scholarly journals Developing an e-Community Approach to Community Services in Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Whiteduck ◽  
Anita Tenasco ◽  
Susan O'Donnell ◽  
Tim Whiteduck ◽  
Emily Lockhart

Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation is a leader in community and social services. This rural First Nation – the largest Algonquin community in Canada - has since 1980 successfully supported community members to take ownership of service development and delivery. They have made many services and programs available to community members, including: an elementary and secondary school, a day-care, a community hall, a community radio, a health centre, a police department, a youth centre, and others. Their community services are led and staffed by fully trained and qualified community members. As computers, broadband internet and cellular services have become available in Kitigan Zibi, the service sectors have been integrating these technologies with a goal of improving services for and communications with community members. However they face many challenges in their efforts to remain innovative and plan for future delivery of services using technologies. Our study, based on qualitative analysis from interviews with 14 community services staff in Kitigan Zibi, will explore their current successes, challenges, and future potential for integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into services that promote community and social development. The analysis discusses the eCommunity approach advocated by the Assembly of First Nations.

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Connie Gray-McKay ◽  
Kerri L. Gibson ◽  
Susan O'Donnell ◽  
The People of Mishkeegogamang

Mishkeegogamang First Nation is a rural Ojibway community in Northwestern Ontario. Mishkeegogamang community members of all ages use a wide array of information and communication technologies (ICT) as tools in daily life, and as a means to support individual and community goals. This collaborative paper tells the story of how Mishkeegogamang uses ICT for community development, drawing on 17 interviews with community members, and several community member profiles. A basic descriptive quantitative analysis is also provided, giving information on frequency of use of a wide variety of technologies. Community informatics theory guides the interpretation of the findings. A broad range of ICT use by community members will be explored, including the Mishkeegogamang website, the busy yet invisible use of social networking sites, youth and ICT, ICT for health and education, and ICT to support traditional activities. Finally, a section on challenges and needs for facilitating ICT use is also provided. Mishkeegogamang has collaborated on a rich chronicle of its land and people in the Mishkeegogamang book: The Land, the People, and the Purpose (Heinrichs, Hiebert, & The People of Mishkeegogamang, 2009). This paper is conceptualised as a new chapter, documenting how community members use ICT in their daily lives and for community development. There have been no similar past explorations that have addressed this area. In addition, within the broader literature on First Nations in Canada, there have been few to no published accounts of community members’ perspectives and uses of ICT. This study is part of a broader collaborative research project called (First Nations Innovation), which explores how remote and rural First Nations are using information and communication technologies for community development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Koch ◽  
Jay Scherer

This article examines the articulation of a racialized moral panic surrounding Aboriginal gang violence and the community of Maskwacis, a collection of four First Nations in central Alberta, Canada formerly known as Hobbema. Our analysis is situated within the distinctive settler-colonial context through which Aboriginal gangs were mediated (Ginsburg 1991) by the mainstream commercial media as an issue of public concern in this particular Cree community and, indeed, throughout Western Canada. Drawing upon interviews with journalists, First Nation residents, and other community members in the region, our analysis focuses on two interrelated issues: 1) the “behind-the-scenes” production processes through which non-Aboriginal journalists condensed themes of race, crime, and youth to reproduce and amplify a powerful and punitive discourse that articulated Aboriginal gang violence with the broader community itself; and 2) the ways in which First Nations residents and community members—themselves the subjects of the media gaze—interpreted, internalized, and, at times actively manipulated this racialized discourse of crisis. 


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Kakekaspan ◽  
Susan O'Donnell ◽  
Brian Beaton ◽  
Brian Walmark ◽  
Kerri Gibson

Abstract: Fort Severn Washaho Cree Nation is a small, remote northern community on the Severn River near Hudson Bay in Ontario. The community services delivered in Fort Severn are managed and controlled by the local leadership, working in collaboration with their regional tribal council Keewaytinook Okimakanak and other strategic partners. The First Mile is both an emerging policy approach and a framework that supports holistic and community-centred broadband development and use by First Nations. First Mile focuses on community management and control of local broadband infrastructure and services. The paper discusses how Fort Severn First Nation is putting First Mile concepts into action.


2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Isogai ◽  
Daniel D. McCarthy ◽  
Holly L. Gardner ◽  
Jim D. Karagatzides ◽  
Skye Vandenberg ◽  
...  

