Advancing Digital Equity Among North American Indigenous Communities

Advancing Digital Equity Among North American Indigenous Communities

The Indigenous Connectivity Institute, established in 2022, is a community of Indigenous leaders sharing knowledge, shaping policy, and building the skills needed to lead their digital futures. It is the first Indigenous-led organization dedicated to digital equity in Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada and is led by a 10-member advisory committee of Indigenous experts supporting First Nations, Inuit, Métis, American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.

Putting communities first and approaching connectivity in a holistic manner, they believe that partnerships are the key to bridging the digital divide that Indigenous communities are experiencing, especially as these communities are facing unique challenges relative to the general population such as remoteness and small population.

“In [Canada], there are about 1.8 million people who identify as Indigenous,” said Mark Buell, Director of Indigenous Programs, Indigenous Connectivity Institute. “So it’s about 5% of Canada’s total population, so a little higher than in the U.S. which is around 2%, but one thing to note about the population here is that it’s very young, and it’s growing much faster than the general Canadian population.”

As of 2022, 622 First Nation communities have a fiber backbone in place, leaving 126 with no fiber backbone and 97 with no backbone. Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut are almost entirely satellite dependent, with little to no plans on bringing fiber to the area which poses a great connectivity challenge.

“The real barriers to deploying high-quality and affordable access in Canada’s remote communities with low population density simple is that no one’s going to be deploying high-quality internet service out to a candidate 1,000 miles away from the next communities with a population of 300, so there’s no real return on investment,” noted Buell.

Although there are many obstacles with deploying fiber to these communities, such as a lack of qualified and skilled people and technical support being many miles away, posing the risk of days or weeks with outages, fiber connectivity in these Indigenous communities can help young people continue their high school education without having to leave their families or communities. Connectivity can also help to save the culture of the tribes.

“I’m of the generation where not many of my group [speak the language],” said Frank Horn Director – Workforce Development, Indigenous Connectivity Institute. “It was never taught to me as a young child, but to make up for lost time, my mom and her sister have weekly Zoom calls to teach myself and my brother and sisters to start revitalizing the language. That couldn’t have happened without my family having access to internet.”

To learn more about how The Indigenous Connectivity Institute is leading the charge to help these communities receive the education and resources to build their own interest networks, listen to the latest Fiber for Breakfast podcast.

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