A team of First Mile partners including Penny Carpenter from K-Net Services, Tim Whiteduck from First Nations Education Council (FMCC Chair), Dr. Heather Hudson and Dr. Rob McMahon travelled to Ottawa on June 15-17 to participate in the Indigenous Radio National Conference at the University of Ottawa. The presentations and notes about the conference will[…]
Last week the Gwich’in Tribal Council’s Department of Cultural Heritage (GTC) hosted a day-long workshop on Digital Content and Connectivity in Gwich’in communities. This pilot was designed by GTC staff and partners from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Extension and the First Mile Connectivity Consortium. The team included Dr. Rob McMahon and Master of Arts[…]
The First Mile work in First Nations across Canada (http://firstmile.ca) was well represented at Congress 2017 during the week long event held at Ryerson University in Toronto the week of May 27 to June 2. At the Association for Nonprofit and Social Economy Research (ANSER), Rob was a member of a panel presenting the chapter he[…]
In this report we discuss the efforts of the First Mile Connectivity Consortium (FMCC) to shape a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform into a tool for data-driven policy advocacy. This work took place in the context of a lack of robust, accurate data concerning broadband access in Canada’s northern and remote regions. Given this challenge,[…]
KNET Director Penny Carpenter and Susan O’Donnell, FMCC Vice-Chair, presented the work of the FMCC to policy-makers at Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) in Ottawa on January 19. Also participating was Tim Whiteduck, Director of Technology at the First Nations Education Council and FMCC Chair. The presentation focused on research completed by FMCC last[…]
Rob McMahon and Heather Hudson presented at this year’s Pacific Telecommunications Council (https://council.ptc.org/ptc17/) conference in Honolulu, HI on January 15 to 18. The session, entitled “Policy and Regulation” included a discussion about the FMCC’s efforts at the recent CRTC hearings on the Basic Service Objective, including our proposals to address digital divide challenges in remote and rural regions. The description[…]
Brian Beaton met today (Tuesday, January 17, 2017) via videoconference with the Matawa First Nations broadband team during their meetings in Thunder Bay. Brian introduced the Matawa team to the work of the First Mile Connectivity Consortium. Discussions included: introductions Description of the work being undertaken by the Matawa First Nations broadband team What is[…]
In response to Saadia Muzaffar’s opinion piece on CBC’s web site at http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/broadband-basic-service-1.3913627 –What good is declaring broadband a ‘basic service’ without regulating retail prices? Without affordability thresholds, there’s no guarantee that access in vulnerable communities will improve .. Brian Beaton wrote this First Mile response: IT IS THE FIRST STEP in a very long process .. It has taken[…]
First Mile Connectivity Consortium PO Box 104 Fredericton, NB E3B 4Y2 http://www.firstmile.ca Telephone toll free: 1-877-737-5638 extension 4522 Click here for a French copy of the press release PDF of this FMCC press release Also posted in NATIONTALK.ca FMCC Media Release New CRTC ‘Basic Service Objective’ Decision Supports First Nations Digital Innovation December 22, 2016[…]
The Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre (MWC) and the First Nations Innovation (FNI) research project at the University of New Brunswick teamed up to produce a SSHRC-funded Knowledge Synthesis report entitled: Supporting Indigenous Language and Cultural Resurgence with Digital Technologies David Perley, Director of MWC and Susan O’Donnell, lead investigator of the FNI led the production of this report.[…]