KO staff visit to Anishinaabeg of Kabapikotawangag Resource Council (AKRC)
On Thursday and Friday, Feb 17 and 18, Brian Beaton travelled to AKRC and their member communities of Anishinaabeg of Naongashiing (Big Island) and Big Grassy River First Nation to discuss various broadband solutions for their schools. The meetings with AKRC team addressed their connectivity plans for their existing video conferencing and T1 connections that are presently in place in their office in Northwest Angle #37 territory. Denise Bluebird, the AKRC Education Advisor, is looking forward to seeing other member community schools connected so they are able to work with them on common issues and events.
The school in Big Grassy River First Nation is well outfitted with computer work stations. Their Public Library in the school also acts as their Community Access Centre. Their two-way satellite connection provides internet services for two computer labs and the computers in each of the classrooms. There are at least 30 computers in the school which serves about 60 students. Click here to see the pictures taken during this trip. The Pegamigaabo Elementary School staff created a web site at http://pegamigaabo.firstnationschools.ca/ a year ago. They also created an excellent on-line resource about their land claims negotiation and treaty information as part of Industry Canada's Digital Collections - http://bgfn.on.ca/index.html. The school internet connection also serves the local health centre through a DSL connection. This sharing of this resource makes their school very attractive for a broadband connection because then other groups in the community can help support the T1 service on an ongoing basis if the school subsidy under the First Nations SchoolNet ever ceases to exist.
Pictures of the school at Big Island First Nation are also available. The students and staff were on an outdoor adventure day so a visit to the band's new administration building proved valuable.