The Northern Indigenous Community Satellite Network: Research Consortium (NICSN: RC) facilitated a one day workshop on September 26, 2008 to support the creation of a Joint Research Consortium. For more information about the consortium's work to date, please visit

http://nicsn-rc.knet.ca

The workshop was hosted in Ottawa by Telesat Canada with video and teleconferencing links provided to other sites across Canada.  Workshop chairs were Brian Walmark, KO Research Institute (KORI) and Michael Gurstein, CCIRDT.

The workshop agenda included: 

Opening Plenary
o Welcoming remarks from
o NICSN-Brian Beaton-K-Net (videoconference – SL)
o KORI (Brian Walmark)
o CCIRDT (Michael Gurstein)
o Round Robin Introductions—role in NICSN/NICSN: RC
o Who else should be attending this session (suggestions for future contacts)

Introduction to the NICSN: RC—Walmark/Gurstein
o Development history – Beaton (Sioux Lookout)
o Community impact assessment issues—Fort Severn, KRG
o Community based impact assessment—Walmark
o Community research and community employment-Walmark
o NICSN: RC in an international context—Gurstein
o Community planning and community databases—Seibel
o University based research—Gurstein 

Current university based research
o Research literature—Ruth Grossman
o VideoCom—Susan O’Donnell
o CRACIN—Adam Fiser
o Participatory approach—Ricardo Ramirez

Open discussion/reactions

Discussion—outstanding issues, role of partners, research funding opportunities - Walmark
• Videoconference participants
• On-site participants
 
Working lunch , continued   discussion
 
Establishing common interests and overlaps
• Everyone was asked to think about and list their potential contribution to the NICSN: RC and how they can be involved in supporting the development of this initiative. This material will be shared with the group and documented in the workshop proceedings.
 
Building a common action plan
• Determining what the next steps should be to continue and sustain the development and operation of the NICSN:RC initiative. Please consider what you might contribute to this work and what it means for you and your team to be working with the people who live and work in these remote communities being served by the NICSN team.

Background Information

The Northern Indigenous Community Satellite Network (NICSN) is the first inter-provincial community owned and operated broadband satellite initiative in Canada. It is a cooperative venture connecting over 40 remote communities from the northern regions of Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario. It is being administered through an innovative partnership (Joint Venture) of Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO), Keewatin Tribal Council (KTC) and the Kativik Regional Government (KRG).

NICSN is the result of four years of development and over $8 million in strategic capital investment by Industry Canada, the communities and their partner organizations. NICSN brings together partnerships with industry, not-for-profit and governments to serve the broadband needs of the participating communities. KO and its Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) began this development over eight years ago in its region and the other consortium partners joined this work over the past five years.

The Federal Government through its Infrastructure Support Program is contributing up to $20.65 million, or 70 per cent of the $30 million proposed project cost, for the procurement of two satellite transponders and a second hub earth station and local access network upgrades. The Federal government funding is made available through Infrastructure Canada’s National Satellite Initiative (NSI). The remaining 30 per cent ($8.88 million) will come from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund ($1.8 million), the Government of Québec’s Villages Branchés program ($2.2 million), the Province of Manitoba ($2.0 million – to be determined) and Telesat Canada ($2.88 million).”

The Need for the NICSN Research Consortium

The capacity for providing on-going research and the creation of a usable information base including  the outcomes and impacts of developments such as these is only slowly emerging within the regional Aboriginal organizations and communities in the North (with the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute (KORI) being the only formally developed Aboriginal organization currently in the field). Although there is wide recognition that such a capacity is needed as a support to the emerging local, regional governmental and para-governmental structures (KO, KRG, and KTC) and as a means for job creation and retention of knowledge-created value within the North, few programs exist to support ongoing community-based, not-for-profit research or the Aboriginal run institutes which would support this work.

To date, although there has been a very extensive expenditure of funds and considerable development there has been only limited and fragmentary documentation of the processes of change initiated by the new satellite based broadband accessibility.

NICSN: RC is a research consortium which is being established to support and conduct research and particularly community-based research on the on-going impact—opportunities and threats being presented by this major advance in linking Northern communities with the larger global Information society.

Workshop Objectives included:
a. To engage and inform the members of the consortium and interested others in the initial steps towards a community initiated impact assessment research activity in conjunction with the NICSN project
b. To discuss the activities to be undertaken
c. To obtain initial feedback concerning the NICSN: RC concept from KO communities
d. To develop an Action Plan for proceeding including a wider range of partners/funders

Participants Included
• Canadian International Development Agency
• Centre for Community Informatics Research Development and Training (CCIRDT)*
• Cisco*
• FEDNOR
• Infrastructure Canada*
• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada: Northern Affairs*
• Human Resources and Skills Development Canada*
• K-Net*
• KO Research Institute (KORI)*
• National Research Council Canada*
• Community participants
 Fort Severn, Ontario
 North Caribou Lake, Ontario
• Telesat*
• Researchers from:
o University of Toronto*
o National Research Council and University of New Brunswick*
o Guelph University*