used and disbursed.

Aarluk will also conduct an independent evaluation of the IIBA for Auyuittuq, Quttinirpaaq and Sirmilik National Parks. The IIBA for the three National Parks was signed by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and the Government of Canada on August 12, 1999. It provides for the cooperative management of the three national parks and defines the roles and responsibilities of the parties and other organizations and committees. The evaluation and reporting on the IIBA will be done by Greg Smith, Terry Forth, Chris Grosset, Helen Klengenberg, Christian “Clootch” Cloutier and Malachi Arreak.

The Nunavut Implementation Training Committee (NITC) was created in 1993 to help ensure, through training, that Inuit received their fair share of jobs to be created under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA). This year NITC celebrates its fifteenth year of service, and Aarluk, under the direction of Terry Rudden, will be conducting an evaluation of their programs and organizations, ably assisted by the Clootch himself. (Pictured right: NITC has funded hundreds of training events over the last fifteen years, such as the Wildlife Secretariat workshop held in Ranking Inlet earlier this year.)

Consilium’s Greg Smith recently assisted Tungasuvvingat Inuit (TI) to prepare a funding proposal for a Victim Support Worker position and for a safe and supportive housing project. The project will involve renovations to a building owned by TI to a twelve-bed residence.

ONGOING PROJECTS

The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) is a leader in Canadian broadcasting – an award-winning pioneer in native language television for Aboriginal people, a key force in lobbying for legislative and program recognition for the sector, and a tireless promoter of Inuit culture, art and language. So it may surprise you to learn that they’ve achieved all this from an Iqaluit network headquarters that was patched together out of abandoned pieces of post-war warehousing, a “production centre” that has been condemned as a hazard to health and safety. Aarluk’s Chris Grosset and Terry Rudden are working with IBC on a funding strategy to support the creation of a northern media arts centre, a new home for one of Canada’s unjustly neglected success stories. Stay (as they say in television) tuned.

Last month Consilium, in partnership with Gartner Lee Limited and Northways Consulting, submitted an Interim Report on a Training Strategy to the GNWT’s Department of the Environment and Natural Resources which establishes directions for a Training Strategy focusing mainly occupational health and safety-related competencies and competencies required by officers who hold appointments under territorial and federal legislation. Alex Ker has been working with Bob Wooley of Gartner Lee and Allan Twissell of Northways on this project.

Aarluk continues its evaluation of the Gas Tax and Public Transit Fund programs in Nunavut. The draft report, which assesses outcomes and effectiveness of the GTF and PTF programs as well as contributions to municipal capacity building, was presented by Alex Ker to the Nunavut Community Infrastructure Advisory Committee (NCIAC) December 2nd in Iqaluit, and to officials of the Government of Nunavut and Infrastructure Canada on December 4th in Ottawa.

Despite the severe downturn in Ontario’s mining sector, Sagamok Anishnawbek, supported by Consilium project team Alex Ker and Fred Weihs, continues to work towards the conclusion of impact and benefits agreements (IBAs) with Vale Inco and Ursa Major Minerals. Ursa recently placed its Shakespeare site in a state of temporary suspension until commodity prices recover, while Vale continues construction and development of its Totten Mine. As part of its minerals initiative, Sagamok has in the past year completed a business strategy and human resource plan for the mineral sector, in addition to the ongoing negotiation of IBAs and MOUs with industry representatives. Sagamok recently tabled its Position Paper on Mining and Reform of the Ontario Mining Act with the Government of Ontario, one of the few First Nations in Ontario to do so.

Data collection for Stonecircle’s Process and Impact Evaluation of the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) is virtually complete. The Project Team (Greg Smith, Jennifer David, Patty Saulis and David Boult) will be moving on to analysis and report drafting over the next few weeks.

HAPPY ENDINGS

Aarluk completed work on a business plan for a fishing and cultural tourism lodge near Chantrey Inlet, Nunavut, for the Hamlet and HTO of Gjoa Haven. The project included several dedicated members of the community, including Sarah Kammimalik and Joseph Aglukkaq, and Aarluk’s project team of Chris Grosset, Fred Weihs, Geoff Rigby, Christian Cloutier, Marla Limousin, and George Ehrler.

The final report on the Summative Evaluation of the Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreement holders (AHRDAs) along with a separate evaluation report on the Kativik Regional Government (KRG) AHRDA, have been submitted to HRSDC by Stonecircle Project Manager Greg Smith, and our partner TNS Canadian Facts. Greg and TNS Project Manager Keith Vodden will present the findings to a national evaluation steering committee in the next couple of months. HRSD/Service Canada provides funding to 79 AHRDAs across the country to support Aboriginal skills development, employment programs and child care.

