Author Archives: Matt Wise

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance published a paper which “intends to offer insight into Internet infrastructure development in the more than 574 Native Nations across the U.S.”. It offers useful case studies highlighting “ways that Native Nations have built their own Internet Service Providers (ISPs)”

One thing that is highlighted is the issue of Spectrum Sovereignty, where the government tightly controls and sells access to radio frequencies which are crucial to the delivery of wireless internet services within Indigenous territories.

There are helpful “Takeaways for Other Native Nations” sections at the end of each case study emphasizing the importance of utilizing local expertise and local investment in the projects. They also highlight the shift in perspective from a program focused on profitability recognizing that this does not always match the needs in Indigenous communities.

Finally, they highlight the issue of “single purpose funding” which is designed to address a single, specific issue, many projects which may end up overlapping and duplicating effort while leaving major gaps in need in the community due to a lack of a holistic approach.

A very recent announcement by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) listing their grant recipients. 8 of the projects benefit Indigenous communities, many of which are infrastructure but also include community leadership through the First Nations Technology Council in British Columbia.

As Laura Ulrich mentioned this week, the Tsilhqot’in National Government is developing their own owned and managed cellular and broadband network which is exciting news.

I started looking in a bit more detail at how funding is allocated by the Canadian government in ways that can support Indigenous Peoples’ Internet and mobile connectivity in Canada.

They emphasize that the Connect to Innovate program started in 2016 would serve 190 Indigenous communities by 2021 and was extended to 2023 with a status update here. It seems possible that this program is responsible for some of the improvements seen in Nunavut over the last year (the goal is a minimum 5Mbps connectivity speed)

The Universal Broadband Fund is how the Canadian government is attempting to address the “digital divide”, but it’s interesting to look at how that money has been allocated so far, and how funding is awarded. Currently they award up to $50 million for mobile Internet projects that primarily benefit Indigenous Peoples, including projects along highways and roads where mobile connectivity is lacking. (I don’t immediately see how projects along highways and roads primarily benefit Indigenous Peoples?)

There is also the First Nation Infrastructure Fund offers up to $10 million per recipient per year and was evaluated in 2014.

I took a closer look at this strategy, specifically how it identifies the government will measure success and can see how it fits in with the annual CRTC Communications Monitoring Report. When reading how success is measured though, the sources of information appear to be heavily biased to official government sources such as the CRTC, Statistics Canada, and Budget funding.

Two statements summarizing action items I would highlight are:

• Ensure strong internal governance and accountability via new coordination frameworks
  • I will need to find more information about these coordination frameworks, as the how is crucial
• Ensure the design and eligibility criteria for Government of Canada investments are designed to enable projects that best meet local needs and demonstrate strong local engagement.
  • This is promising, but I want to find information about how they will ensure it meets local needs and demonstrate strong local engagement.

Each year starting in 2017 the Internet Society hosts the Indigenous Connectivity Summit and publishes their policy recommendations (2019, 2020). These documents “outline the actions that governments of Canada and the United States can take to ensure that the Internet is for everyone.”

What they significantly acknowledged in their 2020 report is that access to broadband is a basic service much like water or electricity and point out that “in 2016, the Canadian Radio-Television Commission declared the Internet a “basic service” in Canada.” They identified six critical areas in the effort to achieve digital equity, “in no particular order of importance, all are considered equal priority”

1. Effective and Accurate Mapping (of broadband access)
2. Inclusivity, Community Consultation, and Engagement
3. Capacity Building in Indigenous Communities
4. Spectrum Rights and Sovereignty
5. Infrastructure and Ownership
6. Affordability

I found this communications monitoring report from 2020 from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications commission which looks at both broadband and LTE (mobile) network coverage and availability in various communities.  The data appears to be from the 2019 report.

One statistic that stands out is the disparity in broadband access (50 Mbps download and 10Mbps upload with unlimited monthly data transfer) across various communities found that First Nations reserves have 34.8% while rural communities have 45.6%.

Also a big growth in the report from 2018 to 2019 was 5Mbps internet access in Nunavut growing from 49.7% to 99.6% of households.  Lots of data here to unpack..

They have a lot of reports on their operations available online

This is one project funded by the First Nations Technology Council

They have a description of their project lifecycle broken down into five stages:

1. Identify Communities in Need
2. Community Engagement
3. Construct the Broadband Network
4. Activation
5. Capacity Building

They seem very focused on the infrastructure and technical elements of delivery of broadband internet access. They mention a “Fully Integrated Technologies (FIT) Partners Working Group” which completed a 2007 study of the state of First Nations connectivity in B.C. Although they mention it is a “wide cross-section of First Nations and government technology, health, education and cultural groups” I am not certain what the specific criteria were for prioritizing access for communities..

They emphasize some of the benefits of broadband however after working through many of the readings in this course, I am left thinking a lot about how these opportunities are framed in ways that are actively decolonizing (or whether they are)

The First Nations Technology Council works in British Columbia with the following stated goals:

• Providing funded and accredited education programs to advance Indigenous peoples careers in innovation and technology.
• Participating in and leading community research projects that result in tangible benefits for Indigenous peoples.
• Creating strategies to advance equitable, affordable and sustainable access to technology in Indigenous communities.
• Advocating for better policy solutions for internet affordability and reliability in Indigenous communities.

They pride themselves in being Indigenous-led “with a board of directors representing Indigenous communities from all over British Columbia”

They look at digital equity and have a number of funding programs.

While it’s not specifically about internet access, they have a very interesting drone program looking at forestry, firefighting and search and rescue.

This article looks at the issue of low or inconsistent participation of some Indigenous communities in elections and voting stating that “Indigenous citizens participate in federal and provincial elections at levels that are among the lowest of any socio-demographic group in Canada”

They are examining some First Nations communities in Canada who are adopting Internet voting to facilitate greater participation in votes. They identified 5 key impacts:

• Building trust (risk of disrupting a fragile trust in government)
• Not a replacement (for in person voting and dialogue) but meant to supplement
• More than just participation (also a more efficient voting process)
• Cost (as a potential major barrier)
• Building community capacity

This article describes some of the positives of internet access, and TikTok in particular is helping Indigenous creators self-represent and foster supportive communities on the internet across physical distance. What is shared, and what I’ve also been reading more of is the benefit to Indigenous individuals to connect with other Indigenous Peoples and find commonality and a sense of shared experience and solidarity.

What struck me most in terms of self representation and self determination was the quote from the main focus of the article Nich Richie:

“Growing up we get told to contort ourselves in society and fit the mould of a ‘good, decent blakfella’ … I just want to show other blak queer kids that they don’t have to be ashamed of their identity.”