Remote is the new Correspondence! Let’s get connected

Remote learning is not a new idea or way to learn. It has been a part of the curriculum for centuries, possibly as far back as the 1700’s. It was named “Correspondence” and although a slow and tedious process, it caught on and grew leaps and bounds, sweeping across the countries of the world.

One of the most prominent in its time was the “Society to Encourage Home Studies” in 1873. In 1888 adult, immigrant men entered correspondence learning to become state mine inspectors and foremen of a Pennsylvania coal-mining boom to alleviate a shortage of workers.

Correspondence in the states alone grew in twenty years to an enrollment of 2500 new students in 1893 and matriculated 72,000 new students by 1895. The growth was due to sending out complete textbooks instead of single lessons, and the use of 1200 aggressive in-person salesmen. By 1906 total enrollments at the expanded International Correspondence School had reached 900,000. Correspondence or Remote learning continues to grow today, from Grade school subjects to University degrees, all accessed online. I, myself, took Grade 9 Algebra via snail mail correspondence in 1974. Hmmm….What a difference a Zoom class would have made in my Algebra mark!

Do you remember the “ Draw Me “ ads of Tipsy the Turtle and Winky the Deer along with many other interesting characters in every newspaper and magazine in the 80's? Audrey Watters initiated this course to help budding artists see their potential, then offered an online art course after they sent in their version of these drawings. Ms. Watter found 3 characteristic qualities of distance education that remain reasonable today:

• First, that distance education is just as good, valid and high-quality as in person.
• Second, your earning potential will increase if you participate in this course of study.
• Third, that distance education is scalable to give access to students everywhere.
• In 2021 we can also add — frees up time allowing students to juggle work and class time when necessary, keeps cost and fees lower, less travel expense, ability to work at their own pace and remain in the comfort of their home

These are true of urban areas, however, still not the case in our rural and remote parts of Canada or the world for that matter.

Statistics Canada reports “40 percent of Canada’s workers found themselves working from home as pandemic lockdowns were enforced. That compares to less than 10 percent in 2018 who had the option to work a day or two a week from home.”

Whether e-Commerce itself would have moved us forward or Covid-19 has been the sole push, traditional classroom learning and jobs are rapidly moving from office settings to on-line capability. Economic booms and busts are long overdue to be a shared endeavor, for every Canadian, no matter their race or title. The future of connectivity through technically solid operations is looking brighter with an upswing in readily available teaching tools and learning opportunities. Many new options are on the horizon, in large part due to LEO’s scheduled installation and orbit by 2024 (as described in the previous “ LEO is out of this World “ blog). Many, many Indigenous lives will be changed in a positive, economic inclusive way with these new opportunities.

Let’s repeat a line we shared at the beginning of this blog regarding learning in the 1800’s, to show it’s relevance today when thinking of online learning and Indigenous inclusive economy… “although a slow and tedious process, it caught on and grew leaps and bounds, sweeping across the countries of the world”. With a holistic approach, Indigenous communities, regardless of their location in Canada are about to leap forward into the future.

It’s Time For Change is listening, watching closely, and being ready to liaise between Indigenous and non-Indigenous entities. Education, it’s delivery, well sourced honest information, and honorable inclusive negotiation is key.

Let’s all get connected!

Originally published at https://blog.itstimeforchange.ca on December 2, 2021.

Digital Trade / Services and the Indigenous Opportunity

 The Covid pandemic changed the way we work. The work from home revolution proved that employers could save money, access a more productive workforce and most importantly it proved that they could access human capital anywhere in the country. The remote workforce has and will impact the value of digital trade in Canada.

Platforms like ITFC that creates an environment for Indigenous service providers to engage and create economy contributing to the overall value of digital trade as a component of the Canadian
economy.

Though there is a framework established by the OEDC, WTO and IMF to measure the economic value of digital trade, they readily admit that there is no clear definition and thus it makes it hard to effectively measure.

According to a recent publication of the Conference Board of Canada one of the key findings of the most recent research is as follows:

Digital Trade in not just a simple substitution to conventional means of goods and services delivery. It also represents a new source of innovation, creativity and economic growth.

How can Canada’s Indigenous community benefit from movement?

Enhancing the digital capacity of Indigenous people in northern or remote communities by providing the internet and broadband infrastructure is the first step. The Canadian government has invested almost 1.5 billion dollars in Telesat Lightspeed that would bring internet, LTE and 5G to remote communities.(https://blog.itstimeforchange.ca/leo-is-out-of-this-world/ )This kind of investment will go along way in providing the confidence that employers will need to engage and mobilize an Indigenous remote workforce.