Northern First Nations in Canada have experienced environmental change throughout history, adapting to these changes based on personal experience interacting with their environment. Community members of Fort Albany First Nation of northern Ontario, Canada, have voiced their concern that their youths’ connection to the land is diminishing, making this generation more vulnerable to environmental change. Community members previously identified the collaborative-geomatics informatics tool as potentially useful for fostering intergenerational knowledge transfer. In this article, we assess the potential of the informatics tool to reconnect youth with the surrounding land in order to strengthen the adaptive capacity of Fort Albany First Nation. The tool was introduced to students in an environmental-outreach camp that included traditional activities. Students used global positioning systems and geo-tagged photographs that were loaded onto the informatics tool. Semi-directed interviews revealed that the students enjoyed the visual and spatial capabilities of the system, and recognised its potential to be used in conjunction with traditional activities. This pilot study suggests that the tool has the potential to be used by youth to provide an opportunity for the intergenerational transfer of Indigenous knowledge, but further evaluation is required.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luna Vives ◽  
Vandna Sinha

First Nations children face systemic barriers in their access to health, education, and social services ordinarily available to other Canadian children. This article summarizes the findings of a research project initiated by, and carried out in partnership with, Pinaymootang First Nation, Manitoba between 2015 and 2017. Through this partnership, we were able to document the routine delays, denials, and disruptions of services that Pinaymootang children with special healthcare needs experienced. We further described the impact that this discrimination had on children and their caregivers. Here, we consider three specific service areas: medical services (primary and specialized), allied health services (e.g., language therapy), and additional care services (e.g., medication). Our findings are drawn from formal and informal interviews with Indigenous, provincial, and federal service providers; Indigenous leadership; and caregivers of Pinaymootang children with special healthcare needs. Based on this information, we argue that discrimination is pervasive, rooted in Canada’s colonial history, and actualized through three main instruments: administration of policies regulating the provision of services to First Nations populations living on reserve, chronic underfunding of services targeting this population, and geographic isolation (i.e., distance from a service hub). The article concludes with nine recommendations prepared by the project’s advisory committee for future policy aiming to eliminate the discrimination First Nations children with special healthcare needs experience by way of fully (and meaningfully) implementing Jordan’s Principle in Canada.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Devon MacKinnon-Ottertail

First Nation communities have been presented a stronger role in mining and forestry developments by recent court judgements on governments’ duty to consult. Negotiations with mining companies have often included employment for community members in any Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  When jobs are presented by mining companies, the forestry industry, and other employers, there is no current system for First Nation Administrators to determine if community members have the pre-requisite skills, experience and qualifications that the employer is looking for and this has led to missed opportunities.To act on these prospects, Eagle Lake First Nation (ELFN) developed a system for tracking any training offered by the Band and created a skills inventory for additional training and certifications that community members have completed either on-reserve or off-reserve. This paper will document the development of this system.Keywords: First Nations, employment, recruitment, human resources, skills, community skills inventory, Ontario, Canada.


Author(s):  
Heather Schmidt ◽  
Gayle Broad ◽  
Christine Sy ◽  
Rosalind Johnston

The history of the relationship between child welfare agencies in Canada and First Nations has been fraught with pain, and the removal of children from their families and communities is often described as an attempted cultural genocide. The realities of colonization, residential schools, and the “60s scoop” have created a legacy of pain and distrust which can be difficult for today’s Native child welfare services to address. Nog-da-win-da-min Family and Community Services (NFCS) is an Anishinaabe agency that decided to consult with its seven member communities in order to obtain their input about future service development, but, with this legacy, were unsure how to engage the communities in meaningful dialogue. As such, they partnered with a team of researchers at NORDIK Institute to design and carry out a communitybased consultation. This article explores the collaborative process of creating and tailoring a consultation method to be an empowering and positive experience for participants, to be conducted within safe and accessible spaces throughout the communities. This required a thoughtful process development, which respected participants’ knowledge and experiences (local knowledge), accommodated intergenerational trauma with sensitivity, and that employed Indigenous language and concepts (such as the Medicine Wheel) to guide the process. This article outlines some key learnings for others undertaking similar dialogues and consultations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. 367-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNIE BOOTH ◽  
NORM W. SKELTON

This article presents results from research into the perspectives on environmental assessments of Canadian indigenous peoples, in particular British Columbia's West Moberly First Nations, the Halfway River First Nation, and the Treaty 8 Tribal Association. This collaborative project interviewed First Nation government officials and staff as well as community members to determine their analyses of what worked and, more significantly, what did not work in engaging and consulting indigenous people. This research identified significant failings in Canadian and British Columbia environmental assessment processes, including substantive procedural failures, relational failures between First Nation, provincial and federal governments, and fundamental philosophical differences between assessment processes and indigenous worldviews. Based upon their review of environmental assessment failings, the collaborating First Nations recommend a fundamental revision of environmental assessment processes so as to protect into the future their Treaty and Aboriginal rights and to ensure their survival as distinct and viable cultures upon the land.


