First Nations SchoolNet team works to develop "hot zone" in Koocheching FN
Chief Darby Harper wants to see his community get connected to other communities outside of their small remote First Nation. He is working with Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet's Regional Management Organization to expand the use of their local school's two-way satellite internet connection to connect the other houses in his community to the internet. Click here for pictures and the story about the installation of Koocheching's new wireless hot zone.
Koocheching is still without a community wide hydro and telephone service. Local generators provide the power required to operate the computers and the equipment. A new water service is being installed this summer that will include an innovative solar system to provide power for this service with the capacity to power their local telecom system.
In 1998, the old Koocheching School was first connected to the internet using the combination MSAT / DirecPC system. The outbound MSAT satellite route provided a 4.8K connection to the internet via the Education Network of Ontario service out of their Ottawa office for the networked computers in the school. The return data was received using the DirecPC connection that was first provided by Telesat Canada and later transferred to Bell Canada. A 12 minute video produced by the First Nations SchoolNet program in 1998 documents the set up in Koocheching and what the internet means to them. Click here to watch the video (requires Windows Media).
In 2002, Koocheching began working with Windigo to approach FedNor to obtain the necessary funding to establish a broadband connection into the Bell network north of Red Lake. Then their community was included in the Windigo application to Industry Canada's Broadband for Rural and Northern Development (BRAND) program. But they were not included in the funding that has been given to Windigo to establish the connections in Muskrat Dam and Slate Falls. So as an interim solution, Chief Harper is working with the available connections and their own resources to connect the homes in his community.