Surfing speeds up to 50 times faster with new fibre optic lines for Nishnawbe Aski communities

Dear Editor,
Two major events regarding First Nations connectivity, telecommunications and broadband applications in Ontario’s Far North took place last week.
One attracted media attention and the other did not. Canada, Ontario and Bell Aliant announced a four-year, $81-million dollar project that will upgrade the broadband backbone to 26 First Nation communities with fibre optics.
The other celebrated and showcased the considerable achievements of First Nations communities in Ontario’s Far North who have shaped broadband applications to create the Kuh-Ke-Nah Network, the largest First Nation broadband network in Canada which supports IP-based telemedicine and digital education to name just a few of the many applications used daily by First Nation community members in the Far North.
The fibre build announcement attracted two cabinet members, a member of Parliament, senior officials from the federal and Ontario governments, the corporate sector and leaders of Nishnawbe Aski.
The other was an online event hosted by Fort Severn First Nation. It saw more than 50 First Nation broadband community champions from across Ontario’s Far North and across Canada discuss the TACs Report. The report is a document that showcases the achievements of First Nations broadband initiatives at the community level over the past 10 years with practical recommendations for the development of a coherent First Nations broadband policy for the Canadian government.
This event did not attract any journalists, lawyers, businessmen or political leaders. Instead First Nation community members and their champions continued to do the work required to sustain their communities and protect their way of life.
Unfortunately, the two gatherings, both major milestones for First Nation community members in the North, should have included the same people.
The bridge that could have brought together the boardrooms and the First Nations communities was Geordi Kakepetum, the tribal chair of Keewaytinnook Okimakanak, the tribal council which has buildt the Kuk-Ke-Nah Network, the largest First Nations-owned and managed broadband network in Canada. That network supports KO Telemedicine and the Keewaytinook Internet High School (KiHS), to name just a few of the many broadband applications which First Nation community members use everyday in the North to improve access to healthcare, educational and training opportunities and employment.
A visionary, Geordi began building this broadband network more than 15 years ago when he took a bus load of Elders, chiefs and community members to the Ottawa Heart Institute to witness a cardiologist conduct a diagnosis on a patient using telemedicine.
When Geordi returned, the chiefs of Fort Severn, Deer Lake, Keewaywin, Poplar Hill, McDowell Lake and North Spirit gave him a mandate to bring these new information communication technologies to their communities.
In those early days, Geordi encountered many obstacles and challenges. The partnerships grew stronger. He attracted a team of technicians and community members to build and operate the Kuh-Ke-Nah Network.
The truth is that First Nations community members use broadband so effectively that there is now a business case to replace the patchwork of microwave, satellite earth stations with fibre optic cable.
Why then, was he the only partner not invited to speak at the media conference, let alone participate in the fibre optic announcement?
Simply, there was no room in the boardroom for the communities and the people who made this $81 million investment of public dollars possible.
There never is.
Brian Walmark
Thunder Bay