Introducing Digital Divides

There is no doubt that broadband networks and digital technologies are significant tools for development. They offer many benefits for individual and community users. However, the degree to which these technologies enrich communities is limited in various ways. These constraints reflect inequalities in the ways that individuals and communities can access and use technologies. Researchers refer to these challenges as a multifaceted digital divide. Digital divides exists across many different contexts. They consist of discrepancies of access between and inside countries. They include the affordability, availability, speed, and capacity of technologies. They extend to content on digital platforms, which is often rooted in a specific culture or language. They also link to the differing abilities of people to use technologies. These divides exist and persist for many reasons, including contexts like geographic location and socioeconomic status.

Digital divides are a key challenge facing Indigenous communities in many countries. The links below lead to government websites illustrating access divides in Native American and First Nation communities. Visit them to learn about broadband availability in these regions. However, keep in mind that digital divide data in remote communities is challenging to collect and interpret. Therefore, these websites and the information they portray should only be used as a guideline.

• From Indigenous Services Canada, the First Nations community infrastructure page contains a link Connectivity and partnerships, which outlines the commitment by the government to remove the barriers that the digital divide creates for Indigenous communities. The Prime Minister’s Office published a statement in Nov. 2020, reiterating their goal of 50/10Mbps by 2030. Find an interactive map of Broadband availability in Canada here: National Broadband Data Information (Includes Indigenous and Northern Communities – an address is required)
• Map of fixed broadband deployment in U.S. from Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Office of Native Affairs and Policy (ONAP) was established by the FCC in 2010 to improve communication infrastructure in Native American communities.
• In 2018 The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) published a resolution Calling on the FCC to Re-establish the FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy’s Tribal Consultation Duties, and Training and Education Efforts. (Download PDF). This resolution notes that since 2016, the Office of Native Affairs and Policy (ONAP) of the FCC has “not been as visible to Indian Country, resulting in the FCC making policy changes and adopting rules that have lasting negative impacts on tribal nations without sufficient tribal education or consultation” (2018).

A 2018 article by First Mile Consortium members O’Donnell & Beaton describes the Paradox of  telecommunications development in remote regions. They argue that compared to remote regions, urban communities have much better access to both ‘brick and mortar’ services (e.g. schools, stores and hospitals) and telecommunications services. At the same time, remote communities experiences lower quality, slower, more expensive telecommunications services — despite the need to use those services to access essential public and commercial services.  Researchers from the First Mile group are using that framework to examine digital inequalities in regions of Canada such as rural communities in the Northwest territories.

In June, 2020, non-profit organization Internet Society called on the government of Canada to remove the barriers to internet access that disproportionately effect Indigenous communities, noting that the move of many offline activities online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed Canada’s digital divide, that makes activities like tele-health, working from home, government services, online socializing, shopping and streaming entertainment difficult or impossible. Another Internet Society statement addressed issues of connectivity for Indigenous peoples in the United States.

The site muninetworks.org, from the Institute for Local Self Reliance — an American organization that supports and reports on community networks — includes this map showing Indigenous Broadband Networks in the US. For further context, the following site offers comparisons of broadband service providers by American state. The American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University includes various resources associated with Tribal Broadband and digital divides facing Native Americans.

Unfortunately, digital divides are a persistent and entrenched challenge in rural and remote Indigenous communities. Despite the efforts of Indigenous service providers like K-Net and many others, as illustrated in the two videos below, digital divides persist in many communities and regions.

The video below from 2009 shows Sue Hanley – former coordinator of the First Nations Technology Council – discussing the digital divides facing First Nations in B.C.

More than 10 years later, in Spring 2021, Simon Fraser University hosted a Public Square event focused on overcoming digital divides in Indigenous, Rural and Remote Communities. A panel discussion featured Denise Williams, CEO of First Nations Technology Council. The discussion focused on two questions:

Digital divides — and Indigenous-led solutions to them — have been featured in international media as well. For example, an Al Jazeera produced documentary features the work of Indigenous digital divide activist Bruce Buffalo, founder of Mamawapowin Technology Society.

Broadband Bruce: Fighting Canada’s Digital Divide

(Video published June 18, 2017)

The video below is a panel discussion by Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), involving Bruce Buffalo, who begins speaking around minute 10. Published July 12, 2018.