This 6-minute preview of Cedar and Silicon is a look ahead at the documentary examining how some First Nations communities have been successful in "bridging the digital divide" in rural and remote areas of B.C.  Tune in for the full-length version of Cedar & Silicon on the Knowledge Network, Thursday, January 25 at 10:00 p.m. <<<Click here to preview (Apple Quick time)>>><<<Click here to preview (Windows Media Player)>>>

GwaiiTel Launches High Speed Internet Services in Haida Gwaii - November 28, 2006
Masset, B.C. - Haida Gwaii residents have high-speed Internet service for the first time as GwaiiTel and its Haida Gwaii Community Network launched operations today.  In collaboration with local Internet service providers, the network brings high-speed Internet service to about 5,000 people living in the Islands' seven largest communities.  To view news release click here.

UK National Audit Report - Delivering Successful IT-enabled Business Change - November 17, 2006
A report published today by the National Audit Office identifies common threads in IT-enabled programmes and projects, to pinpoint the key factors which have contributed to success and how they can be replicated in future by the public sector.  View the UK National Audit Report and Case Studies of Success, including the reference to the Network BC Project.

Longest Over-water Radio Internet Transmission to Connect Haida Gwaii to Broadband - September 20, 2006
Vancouver, B.C. – The world’s longest over-water radio Internet transmission will connect Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, to high speed Internet service later this year. TELUS and the Gwaii Trust Society signed a contract for the project earlier this week.  To view news release click here. 

First Nations Communities Learning to Embrace the Future While Preserving the Past - September 18, 2006
BURNABY, B.C. (September 18, 2006) – Discover what technology means to British Columbia’s First Nations communities on Cedar and Silicon, a Knowledge Network original documentary airing Wednesday, October 18 at 8 p.m.  To view full news release click here (including poster).

Telcos File Deferral Account Proposals - September 1, 2006
Canada's major telcos have filed proposals to spend their accumulated deferral account funds to expand rural broadband coverage. View proposals submitted by the telecos at  http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2006/8638/c12_200602708.htm.

News Archive

Overview

British Columbia is one of the most connected provinces in Canada. 74 percent of households have an Internet connection and 64 percent are high-speed or broadband connections. No one can dispute that British Columbia is on the information highway and rapidly increasing speed, but despite our high rate of connectivity, there remains a digital divide - a line demarcated by geography, income, education level, literacy, age and ethnicity - that determines who is online in British Columbia, and who is not.

Telecommunications and Internet links do more than enhance personal communication; they also facilitate the delivery of new educational, health care and other services, and they encourage the revitalization of rural communities by allowing the people living in those communities to participate in the global electronic economy. Increasingly, these services must be broadband, or high capacity, to have real impact.

At present, high-speed broadband is available in the more populated areas of the province. On the positive side, 89 percent of the population live in a community where broadband is available. Looking at the community count, the picture is less rosy. Of the 366 provincial communities being tracked for broadband access, 151 do not have access. 76 of these remote communities are First Nations or communities in proximity to First Nations. These unconnected communities are small and there is little business case for commercial carriers to make the investment required to bring high-speed services to these communities.

The provincial NetWork BC project is leveraging the telecommunications purchase by the public sector to bring services to these communities. If vendors want to sell telecommunications to the provincial government in the future they will need to be involved in providing a solution to these underserved communities.

BC's plan to bring broadband to all communities is described on these pages.

Overview of the plan