WORK PLAN FOR DEVELOPING A NATIONAL VISION STATEMENT
BACKGROUND
Bill C.38, the Telecommunications Act, passed in 1993, affirms that
"telecommunications performs an essential role in the maintenance of
Canada's identify and sovereignty" and identifies seven objectives,
including:
(a) to facilitate the orderly development throughout Canada of a
telecommunications system that serves to safeguard, enrich and
strengthen the social and economic fabric of Canada and its
regions; and
(b) to render reliable and affordable telecommunications services of
high quality accessible to Canadians in both urban and rural
areas in all regions of Canada.
Canada has achieved near universal access in both telephony and cable TV.
In both areas Canada has one of the highest penetration ratios in the
world. The number of phone lines in Canada (99%) compares dramatically with
developing countries like the Philippines (4%) and very favourably with
other industrialized countries such as the United States (93%). Similarly,
Canada has the second highest cable TV penetration of any country in the
world, surpassed only by Belgium which, unlike Canada, has the advantage of
a small geographic area and very high population density.
In both cases, grassroots support by community-based organizations was a
critical ingredient in making these telecommunications services universally
accessible and affordable. For example, after Bell Canada had judged that
it was uneconomical to provide telephone services in western Canada, a
grassroots movement of locally-based co-operatives played a leading role in
making telephone available to all. Similarly, the Canadian cable TV
industry still uses its original acronym "CATV" (Community Antenna
Television), even if for many Canadians, the community ownership has now
been superseded.
As high-speed data communications play an increasing role in the lives of
all Canadians, the Canadian Community Networking ("Free-Net") movement is
following the pattern seen in earlier forms of telecommunications
technology. Although the "Free-Net" concept originated in the U.S. in 1986,
the growth of Community Networks ("Free-Nets") in Canada has been dramatic,
with over fifty Community Networking Associations and thirteen operational
Community Networks having been established since the world's first
operational Free-Net outside the U.S. was opened in Canada in 1992.
Canadian Community Networks ("Free-Nets") are also rapidly evolving into a
uniquely Canadian service. For example, the Chebucto Free-Net in Halifax
has developed a powerful software suite based on easy-to-use Graphical User
Interfaces which far surpasses the text-only software developed in the
U.S., while the Victoria Free-Net partnered with the Commonwealth Games
Society, BC TEL, IBM, and the B.C. Ministry of Tourism in the use of
Canadian ATM ("Asynchronous Transfer Mode") technology to deliver moving
images, sound, and up-to-the-minute Games' results around the world. In
order to ensure that this latest form of telecommunications technology is
accessible and affordable to Canadians in both urban and rural areas and
performs an essential role in the maintenance of Canada's identity and
sovereignty, Telecommunities Canada, the umbrella body for Canadian
Community Networks, plans to prepare a strategy or National Vision
Statement for the development of Community Networking in all regions of
Canada. The following Work Plan describes how Telecommunities Canada will
prepare this National Vision Statement.
APPROACH
The Board of Telecommunities Canada, at their inaugural meeting in
Vancouver in November, 1994, unanimously agreed that full membership In
Telecommunities Canada should be available to all Canadian Community
Networking organizations which:
* operate on a not-for-profit basis;
* have their legal membership open to every citizen of their
community;
* provide equitable access to all citizens in their community;
* encourage exchange, publication and access to the broadest
possible range of information of interest to the community; and
* endeavour to create connections with other computer-based
networks and to allow the free and interactive flow of
information between different communities.
51 associations and 13 operating Community Networks have already been
identified and other organizations will be added as more and more
grassroots organizations are formed. Links have also been established with
provincial organizations such as the B.C. FreeNet Association, the Blue-Sky
Free-Net in Manitoba, and the Ontario Free-Net Association to agree on
national/provincial responsibilities and avoid duplication. The concept of
a "community" is deliberately broad, so that a province-wide organization
which meets the above criteria, such as the Blue-Sky Free-Net, will be
encouraged to become a full members of Telecommunities Canada.
Telecommunities Canada is, therefore, unequivocally the "national voice"
for Community Networks in Canada. However, the Community Networking
movement expects and indeed demands that the essential element for
Community Network development in Canada is grassroots community control.
Therefore, while Telecommunities Canada has the role of articulating a
long-term strategy for Community Network development in Canada, it is the
Community Networks themselves that will actually implement that strategy.
Telecommunities Canada the following approach in developing a National
Vision Statement:
1. Using the "Profile of Community Networks in Canada" as a starting
point a comprehensive and up-to-date list of all operating and
embryonic Community Networks in Canada will be maintained.
2. Based on this list, an on-going dialog will be initiated between the
Board of Telecommunities Canada and its constituents.
3. Thanks to the generosity of the Pacific Region Association for
Telematics, the B.C. FreeNet Association, and Digital Equipment of
Canada, a Telecommunities Canada "domain" will be established (tc.ca)
which will point to all Community Networks in Canada using such tools
as WWW and the Chebucto Software Suite and allow direct communication
with the Board (board@tc.ca) and the entire membership (members@tc.ca)
of Telecommunities Canada.
4. The members of the Board of Telecommunities Canada will donate their
services at no cost in order to hold face-to-face sessions on at least
three occasions in different parts of the country.
5. Where practical, these meeting will coincide with sessions of the
Information Highway Advisory Council and the CRTC Hearings on
Convergence and, even when such a scheduling of meetings is not
practical, the Board of Telecommunities Canada will provide both the
Council and the Commission with considered input which derives from
its undisputed sapiential authority.
6. An International Conference and General Meeting of Telecommunities
Canada will be held on Vancouver Island in mid to late 1995 which will
endorse the National Vision Statement and elect a new Board of
Directors.
7. The new Board of Telecommunities Canada will meet following the
Conference and General Meeting to present the National Vision
Statement to Ministers responsible for both Industry Canada and
Heritage Canada and will then hold a Press Conference with one or both
Ministers which will be netcast over the entire Internet.
TIMELINES
1. The founding meeting of the Board of Telecommunities Canada was held
in Vancouver B.C. on November 18 through 20, 1994, with funding
assistance from Industry Canada.
2. The initial list of all Community Networks in Canada has been prepared
and a dialogue has already been initiated to ensure the accuracy and
completeness of this list.
3. The Telecommunities Canada domain will be operational early in 1995
and by this time a dialogue proper concern the proposed "National
Vision Statement" will have been initiated.
4. A meeting of the Board of Telecommunities Canada will be held
coincident with the Information Highway Advisory Council meeting in
order to begin to apprise the Council of the development of a
"National Vision Statement" and allow the Board to share its view with
the Council Members. 5. A meeting of the Board of Telecommunities
Canada will be held coincident with the Convergence Hearings of CRTC
in order to present the Commission with a draft "National Vision
Statement" and allow the Board to share its views with the
Commissioners.
6. A meeting of the Board of Telecommunities Canada will be held
coincident with the International Conference and General Meeting of
Telecommunities Canada on Vancouver Island in the third quarter of
1995 to formalize the "National Vision Statement" which will then be
endorsed by the General Membership or revised in accordance with the
views of the General Membership.
7. A meeting of the Board of Telecommunities Canada will be held in
Ottawa in the fourth quarter of 1995 to present the "National Vision
Statement" to Cabinet and hold a joint press conference with the
Minister(s) responsible.