Identify who you
have consulted, and in what capacity, to assess your needs and
to identify your priorities, and outline the results of these
consultations.
As the lead agency
in the First Nations Telecommunications Steering Committee - a
coalition of Indigenous communities and organizations sharing
an aim to improve the quality and level of telecommunications
services - KNET has prepared and submitted numerous research reports
and submissions. These include broadly-based work such as its
report to the CRTC's High-Cost Service Areas hearings, the North
of Red Lake Study, and a NAN-wide Telecommunications Study. KNET
has also developed focused needs research for its member communities
such as the KuhKeNah Tele-Health Network Study and the Broadband
Networking Study (in progress).
The latter study co-funded
by HRDC, FedNor, and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund includes
a community-based assessment of need and demand for network applications.
The Community consultation, completed in May and June of this
year, describes how the Deer Lake, Fort Severn, Keewaywin, North
Spirit Lake, and Poplar Hill First Nations have prepared themselves
to introduce local access to electronic services in a shared network
environment.
The consultations
drew on information gathered at meetings held in each community,
structured interviews conducted with residents and stakeholders,
local technology inventories and consultant observations. The
consultation documents community readiness for the introduction
of broadband networks - functional community networks, base of
service users - and broadly identifies community well-being as
a primary objective for the introduction of new services.
Specifically, community
respondents indicated that new employment opportunities (telework,
computer repair, and web development) and service delivery - particularly
health (teleconsults, health information systems, and CME) and
education (skills upgrading, post-secondary, and professional
development) applications are high priorities. The community consultations
also indicate local needs for coordinated delivery of support
services and for the development of local community-based facilities
- Information Technology Centres -- where broadband services will
converge and be delivered.