The opportunities for Indigenous peoples in remote areas of Canada are limitless. The ability to deliver short modular courses, now referred to as “Micro-Credentials” over the internet can
prepare underemployed individuals for emerging opportunities resulting from new collaborations with government, the private sector and Indigenous communities.

In platform sharing opportunities, like those available to Indigenous service providers on the ITFC inclusion platform provide opportunities for personal and professional growth that were not available before.

The Nominal GDP associated with digital economic activities in Canada totaled $109.7 billion in 2017, roughly 5.5 % of the total economy or the size of the wholesale industry.

That was 2017, the most recent study, imagine what it is today! If we as a country are moving towards a new relationship with Indigenous people and are committed to inclusion and engagement, Digital Trade has to be a part of the discussion. It must start with the policy makers and industry associations and business leaders.

Its Time for Change!

Originally published at https://blog.itstimeforchange.ca on November 30, 2021.

LEO is out of this World

 

If you have been on a computer at all, if you have live-streamed video or gamed, then you have heard the slang term “lag”. Oooh the dreaded lag!

The mere word itself brings on frowns and frustration knowing lag is a real thing in these modern computer times! We have put a man on the moon, but we can’t seem to technically stop the time delay between sending and receiving, especially at that precise moment where the evil villain can be captured or the best part of our favourite song is playing, then stops.

The real term is latency, which means a time delay between information being sent and the time it takes to receive it. It is the limited velocity which any physical interaction can propagate or transmit. The magnitude of this velocity is always less than or equal to the speed of light.

In reliable two-way communication systems, latency limits the maximum rate that information can be transmitted. There is often a limit on the amount of information that is “in-flight” at any one moment. In the field of human-machine interaction, solid, reliable latency has a strong effect on user satisfaction and usability. It has been less than acceptable and, in many areas, non-existent. That is about to change!

Futuristic ideas and concepts have advanced to real-time, our time! If the promise made by the Liberal government shortly ahead of the call for election holds true, $1.44 billion will be spent to enhance the online presence for rural and remote communities all across Canada.

LEO truly is out of this world!

Who is this Leo you might ask? LEO is the acronym used for “low earth orbit” satellites. They operate 35 times closer to the Earth than traditional telecommunications.

Telesat, an Ottawa-based global network, founded in 1969 operates a fleet of geostationary satellites. This cluster remains fixed over a service area 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. With the funds promised by the Liberal government, Telesat will add another 298 satellites to the atmosphere. This group of LEO’s is to be called “Lightspeed”. When Telesat has Lightspeed operational, they will enable broadband internet, LTE (which is 10 times faster than 3G), and 5G (which can be up to 25 times faster than 4G LTE) connectivity in Canada. The Lightspeed satellite project should be up and soaring by 2024. It will have the ability to connect approximately 40,000 households and offices in rural and remote regions.

What a great relief this will be for remote Indigenous peoples who have been seeking economic inclusion, engagement, and forward motion for their communities for far too long!

It’s Time For Change will be ready to help Indigenous remote communities with this economic “lift-off” when LEO is up in the skies hard at work. It’s Time For Change strategy and platform is built on opportunity, while helping remove long-standing barriers.

We provide these and more — Remotely:

1. Access to job postings for workers and employers alike
2. Skilled and experience-based liaison Indigenous Service Providers (ISP)
3. Procurement/Connecting buys with sellers
4. Learning and skill building based programs educating Management to Labourer
5. Web design (which is of great importance when introducing your community to the world via internet)
6. Engagement strategies, bridging Indigenous Partnerships with non-Indigenous groups to boost economic growth
7. Advertising within a community platform for the public and private sector of Canada
8. Comprehensive profile lists of Canada’s First Nation, Inuit and Metis communities allowing for unsurpassed connectivity working toward economic growth

Indigenous peoples refer to the Eagle as having the ability to soar highest in the sky, serving as a messenger for prayers to and from the Creator. Their abilities show great courage, strength, and vision and are skills important to First Nation cultures.

When the Eagle and LEO take flight, Indigenous peoples of Canada will finally have connectivity, engagement, and economic inclusion.

It’s Time For Change will be there to soar with you!

Originally published at https://blog.itstimeforchange.ca on November 29, 2021.

Aboriginal Liaison Officer — Indigenous Liaison Officer

An indigenous liaison officer works for the economic development of the indigenous peoples and communities. Aboriginal Liaison Officers provide emotional, social, and cultural support to Aboriginal communities such as Inuit, First Nations, Metis of Canada.

