Join us in Celebrating National Organize Your Files Week (October 5-11)

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT CONSILIUM, AARLUK and ARDOS... 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.

NEW DIGS

Well, it happened, on schedule and on budget, and no lives, files, or tempers were lost. We bid a fond farewell to 346 Bronson, our home for the past three years.

As of September 23rd, the Ottawa offices of Consilium, Aarluk and ARDOS are now located at 488 Gladstone Avenue, between Kent and Lyon Streets. It's a bigger, newer building, with room for our growing staff, an expanded resource centre, better parking, and a spiffy new ground floor, handicapped-accessible boardroom. Our old home at 346 Bronson was turned over to a new owner as of September 30.

The move itself, a miracle of efficiency, was engineered and carried out with the precision of a shuttle launch by our crack team of move planners, headed by Leslie Sutherland, ably supported by the Move Committee (Greg Smith, Ron Ryan, Terrilynn Chiasson and Chris Grossett). The extensive renovations (new floors, new walls, new painting throughout) were supervised by Alex Peltier, Doctor of Renovationology.

You'll note we've posted "Before" and "During". The "After" pictures still look pretty "During"...but give us a week or so to celebrate National Organize Your Files Week and get ourselves unpacked and cleaned up, then drop by for a visit to check out the new digs.

NEW STAFF

We are delighted to welcome the newest member of the Consilium family to the fold. Mary Kritz is a training and adult education specialist, with a Masters degree in Adult Education, who has worked in Nunavut and across Canada on a wide variety of training projects.  After years of operating her own consulting firm, she decided to join forces with a larger team in order to get a little more variety in her work. Good decision; since starting with us four weeks ago, Mary has already visited three DEW Line Cleanup sites and delivered a management communications workshop for Arctic College. Welcome, Mary!

NEW PROJECTS

Consilium has begun work on evaluation of another pilot project for the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) of Health Canada. The new project is a three-month pilot of a National Native Addiction Information Management System (NNAIMS) application. This will provide on-line access to information and resources related to First Nations and Inuit addictions prevention and treatment for Treatment Centres, Case Workers and the public. The pilot will be tested in 17 First Nation communities. Project Manager Greg Smith, with assistance from Ryan Lotan and Fern Assinewe, will assess the results and provide information to assist the rollout of the application to additional communities.

Greg Smith, Ron Ryan and Carol Rowan are beginning a major strategic planning process with Avataq Cultural Institute. Avataq provides a range of cultural and linguistic services to Inuit in Nunavik (northern Quebec). This includes publications, elders' conferences, archaeology and genealogy, traditional techniques, research, documentation and archives as well as support for local museums. Over the next six months, the team will work with Avataq Board members, management and staff to develop strategies, options and plans for the next five years.

Aarluk has begun work on an evaluation of the Canada-Nunavut Cooperation Agreement for French and Inuktitut Languages in Nunavut. The evaluation of the Inuktitut component for the Department of Culture Languages Elders and Youth (CLEY) will incorporate background research, interviews and an Inuktitut language focus group. Greg Smith is project manager, assisted by Terry Forth, James Arreak and Helen Klengenberg. Professor Louis-Jacques Dorais is assisting with the literature review, which includes a look at Canadian and international programs and projects in support of indigenous languages.

Terry Forth, Patti Black and Ryan Lotan are already hard at work developing the first ever survey of companies registered on the Inuit Firm Registry. The purpose of the confidential survey is to give Atuqtuarvik Board and staff, as well as Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, some very important information about the plans that Inuit Firms in Nunavut are making with regard to business expansion and acquisitions.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Aarluk has begun delivering workshops for Arctic College and the Municipal Training Organization of Nunavut as part of a series of 19 workshops over the next year to municipal employees in 12 communities. This month Clive Tesar (weathered in Arctic Bay at press time) , Mary Kritz and Ron Ryan were in Nunavut to deliver workshops: future deliveries will include training from David Boult, Helen Klengenberg, Marla Limousin and James Forth.

 

Labour Market Development Partnerships - Part Pingasuk! Aarluk Consulting is reviewing facilities in six communities in the Kivalliq and Qikiqtaaluk Regions for the Government of Nunavut's Department of Education. In July Chris Grosset travelled to Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet and Arviat, then in September to Pannituq (Pangnirtung), Igloolik and Iqaluit. When completed, the project will identify public and private facilities that offer potential as sites for training in ten identified trades and occupations under the Labour Market Development Partnerships.

Work continues on the Kakivak Association review of programs and services review of client satisfaction, program policies and procedures, under the direction of Project Manager Fred Weihs. Earlier in the month Ron Ryan, Terry Forth and Terry Rudden developed a workshop for Community Liaison Officers, who will be working closely with the Aarluk team on the community surveys and focus group discussions. We are also pleased to welcome James Arreak to the Project Team: James will be acting as lead researcher/interviewer.

HAPPY ENDINGS

The second independent annual report of the Nunavut Implementation Training Committee was published this month. Copies are available directly from NITC (P.O. Box 469, Rankin Inlet, NU X0C 0G0), or online at NITC's website, www.nitc.ca. This report marks the first official collaboration of the Aurora Group, an alliance of three northern firms working together to provide quality communications services to Nunavut clients. It was written by David Boult and Terry Rudden of Aarluk, designed by Earthlore, and printed by Akhaliak, an Iqaluit-based printing and promotional products company.

Aarluk Consulting, Akhaliak Consulting Ltd. and LORD Cultural Resources have completed the Kivalliq Regional Visitor Centre study for the Government of Nunavut. The goal of the project was to determine the facility requirements of the proposed visitor centre, to be located in Rankin Inlet, and then develop an interpretive framework for future exhibits. Aarluk Consulting and Akhaliak undertook an extensive community consultation with the seven communities of the Kivalliq Region. The resulting interpretive framework identified the cultural and natural history, community stories, and tourism attractions that residents would like to include in regional and community displays. Aarluk also developed a catalogue of resource material relevant to the interpretive themes that will be used in the future design of exhibits and by visitor centre staff as a reference file.

David Boult travelled to Waskaganish to deliver a training workshop on financial management to staff of the Waskaganish Recreation Department at the end of September. This is the third training program in a series. Waskaganish is a Cree community on the Rupert River at James Bay.



GOSSIP

 

ARDOS Vice President Jennifer David is about to bring forth a new creation (no, not another baby, although she's doing that too.) This fall will see the publication by Nigwakwe Learning Press of "Storykeepers", a book by Jennifer profiling ten leading Canadian Aboriginal authors. By an extraordinary coincidence, the book was edited by Consilium's Terry Rudden. Autographed copies will be made available to loyal readers of this newsletter for a limited time. Here's a sneak preview of the cover.

 

 

Other events of note this month...ARDOS President Valerie Assinewe celebrates her birthday on October 22nd, along with one of her favorite actors, Jeff Goldblum.

Ryan Lotan, our resident pop culture and contemporary literature consultant, blows out the candles on October 15th, on the anniversary of the launch of the original I Love Lucy Show. Very fitting.

And don't forget to celebrate St. Crispin's Day on October 25th with a new pair of shoes.

TEN YEARS AGO

Ten years ago this month, Aarluk partner Helen Klengenberg and Paul Murphy were joined together in holy matrimony. Ten years, seven cruises and sixty one million air miles later, they celebrated their anniversary on October 1st.
All the best, you crazy kids, and many more.

 

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