As stated in the previous posting on this blogsite, the Youth of MCCN are our most valuable resource. And a quality education is the key to their future. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the 2010 Graduates. This past weekend, I had the privilage of attending the University of Manitoba and University of Winnipeg Graduate Pow Wow and witnessed many Aboriginal students receive their diplomas/degrees. I was very proud to see some of Pukatawagan's very own crossing that stage to receive their degrees. It took years of hard work and dedication but they were successful and their hard work paid off. Once again, CONGRADULATIONS! We are very proud of you!
For the students that prefer to stay close to Pukatawagan, the University College of the North (UCN) has designated the MCCN campus a regional centre. By having this designation, we are able to access 1.4 million dollars that will allow us to build a state of the art post secondary facility that will provide a University education to our youth. Currently, UCN has a Business Administration course running that has 15 students enrolled. These students will complete the program in 2 years and if they choose, they can continue into a Bachelor of Business Administration with two years already completed. Once again, the benefits to the Community are numerous; the opportunity for the students to study at home rather then travelling and living away, the jobs created to complete the project, and any other economic spin-offs.
As a University student myself, I can attest to the opportunities that are opened once you have an education. The experiences gained and the rewards of education are worth the effort that is put forth. Our communities need our Youth to become educated. You will lead us in the future and in order to be a prosperous nation, we need everyone to work hard and to put forth their greatest effort. Our grandfathers worked very hard to survive the day to day struggles, and fortunately, surviving is no longer such a struggle, however, we still have to work hard every day. Continuing education is one of those areas that is worth the few years of struggling as a student because it will pay off in the long run.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Our Youth = Our Future
The Youth of MCCN are our most valuable resource and education is the key to their future. Education is the largest item in our Budget - as it should be. We are proud of Sakastew School. It has enabled us to take control of the education of our children to ensure that they are equipped to handle the challenges of the future, while retaining the cultural heritage that is a large part of their identity as Cree people. Therefore, it came as a surprise to find out that we are failing.
A review of Sakastew School revealed some shocking statistics: There is a 53% absenteeism rate and a 12% graduation rate. This is simply unacceptable. More than half of the kids who are supposed to be at school are not there!
We directed the administration to sit down and take a serious look at this review and then we designed some long and short term measures to improve the quality of education, the attendance and ultimately the graduation rates and the success of our youth.
The work is ongoing, but some of the short term measures were a school lunch program and an educational exchange trip to China. The lunch program was entirely funded by Chief and Council and follows the principle that once the students make it to school in the morning we have to keep them there all day. If they leave school grounds for lunch, many do not make it back for the afternoon session. In addition, this was putting a huge strain on our buses having to do an extra series of lunch time runs. Now that the children are staying for lunch, they have a nutritious meal that will get them through the rest of the day and there is also extra time for intramural sports, further contributing to their health and wellbeing.
In addition to focusing on the school, I also felt that more emphasis was needed on the Youth Center and its programming. Last summer, four full time positions were funded at the Youth Center to provide enhanced summer programming and to organize last years summer games. Throughout the school year, two full time staff were kept at the center to provide programs and activities as an after school and weekend initiative. This upcoming summer will see a further extension of this service as we prepare to celebrate our 100th Birthday.
Children need to be guided, to be molded, to be shown the proper way of doing things. They need to be kept busy to allow their brains to grow and florish. As adults and parents we are ultimately responsible for this but as a community we need to ensure that the proper mechanisms are in place for this to happen. With strong social programs come strong young minds. We need to do everything we can to ensure that the youth of today become the strong leaders of tommorrow.
A review of Sakastew School revealed some shocking statistics: There is a 53% absenteeism rate and a 12% graduation rate. This is simply unacceptable. More than half of the kids who are supposed to be at school are not there!
We directed the administration to sit down and take a serious look at this review and then we designed some long and short term measures to improve the quality of education, the attendance and ultimately the graduation rates and the success of our youth.
The work is ongoing, but some of the short term measures were a school lunch program and an educational exchange trip to China. The lunch program was entirely funded by Chief and Council and follows the principle that once the students make it to school in the morning we have to keep them there all day. If they leave school grounds for lunch, many do not make it back for the afternoon session. In addition, this was putting a huge strain on our buses having to do an extra series of lunch time runs. Now that the children are staying for lunch, they have a nutritious meal that will get them through the rest of the day and there is also extra time for intramural sports, further contributing to their health and wellbeing.
