First Nations communities plugging into IT
- Carmen Pauls Orthner | April 24, 2014
Whether it's robots performing ultrasounds on a northern reserve, or fibre-optics giving schools, clinics and band offices up to 60 times faster Internet connections, information technology is making dramatic changes in everyday life in Saskatchewan First Nations communities.
At the same time, federal funding cuts and shifting governance models are changing the face of how those IT services are delivered.
These were two of the key messages delivered at the 2nd annual Saskatchewan First Nations Information and Communication Technology Conference, held March 10th and 11th at the Dakota Dunes Casino, on the Whitecap Dakota First Nation.
"We're going well beyond smoke signals now," , joked Whitecap Chief Darcy Bear, kicking off the two-day event that gathered together IT professionals and service providers, representatives from the First Nations and provincial health and education sectors and businesspeople, including major sponsors SaskTel and Huawei.
Event host Keewatin Career Development Corporation (KCDC), a long-time IT service provider that has worked closely with many Saskatchewan First Nations schools as regional manager for the federal New Paths Education Program, announced that they are stepping down from this role.
Several of the other regional management organizations joined the event via a video link to thank KCDC for their 10 years of service to First Nations schools, from the first satellite installations to the current fibre-optics model.
KCDC CEO Randy Johns highlighted the growing maturity in First Nations country, in terms of understanding and valuing IT, noting that it is now time for bands to handle their own technology infrastructure development.
SaskTel reps James Sather and Grant Garner explained plans the Crown corporation has for drastically improving their Internet services to First Nations, which will see 89 communities hooked up to fiber and 4GLTE wireless. The changes will speed up the bands' connectivity by as much as 60 times.
"Communication is really a critical part of growth," Sather said. "You want to find people globally, and you want them to be able to find you globally, and I believe that's a right."
Sather noted that while technology alone will not solve the world's problems, use of technology by the right people will, and delegates heard about several such experiments.
David Fannon, owner of Sylvan Learning Centre in Prince Albert, shared plans for a customized learning program taught by on-line teachers, yet delivered in-school with the Birch Narrows Dene Nation, following a successful pilot project that saw some students advance by two grade levels in their math or reading skills.
Staff from the University of Saskatchewan's College of Nursing shared about their experiment in training registered nurses in Ile-a-la-Crosse and La Ronge, using a specialized robot that serves as the off-site instructor's hands and feet. This is the first nursing school in the world to use the robot technology.
That same technology will also soon be applied in an on-reserve setting. Dr. Ivar Mendez, head of surgery for the Saskatoon Health Region, talked about his use of the "doctor in a box" -- either a hand-held device or a full-sized robot as a means of doing real-time diagnostic and clinical work.
"You can look at a baby (in-vitro) from 7,000 km away," Mendez said.
Northern Medical Services is currently developing plans to use this technology in Pelican Narrows, one of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation's northern reserve communities. Mendez said this is a way for medical care to be administered when and where it is needed most.
Cara Greyeyes, IT program manager for KCDC and co-chair of the conference planning team, said conferences like this excite and motivate First Nations IT people to dream, and also give them both practical skills and people to work with to achieve those goals.
"Networking is key.... I believe that having all our partners present (means) that the remote community members can talk, ask questions and hear first-hand what the options are, and who they need to talk to," Greyeyes said.