" ...A Town Without Poverty? Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada's only experiment in guaranteed income..."

" ...A Town Without Poverty? Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada's only experiment in guaranteed income "Minicome" finally gets reckoning by Vivian Belik  (Audio & Text URLS)... For a four-year period in the 1970s, the poorest families in Dauphin, Manitoba, were granted a guaranteed minimum income by the federal and provincial governments. Thirty-five years later all that remains of the experiment are 2,000 boxes of documents..." Text http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4100 CBC Radio "Superior Morning" Audio file via YouTube http://youtu.be/pQ1CapAOu7M

Norwegian Government last week decided to establish a new, large university in Norway, the University of Troms

Norway gets Arctic University - University of Troms and Finnmark University College will be merged to form University of Troms – Norway's Arctic University.The Norwegian Government last week decided to establish a new, large university in Norway, the University of Troms - Norway's Arctic University. More information here
RT @northern_clips: Norway gets #Arctic #University - the University of Troms http://ow.ly/hWE3v

#NWT #MLA Members Statement on POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR #GNWT-SPONSORED #SOCIALMEDIA SITES

MEMBER'S STATEMENT ON

POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR GNWT-SPONSORED SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

HANSARD
UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013 YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

http://www.assembly.gov.nt.ca/_live/documents/content/hn130219.pdf

MS. BISARO: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the advent, acceptance and increasing use of social media worldwide, governments are becoming involved using Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and other social media sites to promote information sharing and to communicate with residents.

Our government has also joined the social media trend. GNWT websites and government Facebook pages are popping up in more and more places. This is encouraging, but have we as a government ensured that there are consistent guidelines and policies for GNWT sponsored social media. It doesn't seem that way. It's another case of us joining the crowd, moving too fast and not considering the effect and the implications of our actions.

Let me give you an example. Recently I discovered a GNWT sponsored and developed Facebook page with a number of likes on the page. For those of you Facebook luddites, a like indicates support for the person, business or organization. A like on a Facebook page is prominently displayed and can influence readers to support the person or the organization or to use the business. It can also be a selling tool. I've found private businesses liked on more than one GNWT sponsored Facebook page. This is inappropriate, Mr. Speaker.

A government must not only be impartial, but must be seen to be objective and impartial. As a government, we should not be showing favouritism to any one business over another. Additionally, there's the issue of responding to and making comments within the social media sites. Any comments posted on a GNWT Facebook page or webpage reflect the government's view. Are the administrators of these pages given any guidelines on how to respond to comments, post comments and so on.

There seems to be a gap in policy development here. Facebook pages are initiated throughout the government and by many different departments, but do we as a government have any policies or guidelines to assist those people in their development of webpages and Facebook pages. It appears not. We often use contractors to do things like develop Facebook pages and websites. Do they have any policies or guidelines to follow? It appears not.

We have a chief information officer and we have an information policy gap needing to be fixed. This is a job for his office. Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Ms. Bisaro.

QUESTION 91-17(4):
POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR GNWT-SPONSORED SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

MS. BISARO: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Finance. I would like to follow up on my statement and ask him questions about whether or not we have policies in regards to our use of social media. I know we have some policies that apply to individual employees. For instance, Facebook is blocked on employees' computers. Cell phone use, I know, is listed. There is a policy on cell phone use. I'd like to know from the Minister, in terms of the development of Facebook sites and websites and in terms of the maintenance of Facebook sites and websites, do we have any policies or any guidelines that people follow?

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

HON. MICHAEL MILTENBERGER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Apparently none that I'm aware of.

MS. BISARO: I didn't hear the answer. Thank you very much, colleagues. To the Minister, I would like to know whether or not this is something that as a government, I feel that we need to remain impartial and I would like to know from the Minister whether or not he thinks there's a policy gap here and, if so, is he willing to do something about developing some guidelines and some policies to handle Facebook sites and websites?

HON. MICHAEL MILTENBERGER: I'll commit to review the matter with the appropriate officials in the departments and if there is deemed to be a policy gap then we'll, of course, take the steps to close that gap.

MS. BISARO: Thanks to the Minister for that commitment. I appreciate that. In the absence of anything right now, if we have Facebook sites which have likes on them, a particular business that has been liked which indicates that the GNWT likes this business and not another one, for instance, what is the Minister going to do to try and monitor Facebook sites and website that we have that may have particular preferences for a business or organization?

