First Mile Challenges to Last Mile Rhetoric: Exploring the Discourse between Remote and Rural First Nations and the Telecom Industry
Solving Canada’s digital divide remains a significant issue, particularly considering how broadband networks have an impact on remote and rural areas politically, economically, socially, and culturally. Attached to this, as well, are the politics of the historical relationship between remote and rur...
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ftuniwaterlooojs:oai:canadianfoodstudies.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cfs/oai:article/2650 2023-05-15T16:14:22+02:00 First Mile Challenges to Last Mile Rhetoric: Exploring the Discourse between Remote and Rural First Nations and the Telecom Industry Philpot, Duncan Beaton, Brian Whiteduck, Tim 2013-12-22 text/html https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/2650 https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v10i2.2650 eng eng University of Waterloo Library https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/2650/3348 https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/2650 doi:10.15353/joci.v10i2.2650 The Journal of Community Informatics; Vol. 10 No. 2 (2014): Special Issue: Building the First Mile 1712-4441 10.15353/joci.v10i2 Broadband Policy Community networks First Nations issues remote and rural broadband discourse analysis info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2013 ftuniwaterlooojs https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v10i2.2650 https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v10i2 2022-05-09T15:37:17Z Solving Canada’s digital divide remains a significant issue, particularly considering how broadband networks have an impact on remote and rural areas politically, economically, socially, and culturally. Attached to this, as well, are the politics of the historical relationship between remote and rural First Nation communities, corporations, and the government. The way in which the relationship between remote and rural First Nations, the federal and provincial governments, and the telecommunications industries is reproduced is largely through discursive means. One of the consequences of this is that many outsiders to this issue are largely misinformed through documents and press releases. These documents frame remote and rural First Nations as helpless and dependent upon government and telecom industry intervention in order to secure their dependence upon their services. We argue that this is another form of political colonialism; a form of colonialism which seeks to create dependence upon the service economy for its own survival. In this paper, we examine the discourse surrounding the issue of remote and rural broadband connectivity as a means of exploring the reproduction of established narratives of First Nations dependence upon aid and service. We also explore how First Nations communities are using websites and documents of their own to counter these portrayals of their ‘plight’ by emphasising their desire to own and operate ICT services in their communities with local members, for local members. We conclude that there is a significant challenge that remote and rural First Nations face, but that the steps that have been taken are towards escaping the cycle of co-dependency. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations Waterloo Library Journal Publishing Service (University of Waterloo, Canada) The Journal of Community Informatics 10 2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Waterloo Library Journal Publishing Service (University of Waterloo, Canada) |
op_collection_id |
ftuniwaterlooojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Broadband Policy Community networks First Nations issues remote and rural broadband discourse analysis |
spellingShingle |
Broadband Policy Community networks First Nations issues remote and rural broadband discourse analysis Philpot, Duncan Beaton, Brian Whiteduck, Tim First Mile Challenges to Last Mile Rhetoric: Exploring the Discourse between Remote and Rural First Nations and the Telecom Industry |
topic_facet |
Broadband Policy Community networks First Nations issues remote and rural broadband discourse analysis |
description |
Solving Canada’s digital divide remains a significant issue, particularly considering how broadband networks have an impact on remote and rural areas politically, economically, socially, and culturally. Attached to this, as well, are the politics of the historical relationship between remote and rural First Nation communities, corporations, and the government. The way in which the relationship between remote and rural First Nations, the federal and provincial governments, and the telecommunications industries is reproduced is largely through discursive means. One of the consequences of this is that many outsiders to this issue are largely misinformed through documents and press releases. These documents frame remote and rural First Nations as helpless and dependent upon government and telecom industry intervention in order to secure their dependence upon their services. We argue that this is another form of political colonialism; a form of colonialism which seeks to create dependence upon the service economy for its own survival. In this paper, we examine the discourse surrounding the issue of remote and rural broadband connectivity as a means of exploring the reproduction of established narratives of First Nations dependence upon aid and service. We also explore how First Nations communities are using websites and documents of their own to counter these portrayals of their ‘plight’ by emphasising their desire to own and operate ICT services in their communities with local members, for local members. We conclude that there is a significant challenge that remote and rural First Nations face, but that the steps that have been taken are towards escaping the cycle of co-dependency. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Philpot, Duncan Beaton, Brian Whiteduck, Tim |
author_facet |
Philpot, Duncan Beaton, Brian Whiteduck, Tim |
author_sort |
Philpot, Duncan |
title |
First Mile Challenges to Last Mile Rhetoric: Exploring the Discourse between Remote and Rural First Nations and the Telecom Industry |
title_short |
First Mile Challenges to Last Mile Rhetoric: Exploring the Discourse between Remote and Rural First Nations and the Telecom Industry |
title_full |
First Mile Challenges to Last Mile Rhetoric: Exploring the Discourse between Remote and Rural First Nations and the Telecom Industry |
title_fullStr |
First Mile Challenges to Last Mile Rhetoric: Exploring the Discourse between Remote and Rural First Nations and the Telecom Industry |
title_full_unstemmed |
First Mile Challenges to Last Mile Rhetoric: Exploring the Discourse between Remote and Rural First Nations and the Telecom Industry |
title_sort |
first mile challenges to last mile rhetoric: exploring the discourse between remote and rural first nations and the telecom industry |
publisher |
University of Waterloo Library |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/2650 https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v10i2.2650 |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
The Journal of Community Informatics; Vol. 10 No. 2 (2014): Special Issue: Building the First Mile 1712-4441 10.15353/joci.v10i2 |
op_relation |
https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/2650/3348 https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/2650 doi:10.15353/joci.v10i2.2650 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v10i2.2650 https://doi.org/10.15353/joci.v10i2 |
container_title |
The Journal of Community Informatics |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
2 |
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1766000182734880768 |