In addition to focusing on the school, I also felt that more emphasis was needed on the Youth Center and its programming. Last summer, four full time positions were funded at the Youth Center to provide enhanced summer programming and to organize last years summer games. Throughout the school year, two full time staff were kept at the center to provide programs and activities as an after school and weekend initiative. This upcoming summer will see a further extension of this service as we prepare to celebrate our 100th Birthday.
Children need to be guided, to be molded, to be shown the proper way of doing things. They need to be kept busy to allow their brains to grow and florish. As adults and parents we are ultimately responsible for this but as a community we need to ensure that the proper mechanisms are in place for this to happen. With strong social programs come strong young minds. We need to do everything we can to ensure that the youth of today become the strong leaders of tommorrow.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Child and Family Services
After taking office in 2008, we realized very early that the current state of Child and Family was wholly inadequate to serve the needs of the community. In the Fall of 2008 a full Review of CFS was completed and indicated that a new direction was needed for the organization. Chief and Council indicated that this "new" direction must entail making the organization more reflective of the cultural needs or the community. With this in mind, CFS decided to use Puk as a pilot project.
As we announced at the Annual General Assembly, CFS will build a new facility to house the agency's office and financial instuitions. There are also plans for the creation of a possible 26 permanent positions. Negotiations are underway and we are expected to start construction this Spring.
It has long been our traditions that it takes an entire community to raise a child. We need to get back to these roots. To teach Children to respect adults and to teach all adults to respect these children. Children are a gift and we need to treat them in a respectful, loving way so that we ensure our children are successful in their futures. Only then will they know how to treat children of their own and once that is established, our nation will grow to realize the full strength of it's potential.
Far to many years have passed where our Cree children were removed from their families and detached from their communities and their culture. This has been the root cause of our current state of affairs and our social situations, however, if we work together to build a stronger child caring agency we can reestablish the strength of our families and ultimately, the strength of our communities. The government had a very specific goal when they initiated these previous policies and we will not let them win.
As we announced at the Annual General Assembly, CFS will build a new facility to house the agency's office and financial instuitions. There are also plans for the creation of a possible 26 permanent positions. Negotiations are underway and we are expected to start construction this Spring.
It has long been our traditions that it takes an entire community to raise a child. We need to get back to these roots. To teach Children to respect adults and to teach all adults to respect these children. Children are a gift and we need to treat them in a respectful, loving way so that we ensure our children are successful in their futures. Only then will they know how to treat children of their own and once that is established, our nation will grow to realize the full strength of it's potential.
Far to many years have passed where our Cree children were removed from their families and detached from their communities and their culture. This has been the root cause of our current state of affairs and our social situations, however, if we work together to build a stronger child caring agency we can reestablish the strength of our families and ultimately, the strength of our communities. The government had a very specific goal when they initiated these previous policies and we will not let them win.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Largest Diesel Land Spill occurred at Pukatawagan
Everyone in Puk knows the challenges that we have faced in the past 20 years with dealing with our contaminated Soil. In the 50's, MB Hydro brought in a diesel generator to power the Indian Agents house, the old church, the nursing station and the old school. It was later transferred over to Indian Affairs. For unknown reasons, whether it was improperly installed or because of aging, the diesel began leaking out and it has been estimated that approximately 500,000 gallons of diesel was spilt over a period of 30 years! We have been looking at the volume of diesel that leaked out of MB Hydro's Generator Station and we believe that this diesel spill is the largest spill ever that has occurred on land. This diesel saturated the soil down to the bedrock and then began spreading out, contaminating larger and larger areas of land. Because there was so much difficulty in getting one of the two agencies, either MB Hydro or Indian affairs, to accept responsibility there was a longer and longer delay in cleaning up the affected area and the contamination continued to spread while we were trying to get them to hurry and clean it up.
In the early 90's, Missinnippi Construction, our local construction company, began cleaning out the old soil and we continue to do so today. This is done by digging it out and transporting it in dump trucks up to the drying location. Here the old soil is laid flat to allowed to air dry. Once a site is deemed to be free from contamination by a series of techniques, the large hole is then filled in with new clean soil from another location.
This has been going on for the past 22 years! In the process, all buildings that were once on top of that land have been demolished to make way for the clean up. As it was located in the heart of the community, we lost the Community Complex (Band Office, community hall, grocery store and hotel), a large number of houses around the sites, various office buildings and a number of small businesses.
As the buildings were demolished so was the community spirit. We took pride in having a state of the art Facility which provided a gathering place for all our community events. We took pride in giving tours of the large number of structures that sat at the heart of our home and provided for our economic initiatives.