Requirements for an Indigenous Community Liaison Officer:

• Enjoy working with Indigenous peoples
• Excellent communication and consultation skills
• Of sound character
• Tolerable traffic/criminal record
• Mentally and physically fit

Education & Training for an Indigenous Liaison Officer

You can become an Indigenous community liaison officer in all provinces of Canada without formal qualifications, but employers normally expect Year 10.The Aboriginal people group contact official positions are Indigenous-explicit positions. Preparing is attempted at work and further review might be required. Training periods and requirements vary between the different provinces and territories of Canada. Contact the ItsTimeForChange to get the job as an indigenous liaison officer or to become or train as a liaison officer.

Jobs & Responsibilities of an Indigenous Community Liaison Officer

Indigenous community liaison officers:

• Build good communication between police and local aboriginal communities
• Help to resolve disputes involving police and Indigenous populations
• Advocate and teach police officers on cross-cultural awareness
• Apprise police on potential infringement and disorder regions and advise ways to stop crime and mischief
• Improve community awareness about policing duties and law and order issues
• Assist families attending Indigenous prisoners
• Provide a bridge between police and Indigenous persons and their families involved in the juvenile justice method
• Use relevant police powers and make prosecution briefs.

Specializations

Indigenous Community Liaison Officer

Indigenous community liaison officers liaise with Aboriginal people groups or people groups and the area or domain police powers to set up and support positive connections.

Working conditions for an Indigenous Liaison Officer

Native people group contact officials are needed to work shifts, including ends of the week and public occasions, and may serve in metropolitan and far off networks. Native people group contact officials generally have restricted police abilities, albeit in specific conditions they might help cops with law implementation undertakings like capture, search and confinement. All things considered, completely sworn individuals from the police power play out this capacity gaining practical experience in the contact job.

ItsTimeForChange (ITFC) is an economic inclusion network for economic development of the Indigenous communities of Canada. You can become an indigenous liaison officer or you can find indigenous liaison officers jobs here.

Article originally posted: https://itstimeforchange.medium.com/aboriginal-liaison-officer-indigenous-liaison-officer-d92776095116

 

Indigenous Procurement Services Canada

Indigenous procurement services help to sustain aboriginal peoples’ business in Canada. The economic development of Canada is directly proportional to the economic growth of the Indigenous communities. So, the path to uphill this is going through the economic development of aboriginal businesses.

What is Indigenous procurement?

In simple words, Indigenous procurement is buying goods and services from the indigenous-owned business. Indigenous procurement boosts aboriginal business and economic development of the indigenous communities of Canada. According to a study did by TD four years ago, the value of the indigenous business market is 31.6 billion dollars.

Need of The Indigenous Procurement Services

Indigenous entrepreneurs need a source or platform where they can find indigenous procurement opportunities available in pan Canada. Because before to get the opportunities they need to identify it.

ItsTimeForChange is an economic inclusion platform where indigenous business owners find thousands of federal and private procurement opportunities. Join ITFC for free today.

This type of organization helps businesses to identify the right procurement opportunities and make the complete procurement process easy for owners.

Benefits of Outsourcing Procurement Services

While running a business, it becomes difficult to analyze and grab the right procurement opportunities around you. So when you hire or collaborate with procurement services they make easy the whole procurement process.

Some of the other benefits of hiring procurement services are:

Reducing costs

One of the main advantages of procurement services is they reduce the operational cost by purchasing supplies and services at the best market price. This is the primary goal of the procurement services.

When you manage the process it becomes difficult to determine the expenditures due to the lack of experience. It leads to an awful experience for you and costs you as much as you don’t plan.

Visibility of spend

A transparent spending process is a key to cost-saving. An effective procurement process has visibility to the organization’s total expenditures, which gives the ability to reduces the cost of the complete process.

However, it’s can’t possible to manage the expenditures if you can’t see them. So, visibility of the total spend helps to complete a successful and effective procurement process.

Productivity

The other purpose of outsourcing the procurement process is to utilize the complete process to its maximum.

Each thing or administration being sourced ought to contribute, straightforwardly or in a roundabout way, toward cutthroat situating. At the point when an association has a powerful acquisition measure, acquirement can take out redundancies in the activity, advance cooperation, and recognize great and failing to meet expectations providers.

A proficient acquisition measure furnishes an association with economies of scale, which permit it to diminish expenses and produce more for less, making an upper hand. Productivity inside your provider connections permits your acquisition group to effectively decide your providers’ capacities, interests, intensity, and monetary strength, which will enable you to improve your provider base, getting rid of underperformers, and working with providers that can upgrade your association’s upper hand.

