Collected Item: “Covid-19 highlights lack of connectivity in first nations communities”
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Covid-19 highlights lack of connectivity in first nations communities
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News article
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
This article speak about the ‘digital divide’ in Canada; a reality in Canada where rural and First Nations communities don’t have access to the sufficient technology or infrastructure to use online platforms, or just the internet in general. This particular article tackles how the pandemic has exacerbated this divide, and has shown the need to give these communities access to high-speed internet. These communities often are left to ask private enterprises to provide these services, and these corporations which are profit oriented as all telecommunications giants often ignores these calls, as they would not see a financial return. Essentially, profits are being placed over people, which in turn breaks apart the social solidarity of these communities and complicates communication between First Nations communities and the Canadian state, as well as community organization at large. However, this article states that the government will be actively attempting to incentivize these private corporations to build telecommunications infrastructure as a means to abide by the UN’s declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. While progress is being made, this article nevertheless identifies the material and logistical disparities between First Nations communities throughout the nation; which have been highlighted by the pandemic.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
digital divide, internet access, broadband, Canada, British Columbia, First Nations, telecommunication industry
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https://www.terracestandard.com/news/covid-19-highlights-lack-of-connectivity-in-first-nations-communities/
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Rebecca Dyok
Give this story a date.
2020-05-28