The K-Net Broadband Governance Model: Intersecting Views from Government, Community, and Industry
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The Kuh-Ke-Nah broadband governance model: How social enterprise shaped internet services to accommodate indigenous community ownership in Northwestern Ontario, Canada (circa 1997 to 2007) by Adam Paul Fiser A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Information University of Toronto© Copyright by Adam Paul Fiser 2010 The Kuh-Ke-Nah broadband governance model Adam Paul Fiser Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Information University of Toronto 2010 Abstract This thesis articulates how the Kuh-Ke-Nah network (K-Net) shaped broadband development in remote indigenous communities. K-Net operates under the not-for-profit stewardship of Keewaytinook Okimanak (KO) Tribal Council. Located in Northwestern Ontario, KO brought K-Net to life amongst its six member First Nations in the mid 1990s. As K-Net evolved and expanded its membership, KO established a governance model that devolves network ownership and control to community networks in partner First Nations. This governance model reflects KO’s use of social enterprise to organize K-Net’s community-based broadband deployment amidst necessary partnerships with government programs and industry players. K-Net’s social enterprise has rapidly grown since 1997, when its core constituents fought for basic telephone service and internet access in Northern Ontario. In the space of less than a decade, K-Net communities have gone from a situation in which it was common for there to be but a single public payphone in a settlement, to a point where over thirty now have broadband internet services to households. Technologies now under K-Net control include a C-Band satellite transponder, IP videoconferencing and telephony, web and email server space, and a variety of terrestrial and wireless links that effectively connect small, scattered First Nations communities to each other and the wider world. K-Net’s governance model encourages member communities to own and control community local loops and internet services under the authority of a local enterprise. Community ownership and control over local loops allows First Nations to collaborate with KO to adapt broadband applications, such as telemedicine and an internet high school, to local challenges and priorities. K-Net’s aggregation of demand from disparate users, within and across member communities, creates economies of scale for the network’s social enterprise, and allows a dynamic reallocation of bandwidth to meet social priorities. Based on four years of research with K-Net stakeholders under the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN), my thesis documents the evolution of K- Net’s governance model as a reflection of its social enterprise. Drawing from Community Informatics and the Ecology of Games, I trace K-Net’s history and organization to assess how KO, its partners, and K-Net’s constituents, cooperated to make social enterprise viable for member First Nations. Acknowledgments In the Sioux Lookout District, thanks go out to Ziggy Beardy, Brian Beaton, Lorraine Kenny, and family, Terence Burnard, Jeannie and Penny Carpenter, Lars Dixon, Jesse Fiddler and Angie Morris-Fiddler, Margaret Fiddler, David Gordon, Lyle Johnson, Tabatha Jourdain, Geordi Kakepetum, Tina Kakepetum-Schultz, Leon Keeper, Cal Kenny, Derek Kenny, Ed and Freda Kenny, Cheryl Klassen, Adi Linden, Raymond Mason, David McKay, Orpah McKenzie, Angus Miles, John Moreau, Terry Moreau, Darrell Ostamas, Susan Owen, Dan Pellerin, Darrin Potter, James Rae, Darlene Rae, Jeremy Sawanas, Kanina Terry, Carol and Tom Terry (and the flying squirrel), Manley Wapioke, Donna Williams, and Florence Woolner, … meegwetch! Special thanks to the First Nations of Keewaytinook Okimakanak: Deer Lake, Fort Severn, Keewaywin, McDowell Lake, North Spirit Lake, and Poplar Hill. In Thunder Bay, thanks go out to Budapest Budweiser, Aaron Hardy, Craig Hardy, Martina Kanekakeesic, John Lyons, Wesley McKay, Richard Ogima, Jamie Ray and family, Carl Seibel, Franz Seibel, Brian Walmark and family. In the Golden Horseshoe, thanks go out to Ether Adnan, Krista Boa, Nadia Caidi, Elise Chien, Antony Chum, Andrew Clement and Lucy Suchman, Terry Constantino, Barbara Crow, Joseph Ferenbok, George Ferreira, Bernie Hogan, Robert Luke, Susan Macdonald, Rhonda McEwen, Brenda McPhail, Catherine Middleton, Gale Moore, Fernando Oliveira, Ricardo Ramirez, Karen Smith, Steve Szigeti, and Matt Wong. Thanks also to, Lillian Beaudoin, Brandi Bell, Kristen Berg, Gerry Briggs, Philipp Budka, Arthur Cordell, Diane Dechief, Julia Dewar, Pierre Gendron, Geoff Gurd, Christie Hurrell, Michael Gurstein, Ashley Kowtiash, Lily Menominee, Marita Moll, Darren Nadjiwon-Elliot, Prabir Neogi, Susan O’Donnell, Elizabeth Navea, Alison Powell, John Rowlandson, Sarah Carrière, Leslie Shade, Susan Lebeau, Robert Shawana, Chessa Syrette, Tara Toulouse, and Frank Winter. This research was conducted with financial support from the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council (PhD fellowship, Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking, Researching ICTs with Aboriginal Communities), Infrastructure Canada (Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project), and Ministry of Government Services Or.ntario (Broadband Research Agenda). I gratefully acknowledge the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada First Nations SchoolNet program and its Regional Management Organizations for permission to reproduce national Aboriginal and Northern connectivity data from service contract # 20-09-0026. Deepest gratitude to Drs. Ilona and Paul Fiŝer, whose brave decision to embrace the cold in 1969 set this snowball rolling… Table of Contents Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................3 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................10 List of Figures................................................................................................................................12 List of Appendices .........................................................................................................................15 Chapter 1........................................................................................................................................17 1 Setting the Stage: What is broadband governance? ..................................................................17 1.1 Confronting global uncertainty: Indigenous peoples’ hopes and fears in a broadband- enabled society...................................................................................................................22 1.2 A Canadian vision emerges: “Connecting Canadians” and a “New National Dream” ....24 1.2.1 The research context: Driving questions................................................................26 1.2.2 Taking up the challenge of Coon Come’s vision: Canada presents K-Net to the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) 2003 ......................................29 1.3 Situating the thesis subject.................................................................................................33 1.3.1 Broadband governance by local loops ...................................................................36 1.3.2 Ownership by commercial enterprise ....................................................................42 1.3.3 Ownership by First Nations authority....................................................................45 1.3.4 Ownership by First Nations commercial enterprise...............................................46 1.3.5 Co-ownership by Social enterprise ........................................................................47 1.3.6 Delimiting scope: Social enterprise as a specific broadband governance model ..51 1.4 Reflexive interlude: My participation with K-Net under the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN) ....................................65 1.4.1 CRACIN partnerships: Research by/for /against/with K-Net................................68 1.5 Data generation methods....................................................................................................77 1.5.1 Fieldwork ...............................................................................................................77 1.5.2 Historical case-oriented research ...........................................................................80 Chapter 2........................................................................................................................................85 2 Community-based networking: Contextualizing K-Net’s broadband deployment and governance ................................................................................................................................85 2.1.1 A taxonomy of community networks ....................................................................86 2.1.2 Community networking in Canada: A brief history .............................................95 2.1.3 The First Nations community networking movement in Canada: 50 years of communications history.........................................................................................97 2.2 Community networking in theory: Community informatics on community-based ICT development.....................................................................................................................102 2.2.1 Vulnerabilities