Controls

When you outsourcing the procurement process it gives better control over the whole process. The procurement service provider controls the complete cycle from purchase requisition, requisition review, solicitation process, evaluation, contract, order management, invoice approvals, disputes, and record keeping.

Using technology

Using technology improves the efficiency and speed of the procurement process. It also eliminates the hassle of handling manual document storing. Adaption of technology increases the data accuracy and makes the procurement process transparent.

So these are the benefits of the outsourcing procurement process to a company that builds strategy, handles the process, and maintains the relationship. ITFC is one of the companies that helps in the economic development of Indigenous communities of Canada. ItsTimeForChange offers procurement services such as help to find the best procurement opportunities, make planning, and strategy to successfully complete the contract.

Article originally published at: Indigenous Procurement Services Canada

Moon of Many Promises — Drew Hayden Taylor Said

 

Some believe politics is the only answer, whether Federal or Provincial. Others, based on decades of Politicians standing on a podium, waving their fists in determine speeches that rarely come to be, see politics as “smoke and mirrors”!

As Drew Hayden Taylor, an Anishnawbe writer from Curve Lake First Nation, just north of Peterborough, ON. wrote, “Let’s face it, politics is drama. It’s all timing, choreography, dialogue, and motivation. Sometimes wardrobe, sometimes good lighting helps. And all the candidates have their hour to strut upon the national stage”.

Taylor also reflected on promises of the past, in a somber comment, “We’ve danced this dance before. Many times. In our language, we call this time the Moon of Many Promises. Lots of promises. There will be the traditional dangling of clean water… so close we can almost taste it. Promises of adherence to Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations. And, most recently, promises to address the discovery of unmarked graves of residential school children. Despite the tragedy, there was the beginning of some meaningful conversation developing. Most of the country even was willing to accept a muted Canada Day in respect. Then the election was called and the discussion suddenly became muted. Residential School Interruptus.”

Is Taylor correct when he writes, “You listen to the mainstream media and it’s full of politicians saying “Canadians want…,” “Canadians need…,” Canadians deserve…” and the list goes on. The cool thing is Indigenous people are being recognized as a sizable and important voting block. In some ridings, they may even control the balancing vote.”

Right up to the election call, for a brief moment, it seemed the majority of Canadians were on their way to reaching a breakthrough, a realization of what horrific history had been forced upon Indigenous peoples all across this country. Canadians were awakened to the undeniable evidence surrounding Residential Schools. As the election platforms are made public, there seem to be many Indigenous hot points being brought forward by each Party. Will they be acted upon or become more Moon of Many Promises?

With his sizable sense of humor Drew Hayden Taylor ends his comments with “ And for whoever loses, there’s always that job opening on Jeopardy! “

Originally published at https://blog.itstimeforchange.ca on September 8, 2021.

Special Ballot or Vote by Mail — Federal Election 2021

 

2021 Election “SPECIAL BALLOT — VOTE by MAIL”

WHO: All Canadian citizens, 18 and over on the day of the election, are eligible to vote by “ Special Ballot” or “ Vote by Mail “.

WHAT: A “Special Ballot or Vote by Mail” can be requested by all Canadians who will be outside of Canada on election day OR Persons not wishing to attend a public “Voting Station”.

WHERE: To vote by mail anywhere in Canada, you must first apply for a Mail-in Voter’s kit either online or at any Elections Canada office. Are you eligible to vote? — Elections Canada

Once you have applied for a “Special Ballot” or “Vote by Mail” you are no longer able to go to a polling station in person.

WHEN: Application must be made before 6:00 PM, September 14/2021 to receive your Mail-in Voter’s kit. The kit includes a ballot and a pre-addressed envelope with prepaid postage. It is important your ballot is correctly filled in and POSTMARKED before polls close in your area to be counted as a VOTE.

WHY: Eligible voters have been able to choose the “Special Ballot” option in previous Canadian elections. This time, due to Covid/Pandemic-related concerns and hesitations, Elections Canada expects to have 2 to 5 million Voter’s kit requests, compared to only 50,000 in previous elections.

HOW: When you receive your “Special Ballot” you will notice the candidate for your area is not on the ballot. Elections Canda left a blank space, allowing you to fill in your chosen candidate. You are not required to add the Party of the candidate. If you only mark down the Party in the blank space your vote will NOT be counted.

To find the name of Candidates in your riding check the Elections Canada directory at the following link:

https://www.elections.ca/home

*With the large number of Mail-in Ballots this election, it is more important than ever to meet the “Ballot returning deadline” ensuring your vote is counted and YOUR vote counts!

Originally published at https://blog.itstimeforchange.ca on September 6, 2021.