The final cleanup is nearing completion and negotiations are under way with the federal government for replacing the capital buildings that were lost. Once we are successful, the results would benefit the community in so many ways. Obviously, a new state of the art facility to replace the one lost would provide a structure for our band offices, community offices and hotel. It would provide a community hall to allow for members to come and gather for community events and our public meetings. It would provide a central location for all people to come together and interact on a daily basis. This would strengthen our community, strengthen our people and strengthen our future.
In the early 90's, Missinnippi Construction, our local construction company, began cleaning out the old soil and we continue to do so today. This is done by digging it out and transporting it in dump trucks up to the drying location. Here the old soil is laid flat to allowed to air dry. Once a site is deemed to be free from contamination by a series of techniques, the large hole is then filled in with new clean soil from another location.
This has been going on for the past 22 years! In the process, all buildings that were once on top of that land have been demolished to make way for the clean up. As it was located in the heart of the community, we lost the Community Complex (Band Office, community hall, grocery store and hotel), a large number of houses around the sites, various office buildings and a number of small businesses.
As the buildings were demolished so was the community spirit. We took pride in having a state of the art Facility which provided a gathering place for all our community events. We took pride in giving tours of the large number of structures that sat at the heart of our home and provided for our economic initiatives.
The final cleanup is nearing completion and negotiations are under way with the federal government for replacing the capital buildings that were lost. Once we are successful, the results would benefit the community in so many ways. Obviously, a new state of the art facility to replace the one lost would provide a structure for our band offices, community offices and hotel. It would provide a community hall to allow for members to come and gather for community events and our public meetings. It would provide a central location for all people to come together and interact on a daily basis. This would strengthen our community, strengthen our people and strengthen our future.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The Silver Bullet
Our Rail line, better known as the Silver Bullet, transports people and products from Pukatawagan to The Pas year round. Efforts are being made to upgrade the track in order to shorten the time it takes to travel or transport goods to Puk.
In 2009, we established Power to Mile 99, which eliminated the need to the generator station. This has been an environmental concern for the leadership for many years and we thought that in this day and age, a cleaner source of power should be used to power the train station and the bunk house for the employees. We have had our share of diesel spills and we want to make sure that these generators were replaced.
A new Ramp is also being built and the new train station is almost complete. The majority of this work was funded by the Keewatin Stimulus Package worth 5.2 million dollars. During a ceremony on the tracks in front of our new locomotive, I accepted the funding from the Honorable Terry Stratton. Of the 5.2 million in funding, 1.1 is from the Federal Capital funding and 4.1 million was made available under the Economic Action Plan and was applied for and negotiated by the dedicated employees at Keewatin Rail Company (KRC).
The projects funded under this new monies will include track rehabilitation, a new locomotive and other rail equipment, the construction of a new repair facility in The Pas as well as a new Waiting Station in Pukatawagan. All remaining monies will go to replace railway ties and culverts.
All of this activity means increased employment, improved efficiency and higher levels of comfort and service for the people of Pukatawagan and the businesses at MCCN.
In the past, the railway has been seen as a vehicle for bringing in goods and services into our community. In the future, under my leadership, the railway will be seen as a vehicle to transports goods and products out of our community and to the rest of the world.
In 2009, we established Power to Mile 99, which eliminated the need to the generator station. This has been an environmental concern for the leadership for many years and we thought that in this day and age, a cleaner source of power should be used to power the train station and the bunk house for the employees. We have had our share of diesel spills and we want to make sure that these generators were replaced.
A new Ramp is also being built and the new train station is almost complete. The majority of this work was funded by the Keewatin Stimulus Package worth 5.2 million dollars. During a ceremony on the tracks in front of our new locomotive, I accepted the funding from the Honorable Terry Stratton. Of the 5.2 million in funding, 1.1 is from the Federal Capital funding and 4.1 million was made available under the Economic Action Plan and was applied for and negotiated by the dedicated employees at Keewatin Rail Company (KRC).
The projects funded under this new monies will include track rehabilitation, a new locomotive and other rail equipment, the construction of a new repair facility in The Pas as well as a new Waiting Station in Pukatawagan. All remaining monies will go to replace railway ties and culverts.
All of this activity means increased employment, improved efficiency and higher levels of comfort and service for the people of Pukatawagan and the businesses at MCCN.
