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This website is about celebrating the achievements of remote and rural First Nations with information and communication technologies (ICT). We explore the challenges and solutions using a critical lens. This website brings together three linked projects with many of the same partners:<\/p>\n
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Research:\u00a0<\/span>First Nations Innovation<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(began in 2005) [\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_color=”#232323″ background_enable_image=”off” background_position=”center_right” background_horizontal_offset=”-83%” background_blend=”soft-light” custom_padding=”110px||110px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Discover Beatuty Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ text_font=”Roboto||||” text_text_color=”#FFFFFF” text_font_size=”20px” custom_padding=”30px|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”top” animation_delay=”200ms” animation_intensity_slide=”10%” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Research<\/strong>: Check out the\u00a0<\/span>Research section of this website<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for more information on the research activities. The research began in 2005 led by the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in Fredericton in partnership with the\u00a0<\/span>Keewaytinook Okimakanak<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>First Nations council in northwestern Ontario, with staff based in Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay. In 2006, our Atlantic partner joined us:\u00a0<\/span>Atlantic Canada\u2019s First Nations Help Desk<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\/ Mi\u2019kmaq Kina\u2019matnewey based in Membertou First Nation, Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In 2008 we were joined by our first Quebec partner, the\u00a0<\/span>First Nations Education Council<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>based in Wendake First Nation. In 2016 we were joined by our Alberta community partner, the\u00a0<\/span>Technical Services Advisory Group<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>based in Edmonton. In 2015 three research partners joined the project: the\u00a0<\/span>UNB Mi\u2019kmaq-Wolostoqay Centre (MWC)<\/a>, Universit\u00e9 Laval, and the University of Alberta. Since we began working together in 2005, our work has been supported by the\u00a0<\/span>Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>with in-kind contribution from our First Nation partners.<\/p>\n Our first project was called RICTA \u2013 Research on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) with Aboriginal Communities. We followed RICTA in 2006 with a series of research projects now called First Nations Innovation (FNI). The broad focus of all our research is how remote and rural First Nation communities are using ICT. On this page you can find all\u00a0<\/span>the publications from our research going back to 2004<\/a>. In 2014 we created an online course for UNB,\u00a0<\/span>Colonialism and the E-Community<\/em>, that we now are\u00a0<\/span>offering free to everyone on this website<\/a>. The research home has been the\u00a0<\/span>UNB Department of Sociology<\/a>. The research component of the project ended in March 2018.<\/p>\n Outreach:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>For more information about our outreach activities, visit the\u00a0<\/span>Community Stories section of our website<\/a>. In 2010 we began to work with remote and rural First Nations to develop stories highlighting how these communities are thinking about, planning, using, developing and innovating with ICT. The project \u2013 called the First Mile \u2013 was initially led by Simon Fraser University (SFU) in partnership with our research team, and after SFU\u2019s participation ended the core team continued the work: The University of New Brunswick, Keewaytinook Okimakanak, Mi\u2019kmaw Kina\u2019matnewey and the First Nations Education Council. This series of projects is called the First Mile.\u00a0<\/span>On this page you can find all the stories documented so far.<\/a><\/p>\n Policy:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>The First Nations organizations in our partnership have been actively involved in policy development prior to 2005. Since we began working together some policy activities continued as a team. Our outreach activities in 2010 led by Simon Fraser University and the University of New Brunswick, the first First Mile project, ended with an activity to influence federal policy related to First Nations broadband infrastructure. We realized afterward that the federal regulatory environment was a better focus for our policy efforts. In 2013 we created the First Mile Connectivity Consortium (FMCC) to work more directly on policy and in 2014 we incorporated the FMCC as a federal non-profit policy advocacy organization with a wider group of First Nation organizations as founding partners. On the FMCC section of the website are the FMCC board members, associates and members as well as the details of our policy interventions and activities to date.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ordinateur.jpg” title_text=”ordinateur” force_fullwidth=”on” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ custom_margin=”32px|||||” animation_style=”fold” animation_direction=”right” animation_intensity_fold=”20%” animation=”fade_in” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”CTA” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_image=”http:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/travel-landscape-13.png” parallax=”on” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” module_class=” et_pb_row_fullwidth” _builder_version=”4.16″ use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_stops=”#ffffff 0%|rgba(255,255,255,0) 22%” background_color_gradient_start=”#ffffff” background_color_gradient_end=”rgba(255,255,255,0)” background_color_gradient_end_position=”22%” width=”100%” width_tablet=”100%” width_phone=”100%” width_last_edited=”on|desktop” max_width=”100%” max_width_tablet=”100%” max_width_phone=”100%” max_width_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_padding=”220px|0px|220px|0px” custom_padding_tablet=”0px|||” custom_padding_phone=”” make_fullwidth=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”CTA Section Title” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ text_font=”||||” text_line_height=”1em” header_font=”Oswald|on||on|” header_text_align=”center” header_font_size=”60px” header_line_height=”1.3em” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||60px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”top” animation_intensity_slide=”10%” hover_enabled=”0″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_social_media_follow use_icon_font_size=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”facebook” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#3b5998″ global_colors_info=”{}” follow_button=”off” url_new_window=”on”]facebook[\/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][et_pb_social_media_follow_network social_network=”twitter” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}” follow_button=”off” url_new_window=”on”]X[\/et_pb_social_media_follow_network][\/et_pb_social_media_follow][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/couple2.png” show_bottom_space=”off” align=”center” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”100px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This website is about celebrating the achievements of remote and rural First Nations with information and communication technologies (ICT). We explore the challenges and solutions using a critical lens. This website brings together three linked projects with many of the same partners: Research:\u00a0First Nations Innovation\u00a0(began in 2005)Outreach:\u00a0First Mile\u00a0(began in 2010)Policy:\u00a0First Mile Connectivity Consortium\u00a0(began in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-127","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207,"href":"https:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/127\/revisions\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ancestorschallenge.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Outreach:\u00a0<\/span>First Mile<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(began in 2010)
Policy:\u00a0<\/span>First Mile Connectivity Consortium<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(began in 2013)<\/p>\nfollow-us<\/h1>\n