Tag Archives: youth

KTA

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http://www.kta.on.ca/pdf/AboriginalCultureinaDigitalAge.pdf

KTA is a Canadian consulting and public interest research organization that provides advisory, facilitation and negotiations services for their clients and advances new policy thinking and ideas. Their clients include a number of organizations associated with Aboriginal peoples namely Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Foundation, Métis Nation of Ontario, Office of Indian Residential School, and Canadian Heritage.

One of its current projects is with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada on developing a research paper on coordination and policy alignment of early learning and child care. A document that I found pertains to Aboriginal culture in the digial age. The objective of this paper is to bring a holisti perspective to the implications of ICT for Aboriginal ways of living, thinking, and knowing. I am particularly interested in paper because there is a section that discusses technology and Aboriginal children. Although I have not stated my research topic at this point, I am quite interested in doing the area of Aboriginal school children and youth, and the effects of technology. With further research, I am hoping to be able to narrow down my topic.

The Belinda Stronach Foundation

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http://www.tbsf.ca/pdf/OLPC_Presentation_GENERAL_deck.pdf

As mentioned in my previous post, I would do more research on The Belinda Stronach Foundation (BSF). Interestingly enough, I came across more information about the laptop distribution to aboriginal children across Canada. On its website, The BSF states that it “builds partnerships with individuals, non-governemental organizations, businesses large and small, as well as other foundations who work in Canada and around the world to confront global challenges and innovative solutions”. In February 2010, the BSF release a presentation called “One Laptop per Child (OLPC): Creating a Better Future for Aboriginal Children in Canada using Technology”. The presentation gives an overview of what OLPC is, where it is already in use, and why it should be used in Canada for aboriginal children and youth. This presentation does not go into detail about the outcome for Canadian aboriginal users as the evaluation of the program does not occur until October, 2011. I would be very interested to follow up on this.

Aboriginal Children Get Laptops

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2010/09/29/aboriginal-children-laptops-929.html

This article from CBC News (September 29th, 2010) talks about Belinda Stronach Foundation giving 5,000 laptops to aboriginal children across Canada. These computers were given to children between ages 6 and 12. Each computer was supposed to be equipped with 8 software programs tha focus on variou issues facing aboriginal youth. What is interesting to me is that the computers come with a virtual library that includes titles by aboriginal authors.

Since this article is from 2010, I am very curious about the outcome of the laptop distribution. I will try to search for more information about the Belinda Stronach Foundation and also see if there are any more recent distribution of technologies to aboriginal children and youth.

Improving Educational Experience of Aboriginal Children

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http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/files/user17/Volume3_Frontispieces.pdf

This document addressed education for the Aboriginal children of Western Australia. It claims that education providers have failed, for the last 30 years, to improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal school children. The author mentions that the purpose of this document is to enable educators and leaders to work together to bring about the necessary changes to improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal students.

Reference:

Zubrick SR, Silburn SR, De Maio JA, Shepherd C, Griffin JA, Dalby RB, Mitrou FG, Lawrence DM, Hayward C, Pearson G, Milroy H, Milroy J, Cox A. The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey: Improving the Educational Experiences of Aboriginal Children and Young People. Perth: Curtin University of Technology and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, 2006.

Module 1: “Reclaiming the Language of the Squamish People”

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Dustin Rivers is a young language revitalization activist of the Squamish Nation. He does not profess to be a language expert or even fluent in the language he is helping to teach, but he saw a chance to promote the revival of his language through engaging his community (noting that “Social Media is just the beginning!”). Launched on November 17, 2010, Dustin’s website SquamishLanguage.com has served to promote language classes in the Squamish Valley, discuss the basic tenets and importance of language immersion around the home, promote two podcasts (one relating to language lessons and one relating to cultural icons, knowledge keepers, and leaders), study scripts for “word-of-the-day” posts,  invite community members to play traditional games and language-fluency games, and more.

It is also notable that this initiative is not (yet?) officially sanctioned by the Squamish Nation, nor does it have any financial sponsorship. This website serves as an example of how one Aboriginal youth is successfully initiating a grass-roots revival of his heritage language, using social media as a distribution platform. The Na Tkwi Sníchim podcast is especially relevant for language enthusiasts looking for a model to base their own language initiatives around.

The celebration of this successful language initiative to date is heartening and worth keeping track of.