Keewaytinook Okimakanak "Partners In Development" Homer Meekis shivers as he waits to conduct band office business on the only telephone in North Spirit Lake in 1995. Elder Johnny Rae from North Spirit Lake discovers the value of broadband video conferencing when he hears his friend Moyen Kakepetum from Keewaywin and sits down to visit across the miles. The primary application being developed for video conferencing is the Telehealth project. Keewaytinook Okimakanak sees modern technology as a way of supporting the traditional economy. Here we see Fort Severn elder, Lazarus Stoney, heading out to set his nets on the newest form of tundra transportation. Community workers construct a new house in Fort Severn. KO’s Public Works Department provides design and inspection services to member First Nations. Poplar Hill crews have had to blast through rock in the development of the sewer and water project there. Almost all of the homes in KO communities are now fully serviced. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Minister, Bob Nault, takes part in a KiHS class session in Keewaywin. KiHS is the first Ontario school to offer accredited secondary school courses using the Internet as a mode of program delivery. North Spirit Lake workers, in June 1996, prepare community transformers in preparation for community power distribution. Helping to meet the growing infrastructure needs of member communities is a key role of KO Public Works which has grown from an advisory unit to an enhanced unit to a project management unit within the past 10 years. Traditional houses like this log home in McDowell Lake are now being replaced by modern housing serviced with hydro, sewer and water. Back to top