2021 ◽  
pp. 241-246
Author(s):  
Connie Paul

This chapter emphasizes nursing the environment and the family, including their pets, as Connie Paul's advice about nursing in an Indigenous community. It discusses Elder care, which involves consulting Indigenous elders directly, which means protecting their safety as they define it. It also analyzes the reason why consulting with elders in their homes, community, and their environment is important; which has to do with the trauma that many older people in First Nations communities are living with. The chapter cites the Snuneymuxw First Nation health centre that is making changes to the ways that healthcare is provided in order to take the trauma, as well as the existing knowledge of the community, into account. It discusses the provision of care to Indigenous and non-Indigenous clients that increases the circle of care and transforms knowledge to include the wealth of knowledge that resides within the community itself.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Elvira Junita ◽  
Yuli Handayani ◽  
Lufita Nur Alfiah

AbstrakPermasalahan kesehatan yang timbul saat ini merupakan akibat dari perilaku hidup yang tidak sehat. Gaya hidup yang kurang baik mengakibatkan tingginya angka kejadian Penyakit Tidak Menular, Di Desa Rambah Hilir kunjungan penderita hipertensi dan diabetes di Puskesmas Rambah Hilir I di tahun 2018 ini sampai bulan Juni 66 kasus Hipertensi 27 Kasus Diabetes. Gerakan Masyarakat Hidup Sehat (GERMAS) merupakan progam Pemerintah untuk mengajak masyarakat hidup sehat dengan focus pada 3 kegiatan utama yaitu melakukan aktifitas fisik, makan buah sayur dan cek kesehatan secara rutin minimal enam bulan sekali.Dalam Program Kemitraan Masyarakat ini upaya yang dilakukan adalah meningkatkan gaya hidup sehat yakni meningkatnya aktifitas fisik yang dilakukan dengan melaksanakan kegiatan rutin senam bersama setiap hari minggu dan meningkatkan konsumsi buah dan sayur dengan memanfaatkan lahan perkarangan rumah warga dengan menanam buah dan sayur dihalaman rumah untuk memenuhi kebutuhan konsumsi buah dan sayur. Upaya Peningkatan peran masyarakat dalam memeriksakan kesehatannya dengan mendirikan posko kesehatan untuk memudahkan masyarakat dalam memeriksa kesehatannya. Luaran yang telah dicapai adalah Adanya kegiatan senam rutin, meningkatnya konsumsi buah dan sayur dengan Adanya tanaman buah dan sayur disetiap rumah warga, makan buah dan sayur bersama setiap hari minggu, Adanya pemeriksaan kesehatan secara berkala.Abstract.Health problems that currently emergeare resulted from unhealthy living behaviours. A bad lifestyle causes an increase innon-communicable diseases cases. According to patient visit data until June 2018 at the community health centre (Puskesmas) Rambah Hilir I, Rambah Hilir Village, Rokan Hulu, Riau, it shows that there were 66 cases of hypertension and 27 cases of diabetes.The Healthy Life Society Movement (GERMAS) is a government program to encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle focusing on 3 main activities namely physical activities, eating vegetables, together with regular health check-upsat least once every 6 months. This community partnership program attempts to enhance the healthy lifestyle by intensifying physical activitiesthrough a routine collective exercise on every Sunday and increasing fruits and vegetables consumption. The community members’ yards are used as land to grow fruits and vegetables for meeting the community’s needs. Regarding the effort to improve the role of the community members to check their health, it was carried out by establishing a health post to facilitate them in checking-up their health. Outputs that have been achieved are the routine exercise; an increase in fruits and vegetables consumptionasthere are fruit and vegetable plants in every resident's houses; eating fruits and vegetables collectively on every Sunday; as well as regular health check-ups.


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