The announcement was made during Telecom 2011 in Rouyn, Que., June 14.
The Secretariat to the Cree Nation-Abitibi-Temiscamingue Economic Alliance, an organization made up of northern Quebec Cree communities and the municipalities of the Abitibi-Temiscamingue, will work with Eeyou Communications Network (ECN) to roll out 1,600 kilometres of fibre optics.
John Traversy, executive director for telecommunications at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications said ECN has ‘raised the national standard’ so northern communities can enjoy better Internet services.
“All Canadians should have access to broadband speeds of at least five megabits per second for downloads and one megabit per second for uploads by the end of 2015,” says Traversy. “The ECN is a great example of what is happening all across the country.”
ECN’s broadband venture will begin in September bringing full broadband services, including telehealth, distance education, videoconferencing and IP services to most communities in the James Bay region in Quebec.
This effort echoes the actions set out 10 years ago by Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come of the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Itschee). When he was national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, he launched a movement to bring broadband connection to First Nations.
“Today, the communities of Eeyou Istchee and the James Bay area stand at the doorway to the Information Technology economy. Our digital divide will soon be history,” Coon Come said.
He said Native people were largely unaffected by the industrial revolution and that missing the information technology wave is not in his agenda.
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Quelle/Source: Wawatay News, 24.06.2011
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