Today, First Nations in Canada are sharing stories, experiences and challenges to support mutually-beneficial learning. A research consortium involving First Nations technology organizations and academic researchers is building a First Mile network of people and infrastructure. In fact, this online course is part of that work.
One regional First Nations organization that offers First Mile broadband development and connectivity services is the First Nations Education Council (FNEC) in Québec.
The video below was produced by FNEC. It shows how the community of Listuguj is using technologies in schools. Principal Jeff Grass discusses how teachers are using Smart Boards, tablets and laptops as learning tools to engage students. To learn more, you can visit the Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government website.
First Mile Community Stories – Technology at Listuguj
(uploaded July 29, 2013)
We conclude this unit with a presentation from Tim Whiteduck, the Director of IT services at FNEC. Tim’s experiences provide an excellent case study of a First Nations-driven First Mile community development initiative.
Publications from the research project First Nations Innovation are listed and available here for download in PDF format. Of note:
- Publication #56 – The paper from Tim Whiteduck’s presentation: “Building First Nation Owned and Managed Fibre Networks Across Quebec”
- Publication #47 – is another paper that Tim delivered as his keynote presentation at the 2012 annual conference of the Community Informatics Research Network.