Indigenous Families C0nnectivity project

Small and remote communities have been left out of new technology. Remote communities in the NWT are the eyes and ears of the north yet have no access to secure and reliable internet. We supply Starlinks to low income families and we will pay the monthly costs until March 2026. 

Once we have people hooked up to Starlink we would like to begin online training of young people for remote jobs like coding, cyber security and online businesses. Our challenge is educating youth in the communities. We would like to design online learning like Microsoft has with its Girls in Tech program except we'd like it to include our boys. There are approximately 29 small communities that we could set up online training for youth.

Our solution will allow communities to create economies based on online businesses etc meaning that they can then stay in their communities and create economies in their home communities. This will allow our communities and people to rely less on resource extraction in the North. Once our communities are connected to the outside world and have the opportunity to participate like the rest of the world, they will create their own economy.

I live in the North an originally come from a small community. My team is made up of people from the North and the University of Alberta who is conducting research of community members before and after we supply the Starlink units. We charter aircraft and fly to each remote community where we train two locals to install and maintain the Starlinks. We also train local people to conduct surveys. The research is the first of its kind. It delves deeply into the concerns of the people about the environment and the future of their languages and cultures.

We have completed installing Starlinks into Lutselke, NWT. We have also completed studies for three communities; Lutselke, Paulatuk, and Colville Lake. We have installed 29 Starlink units in Lutselke. We are not releasing the studies until we have completed all communities but so far, a high percentage of the communities believe that internet and new technology will help language and culture

I would like help to train our young people in the communities to use new technology like coding so that they may, if they choose, work in a career that will allow them to stay in their traditional Indigenous community.

My solution is innovative because no one thinks that Indigenous young people in small communities have anything to offer the new world. I believe that they way they live with the land coupled with new technology makes them a people who think differently. 

The education of Indigenous youth in our small and remote communities in new technology will allow for them to participate in the digital world. Most importantly, will allow them to offer solutions for such things as big data management. With the world heating up and the cost to keep big data storage cool, solutions will be needed. In the North, we have minus temperatures for at least 10 months a year. These small communities are remote and building big data storage centres may be the solution for the world and for these small communities.

Before we installed Starlinks into the 29 households in the community of Lutselke, it took over three hours to do a bank funds transfer online. Now it happens in seconds. 

I want to see our youth in our small communities not ignored because they live in the wrong place. With education in new technology, these young people will change the way the world treats them and their people. Once they have education and can participate fully, they do will be able to afford to build a home or buy a vehicle or go back to school.

For the small communities in the North, the core technology is Low Earth Satellites that Space X sends out. For the first time, it allows our small and remote communities to be connected to the rest of the world. Now we need to educate the small communities in new technology so that they can participate.

Brenda - contractor full time
Lyle - contractor part time
Rob - University of Alberta contractor part time
Murat - University of Alberta contractor part time
Vince - Smart Computers - contractor part time

We received our funding in March of 2023 however we have had forest fires and had to be evacuated from the city of Yellowknife for three weeks in the fall of 2023. We live in a vast and remote part of the world so travel is iffy because of weather and environmental conditions. 

We have a diverse team made up of a majority Indigenous. I am Inupiat, Lyle is Akaitcho, Murat is Indian, and Rob is white. We hire local Indigenous for all work in the small communities. Our parent organization Native Women's Association of the NWT is a majority Indigenous employed.

We supply Starlinks and pay monthly subscriptions until March 2026.

We want to offer education to youth about how to code and how to run businesses online.

The funds to do this project come from the federal government.

My long term plan is to:
Build a fibre optic line between the BC border and the NWT border. Currently the fibre optic line is owned by Bell. Because they own that small line that connects to our NWT fibre optic line they have control over our ability to have high speed internet. They basically use the NWT as a "loss" on the books. They have not upgraded any of their systems with all profits going directly to their shareholders. I'd like to find funds to build our own fibre optic line (i've estimated $18 million) then I would create a non profit that has two sections, one that makes the money from big government and business and the other takes part of that money and builds fibre optic to communities and subsidizes the communities that have yet to learn how to make a living online. Currently there is fibre optic but only the line from Inuvik to the south. The communities along the way do not have the money or capacity to build a line to their community or set up a hub.