With a bus strike and a major snowstorm, the middle of December broke records for snarling traffic in the Ottawa region affecting attendance at Stonecircle events. The Land Claims Agreements Coalition (LCAC) held a reception on December 11 where LCAC members met with academics and Government representatives. Those who managed to make it were also treated to a performance by local Aboriginal comedian Craig Lauzon (pictured right). Held in the panoramic top floor room of a downtown Ottawa hotel, guests had the best view of the massive traffic gridlock!

While the bus strike and weather put a damper on attendance, the book launch for Martha Toka Peet's Pocket Inuktitut on December 12, organized by Jennifer David, was still a wonderful event. The author shared how she decided which dialect and version of words to use, and who she called when she was stuck on a particular word or phrase. With elk and arctic char as appetizers, and a cozy location at Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeebar, both the author and publisher Patricia Ningewance were able to promote and sell their new book. Copies are still available at the Collected Works at 1242 Wellington Street West (near Holland) in Ottawa.

          

The 2008 Inuit Firm Registry Survey final report has been provided to Atuqtuarvik Corporation. The survey of 234 Inuit firms was conducted in the spring and summer of 2008 by Aarluk, and updates information since the last Inuit Firm Registry Survey by Aarluk in 2004-05. Clootch did the heavy lifting on the data analysis and presentation, with the assistance of data entry specialist, Geoff Rigby and Project Manager Greg Smith.

Armed with their trusty tradeshow display and Stonecircle paraphernalia, Jennifer David and Patty Saulis spent a busy three days marketing Stonecircle at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa. Stonecircle also held a draw for a much-sought-after Stonecircle Golf Shirt won by Chief Keith Knott from Curve Lake First Nation, Ontario.

GOSSIP

CCG friends and family who braved the snowstorm and a bus strike (are you noticing a distinctly meteorological leitmotif to this newsletter?) to attend the Consilium Consulting Group’s not-quite-annual Christmas Open House and Stonecircle’s Official Launch Party were rewarded with excellent food catered by Jennifer Sinclair’s Better than Grandma's Bannock, delicious wine ordered especially for the occasion from Woodstock First Nation in New Brunswick, and great entertainment provided by Matthew Courchene and Wayne Restoule of Weaselhead (pictured left to right). Stonecircle also held a draw for a Brad Henry painting, won by Marcia Krawll of ArrowMight Canada Ltd. A wonderful time was had by all, and a warm “thank you” to all who attended!

 

This month’s Birthday honours go to the CCG’s lone January baby, Aarluk’s Chris Grosset. On January 22nd, Grosset will reach a milestone year that is somewhat sensitive to some people, so we will refrain from mentioning his age. Suffice to say that he will be 280 in dog years.

 

 

Stonecircle sponsored a table at the annual AFN Christmas party, where the longest stretch Jennifer David actually sat (as opposed to meeting, greeting, and handshaking) was seven minutes, as timed by Terry Rudden. Ron Ryan and Chuck Gilhuly had to be cajoled onto the dance floor by various other Consiliumites, while Chris “Astaire” Grosset needed no coaxing. (Pictured right: Jennifer David and Patty Saulis.)

To help get into the Christmas spirit, Stonecircle organized an in-house toy drive for Miinwashshin Lodge Women’s Shelter. The toy drive was successful and was accompanied with a bonus donation of $40.

 

On behalf of Building Environmental Aboriginal Human Resources (BEAHR), Stonecircle is selling Aboriginal EnviroCareers calendars which contain unique artwork that creatively explore a variety of environmental careers. For $15.00, you can help raise funds for the Aboriginal Youth Scholarship Fund. Please contact Patty Saulis for more information: psaulis@stone-circle.ca.

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO

I Was a Teenage Son of “The Consilium Saga Continues”, Part Trois: January 1994. The newly formed team of Weihs, Smith, Ryan, Rudden et al. complete a first summary of findings for their first project, a study of training needs associated with the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and Inuit Employment. Fred comments at the end of an exhausting team meeting that “this might actually need two volumes.” The final edition of the study, published several months later, was in fact seven volumes long. At this point, the un-named consortium had been working together for half a year, no-one hated each other yet, and their work was beginning to attract attention. In late January, we began to contemplate moving from dating to going steady.

THE QUIZ

Fax or email your responses to Charles Foster Clootch, 613-237-3845, or by email to cloutier@consilium.ca.

CHECK BACK EVERY MONTH FOR MORE CONSILIUM, STONECIRCLE AND AARLUK NEWS,

TOOLS, AND GOSSIP.