February - A month of Love & Learning

My wife and I just celebrated our 9th Wedding Anniversary on our 15th Valentine`s Day together. We`ve shared many special moments and experienced many interesting adventures.  To my love, thank you for choosing me!

This month was also a journey of learning -- I met some amazing people at some awesome events!


My first stop was TEDxManitoba "(what) if x"!

TEDx Manitoba captured in one photo (Credit: Ian McCausland) www.ian.ca

The Speakers shared inspiring perspectives of our communities, our cultures and the environment around us.

I was so honoured to hear Wilma Derksen's story of "[W]hen Polarity in Forvieness Happens" -  emotional journey of seeking justice.  Thank you Wilma!

I also witnessed the growth of a community leader, Michael Champagne, aka North End MC, a young Cree man, showed us how one person can be the change in the community: "Oppression to Opportunity"- an amazing story of reclaiming and inspiring greatness in the young people of our community.  Powerful words MC!

The theme for the next event, ICT Summit in Vancouver, was "Exploring New Worlds", too complement the keynote address by Commander John Herrington of the Chickasaw Nation - first Native American to walk in space.

Me and Commander John Herrington at the 2012 ICT Summit

It was a great honour to meet someone with such an amazing story to share. Kinanaskomitin Commander!


There was a presentation by the Nunavut Community Access Program (NCAP) Program, they officially released, "The Road We Travelled – Our Communities’ Voyage to the Future on the ICT Highway" - a collection of the best practices of how communities are overcoming the 'digital divide'. 


Darlene Thompson, our courageous team leader, shared inspiring stories we collected from some innovated communities and passionate individuals.

NCAP story collection project

My story submission, and presentation at the summit was on "Persons with Disabilities Individualized e-Capacity Building" - I share my own experience of how Indigenous people with disabilities can find their voice in the social media world.


There was one awe-inspiring moment - a virtual sacred ceremony.  My new friend and colleague, Tony Belcourt, arranged for an Elder from Brazil to video-conference into the Summit and present Commander John Herrington with a Sacred Rattle and song. The rattle was entrusted to Tony, who protected it for two years before this opportunity to pass on the Elders' gift to Commander Herrington. Awesomazing!


I've learned is ICT offers us virtual mediums to connect physically, emotionally, intellectual and spiritually. What a great summit! To the hosts, the organizers and sponsors -- Thank you for the experience!


Arriving home safe, I celebrated with my wife at The Keg! mmmm...good food!


My final stop of the month was at TRLabs's one-day event: ICTS 2012 - Convergence is Here....Now What?   There was an inter-generational panel perspective of  ICT technology adoption and insight into their behaviour on why they use it. I`m feeling older now....


Jordan Schidlowsky, Co-Founder of Noodlecake Studios shared his insight of Mobile Video Game Development - the future of vid-games is your mobile phone - I heard the term "freemium" business model for the first time.


Great job TRLabs team! I`m looking forward to next year!


Wow, what a great month!! These were the highlights of  the many things I did this month. Thanks for reading, and check out my  @niiganii -- tweeting event happenings to the community! Happy Leap Year!