WINNIPEG — Washington, D.C.-based The Internet Society in partnership with U.S. non-profit fund Connect Humanity is co-hosting the sixth annual Indigenous Connectivity Summit, which kicked off today in Winnipeg and runs through Oct. 28.
The event brings together “Indigenous community members and leaders, network operators, researchers, and policymakers with a common goal: connecting Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada to fast, affordable, and sustainable Internet,” reads an Internet Society press release.
The Indigenous Connectivity Summit features “workshops, presentations, lightning talks and panel discussions on a number of issues Indigenous communities face as they work to access the Internet on their own terms,” the release says.
Some of the topics to be discussed include broadband mapping, spectrum sovereignty, building off-grid networks and capacity building.
“An important outcome of the summit will be a set of policy recommendations jointly developed by participants that will guide advocacy efforts moving forward. These recommendations will be released in the weeks following the event, and, if implemented would support Indigenous communities to drive their own connectivity solutions under their own leadership.”
In addition to being held as an in-person event in Winnipeg, the summit will be streamed live online for those unable to attend. For more information and to register, please click here.
According to a 2021 report from the Ottawa-based Council of Canadian Academies, less than one quarter of Indigenous communities in Canada have access to broadband speeds meeting the federal government’s target of 50 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload, the Internet Society’s release notes.
In the U.S., 18% of tribal reservation residents have no Internet access at all, according to a policy brief from the American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University.
This year’s Indigenous Connectivity Summit is marking a significant milestone “as it transitions to a truly community-led event, under the aegis of the newly created Indigenous Connectivity Institute,” the release says.
This new institute is led by an advisory committee of Indigenous connectivity advocates from across the United States and Canada, including Canadian committee members Sally Braun, general manager of Western James Bay Telecom Network, Bill Murdoch, acting executive director of Clear Sky Connections in Manitoba, Madeleine Redfern, CEO of CanArctic Inuit Networks in Nunavut, Steven Vanloffeld, founder and CEO of eSupply Canada based in Saugeen First Nation, Ont., and Denise Williams, CEO of First Nations Technology Council in North Vancouver, B.C.
“The Internet Society has been organizing the Indigenous Connectivity Summit since 2017, but it has always been our goal to transition leadership of the event to the Indigenous communities themselves,” said Sharayah Lane, senior advisor for Indigenous community connectivity at the Internet Society and advisory committee member of the Indigenous Connectivity Institute, in the release.
“Partnering with Connect Humanity and the Indigenous Connectivity Institute will further the goal of developing community-led solutions that will bridge the digital divide for Indigenous people across North America.”
For more, please click here.
Image borrowed from the Indigenous Connectivity Summit 2022 website.