HON. MICHAEL MILTENBERGER: I'll commit to put this matter on the table for Cabinet strategy tomorrow, and where all the senior officials are, as well, and we'll discuss the best way to make sure that we are impartial in all the appropriate areas as it pertains to government policy.

MS. BISARO: I appreciate the commitment from the Minister. I guess I would just like to say I appreciate this is coming before senior management and Cabinet. I'd like to suggest to the Minister that we don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are lots of governments out there that, no doubt, have policies and guidelines, so I would suggest to the Minister that we copy them more than develop our own.

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. No question there. Mr. Miltenberger.
HON. MICHAEL MILTENBERGER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the

Member's sage advice and I will keep that in mind as we move forward.

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger.

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food - WHERE: Northern United Place, Yellowknife via teleconference

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food -
WHEN: March 4th 10-11:30am
WHERE: Northern United Place
WHAT: A conversation with Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. By teleconference from Geneva, the UN Special Rapporteur will present the main results of the report of his mission to Canada  and participate in discussion with key Canadian stakeholders. This is a session of the first NWT Food Network Gathering that will be open to the public.
This will be an opportunity to hear more and ask questions on the topics addressed in the preliminary report such as poverty, growing inequity, health, obesity, sustainable agriculture and food systems, and the rights of First Nations, Northern and remote communities to healthy and affordable food.
For more information: http://foodsecurecanada.org/un-right-food-mission-coming-canada

--
GEORGE LESSARD

Information, Communications and Media Specialist
Spécialiste en l'information, communications et  media
451 Norseman Dr.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
X1A 2J1, Canada
E-mail: mediamentorATgmailDOTcom
iPhone FaceTime/text cell: 867 445-9193
Skype: themediamentor 

10

Yukon Minister says slow and expensive Internet is hurting economic growth

Minister says slow and expensive Internet is hurting economic growth
CBC News
Posted: Feb 15, 2013 10:35 AM CST
Last Updated: Feb 15, 2013 12:04 PM CST
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2013/02/14/north-yukon-internet-directorate.html
[excerpt] "...The Yukon Government is promising to do something about slow
and expensive internet and telecommunications services in the territory.

Economic Development Minister Currie Dixon made the surprise announcement
at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday in Whitehorse.

Dixon told the crowd a recent report to the government confirmed what most
Yukoners already know. Compared to southern Canada, download speeds are
much slower and consumers pay double for half the service....."

Computer Programs now available for donation to Canadian nonprofit organizations

Adobe, Symantec and 16 other donor partners open eligibility to nonprofits

http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/community/blog/nonprofit-eligibility-expansion

At TechSoup Canada, http://www.techsoupcanada.ca we believe that nonprofit organizations in Canada (registered charities or not) are changing the world every day. Making access to donated software available to the nonprofit sector as a whole has been a goal of ours since our launch in 2009.

We're excited to announce that we've now expanded the eligibility requirements for many of our programs that were previously unavailable to nonprofit organizations.

Programs now available for donation to nonprofit organizations are:

• Adobe
• Alpha Software
• Atlas Business Solutions
• Bytes of Learning
• Citrix
• CitySoft
• easyLearning
• eTapestry
• FluidSurveys
• GiftWorks
• Mailshell
• ReadyTalk
• Red Earth
• SlideRocket
• Soc Nonprofit Orgs
• Symantec (Desktop and Enterprise)
• Tangient (Wikispaces)
• Telosa

These donors join Microsoft, Intuit, Sumac, Sage and GrantStation which have already been available to nonprofit organizations.

Please note that eligibility requirements are different for each of our donor partners, so while the expansion has now opened up eligibility to the nonprofit sector, your organization may or may not qualify for specific programs based on the criteria set out by our donors. To find out more about your eligibility for our donation programs, please visit http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/eligibility

--
GEORGE LESSARD

Information, Communications and Media Specialist
Spécialiste en l'information, communications et  media
451 Norseman Dr.
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
X1A 2J1, Canada
E-mail: mediamentorATgmailDOTcom
iPhone FaceTime/text cell: 867 445-9193
Skype: themediamentor
Website mediamentor.ca
Twitter Feed on Northern  & First Nations Issues
Twitter Feed on Journalism & Media Issues
Twitter Feed on Community Radio Worldwide
Member:
Canadian Artists Representation / le Front des artistes canadiens
Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective

10

10

George Lessard's QR Code

George Lessard's QR Code
Originally uploaded by The MediaMentor

Via Flickr:
A QR code listing my contact information and URLs