In the past, the railway has been seen as a vehicle for bringing in goods and services into our community. In the future, under my leadership, the railway will be seen as a vehicle to transports goods and products out of our community and to the rest of the world.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Community Sawmill
The Sawmill initiative was started a number of years ago but it was stalled because of a lack of financial support. The current C&C decided to make the project a priority and committed funds to improve the infrastructure and purchasing of new equipment. This leadership felt that this project, if developed properly, would create a value added product for export- log homes- and produce housing grade lumber for new housing. The other benefit was that it would create local employment.
There is a definite market for the homes that will be produced here at MCCN. They are stylish, durable and affordable and they utilize our abundant natural resources to produce something of value for the Community and eventual purchasers.
The Sawmill will also allow the community to stretch the Housing dollars and build even more homes for community members. If the estimated wood component of a house is forty percent (40%) of the value of the house, the sawmill will allow the community to build 40% more houses without any additional funding.
There is a definite market for the homes that will be produced here at MCCN. They are stylish, durable and affordable and they utilize our abundant natural resources to produce something of value for the Community and eventual purchasers.
The Sawmill will also allow the community to stretch the Housing dollars and build even more homes for community members. If the estimated wood component of a house is forty percent (40%) of the value of the house, the sawmill will allow the community to build 40% more houses without any additional funding.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Housing Crisis
The acute housing shortage and the detioration of current housing stock in Puk has made housing a top priority for us here at the Band Office. Overcrowded and deteriorating structures are negatively impacting on the health and well being of the entire community. Conversely, timely repairs of current housing stock and construction of new units will have a positive impact on the community as a whole.
The housing issue in Puk has deteriorated to such an extent because of mortgage defaults, resulting in the Band being held in a bad financial light. MCCN's financial situation has strengthened recently with the completion of 38 BRAND NEW UNITS this year!
1. Ten (10) Units finalized in 2008
2. Twenty (20) Units finalized in 2009
3. Six (6) - a six-plex to be completed by Spring 2010
4. Two (2) replacement houses for soil contamination to
be completed by Spring 2010
In terms of renovations and repairs, the band has spent approximately $300,000 in repairing our current housing stock in the form of new roofs, window and door replacements and general upgrades. These renovations not only increased the value of the homes but also provide jobs for local contractors. Moreover, the same is true for the construction of the new units, as most of these units is also being done by local contactors. During these past two winters, we have seen our local contractors go to work in frigid conditions to enable our community members to move into their new units as quickly as possible. I would like to recognize the efforts of all these carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc., all who have worked so hard in getting these new homes ready.
And these new houses are exactly that, they are your HOMES. This is the place where you raise your children, where you rest your head after a long day, a place that you can call home. We all need to respect our homes to ensure that their value last year after year. At times, you may need to make repairs to your home in order to ensure they are safe and healthy and this is the responsibility of all HOME OWNERS. Our construction company worked hard to build the house and now it is up to you to keep your home in tip top shape. Respect has always been a basic teaching in our culture and respecting your home is part of that and teaching others to respect your home is part of that. And by home, I also mean your yard.
The housing issue in Puk has deteriorated to such an extent because of mortgage defaults, resulting in the Band being held in a bad financial light. MCCN's financial situation has strengthened recently with the completion of 38 BRAND NEW UNITS this year!
1. Ten (10) Units finalized in 2008
2. Twenty (20) Units finalized in 2009
3. Six (6) - a six-plex to be completed by Spring 2010
4. Two (2) replacement houses for soil contamination to
be completed by Spring 2010
In terms of renovations and repairs, the band has spent approximately $300,000 in repairing our current housing stock in the form of new roofs, window and door replacements and general upgrades. These renovations not only increased the value of the homes but also provide jobs for local contractors. Moreover, the same is true for the construction of the new units, as most of these units is also being done by local contactors. During these past two winters, we have seen our local contractors go to work in frigid conditions to enable our community members to move into their new units as quickly as possible. I would like to recognize the efforts of all these carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc., all who have worked so hard in getting these new homes ready.
And these new houses are exactly that, they are your HOMES. This is the place where you raise your children, where you rest your head after a long day, a place that you can call home. We all need to respect our homes to ensure that their value last year after year. At times, you may need to make repairs to your home in order to ensure they are safe and healthy and this is the responsibility of all HOME OWNERS. Our construction company worked hard to build the house and now it is up to you to keep your home in tip top shape. Respect has always been a basic teaching in our culture and respecting your home is part of that and teaching others to respect your home is part of that. And by home, I also mean your yard.
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