Slate Falls First Nation may not have year-round road access today but telecommunications means that the small First Nation north of Sioux Lookout is no longer isolated, according to community member, Lorraine Crane. “Everything has changed,” she said. “Before we had one phone booth to serve the entire community. Now, we can shop, bank and do just about anything on-line.”

Chief George Bunting agrees that community members have many more options now that his community is connected to the rest of the world through the ‘Net. “Last night, my daughter showed me how to bank on-line.” He says this is only the beginning. Slate Falls is a satellite-served community with a single Bell Canada pay phone, a C-Band earth station, IP video and IP telephone service.

Slate Falls First Nation has a population of about 130 members on reserve in the winter and over 200 in the summer. It is one of many remote fly-in First Nations in Nishnawbe Aski Nation. Until recently, if you wanted to make a telephone call you had to stand in line near the single outdoor phone booth in the community. There was no business case to provide better telecommunications service until Windigo First Nations Council, in partnership with K-Net, introduced ICTs into Slate Falls through a variety of Industry Canada programs. Slate Falls was selected as one of the first Community Access Program (CAP) and First Nations SchoolNet sites in the Windigo tribal region. It had access to the ‘Net six years before it had residential telephone service.

A year ago, Industry Canada officials saw first hand the need for telecommunications in Slate Falls. In January 2004, Ross Macleod, the former Director General of the Information Highway Applications Branch flew to Slate Falls to meet with the leadership and community members. Macleod is one of the most senior government official to tour the community. He was responsible for most of the Industry Canada programs that have been used to connect the community to the ‘Net including FedNor, Smart, BRAND, SchoolNet, CAP, NSI and others. He was accompanied by Carl Seibel, Telecom Projects Officer, as well as members of Windigo Tribal Council and K-Net Services. The tour included meetings as well as demonstrations and discussions about the importance of connectivity, broadband applications and adequate telecom infrastructure in the First Nations across the province. Dan Pellerin, K-Net's Network Manager who accompanied the Industry Canada officials to Slate Falls said it was a positive experience. “It helped them to understand that people will use technology when they have access and they saw real needs being met by the technology,” he said.

Later that spring, Slate Falls in partnership with another First Nation and the Windigo First Nations Council, was approved to implement its plan to provide broadband connectivity to residential users. This was the second phase of a two-phase project that earlier has seen broadband connectivity link the band administration and other agencies on-reserve to the ‘Net and to IP telephone service. This past spring, Industry Canada's Broadband for Rural and Northern Development (BRAND) program and FedNor, announced that Slate Falls would be funded to expand its telephone system by connecting all the buildings in the community to their new local cable network.

The migration project was a partnership between Slate Falls, Muskrat Dam First Nation, Windigo Tribal Council, Blair Electronics and K-Net Services. By July, Dan Pellerin, K-Net's Network Manager and Bill and Ivan Blair from Blair Electronics traveled to Slate Falls to meet with community leaders and band staff to discuss the installation and operation of their local community broadband network. The team needed to determine the best hub location and construction requirements for their new local community cable system. Slate Falls has hired local staff to support and manage this local economic development initiative on an ongoing basis.

Crane says community members are quite excited now that contractors are working in the community connecting the houses to the network. “People here really like the options available as a result of Internet access. However, these IP phones sometimes go down during bad weather. People get pretty frustrated when they can’t use their phones,” she says.

Debbie Korobanik, the Finance Advisor for the Windigo First Nations Council, says the introduction of ICTs will play an important role in the economic development of Slate Falls. In addition to owning and operating its own Internet and telephone service, Slate Falls will be using the ‘Net to promote and expand its successful tourism business and Bamaji Lake Airlines, its charter service. “The ‘Net will also play a role in the development of its forest management plan and land use plan,” she said. Slate Falls is working in partnership with a local forestry company to provide employment in the logging industry over the next five years.

Sarah Mitchell, Education Coordinator, says access to the ‘Net increases the efficiency of doing productive work, particularly with videoconferencing and internet technology. “The school staff and students,” she says, “plan to develop a school web site and individual web sites with the usual monitoring and directed programming. Keewaytinook Internet High School provided much of the catalyst for increased internet services when Slate Falls first joined this service for a two year period. However, the local KiHS classroom has since shut down due to a lack of grade 8 graduates.

Ruby Bighead, Health Director, says information, particularly information on health and public health issues are more available now that Slate Falls is connected to the ‘Net. “Information is readily accessible, particularly in the area of medical consultations and the state of personal health of family and friends in medical facilities,” she said.

The installation of IP phones and broadband technology in Slate Falls community homes is expected to be completed by March 2005. In addition, KO Telehealth is expected to be available by February. So much has changed in Slate Falls as a result of the introduction of ICTs. There is new equipment, new ways of doing things and new attitudes. “We’re not remote anymore,” Lorraine Crane explains.