World Summit on the Information Society

1

World Summit on the Information Society
Indigenous People and the Information Society
Summit Panel Proposal Canadian draft for
discussion/planning purposes
Aboriginal Canada Portal working
group July 9th, 2003
2
WSIS Background

• World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
• - United Nations sponsored event
• - December 10th to the 12th, 2003 in Geneva and
  again in Tunis 2005
• - National Leaders ?
• - Summit to discuss the importance of, and key
  challenges associated
• with availing the Internet to marginalized
  elements of society

• Activities to date
• - several Regional PrepComs
• - one civil society PrepCom organized
• - draft declaration prepared

• Canada, through the Aboriginal Canada Portal
  working
• group (joint government Aboriginal
  organizations)
• is promoting/championing a special Indigenous
  Session
• - 3 to 4 day Indigenous People and the
  Information Society
• - no WSIS funding
• - little time before Geneva WSIS 2003
• - other key governments not yet engaged
• - developing a tangible, practical and
  agreeable WSIS/ipis action plan
• towards Tunis 2005

3
ACP and WSIS Strategy/Approach for Geneva 2003

• Develop an internationally representative forum
  of Indigenous
• connectivity stakeholders (gov., NGOs, private
  sector) and
• collect US 300k funding (for LDC Indigenous
  groups)
• - other governments (N.A., Circumpolar,
  Asia, Africa, Aus., N.Z. etc..)
• - intl funding institutions (IDB, WB, ICA,
  ECLAC etc..)
• - private sector
• - fund would enable 60 Indigenous
  representatives to attend Geneva

• Engage a minimum of 10 developed countries to
• - attend and sponsor key domestic indigenous
  groups to attend
• - work with ACP to develop program, format
  and action plan

4
Indigenous People the Information Society
Participants

• International plenary partnership committee
  composed of 26
• members from
• - Canada (government and aboriginal group)
• - US (government and one aboriginal group)
• - Mexico (government and one aboriginal
  group)
• - Brazil (government and one aboriginal
  group)
• - Australia (government and one aboriginal
  group)
• - New Zealand (government and one aboriginal
  group)
• - Africa (government and one aboriginal
  group)
• - 2 Circumpolar countries (government and one
  aboriginal group)
• - Asia (government and one aboriginal group)
• - 3 International Funding Institutions
• - 3 private sector (phone companies)

• Each plenary partnership committee member to
• - donate US 10k to WSIS fund
• - ensure attendance of one government and 3
  indigenous groups
• - assist in developing program
• - assist in drafting and participating in
  2003 to 2005 action plan

5
Indigenous People the Information Society
Coordination

• WSIS Indigenous Planning Committee
• 2 UNpf reps
• 2 ACP reps
• 2 WSIS reps
• 2 Intl funding reps

6
Proposed WSIS/Indigenous (Plenary Panel and Forum)

• WSIS Indigenous Plenary Panel
• government(s)
• Indigenous Groups
• Intl funding Institutions
• Private sector

• sponsoring orgs
• plans program
• draft action plan
• preside over workshops
• write final plan/declaration
• two reps read into Summit

• Plenary Forum
• 50 Indigenous reps
• 30 government(s)
• 10 Intl funding inst.
• 10 private sector

• representative forum
• provide input / context
• develop priorities
• network

Workshop 1 Infrastructure
Workshop 2 E-skills Dev.
Workshop 4 Gov. e-services / single window
Workshop 3 Digital Culture
? other topics
Workshop 5 E-health
Workshop 6 E-learning
Workshop 8 Digital Convergence TV / radio /
internet
Workshop 7 E-commerce
4 Workshop Reports

• workshop facilitators
• synthesize comments
• work with Plenary Com.

7
Canadian Proposed/Draft Indigenous Declaration
Action Plan

• WSIS Indigenous Connectivity Stakeholder
  Declaration
• The Information Society will enable new and
  dramatic social and
• economic opportunities for remote and
  dis-advantaged Aboriginal
• communities and people
• Indigenous Communities are among the least
  connected people
• Governments must take action where the
  marketplace cannot
• New partnership models must be explored, tested
  and shared
• Two WSIS Indigenous Tunis PrepComs to be planned
  for 2004 and 2005

• WSIS Indigenous Connectivity Stakeholder Action
  Plan
• short term - 6 countries agree to develop
  domestic Indigenous Partnership
• Portals connect these
  into a Global community of interest
• - countries to exchange
  e-services application code (ie e-health)
• medium begin developing a roadmap to Tunis 2005
  with PrepComs in
• 2004 and 2005 to share models
  pilots, and prepare policy recs
• to governments related to
  Indigenous community connectivity.
• long at Tunis countries to
  announce/strengthen programs and policies
• related to Indigenous community
  connectivity programs/pilots to
• - deploy infrastructure (schools,
  local gov., community health centres)
• - developing e-skills within
  communities people
• - promoting Aboriginal digital
  development language tools
• - delivering electronic government
  social and economic
• development services to
  communities

8
Canadas Possible Contributions

• Championing and Planning
• The ACPortal w.g. in partnership with WSIS, UN
  and intl agencies
• will solicit co-funding from other governments
  and agencies
• The ACPortal in partnership with WSIS, UN, other
  gov(s) and intl
• agencies will prepare draft WSIS/ipis agenda,
  program and
• declaration/action plans for consultation
• Will develop and moderate a virtual WSIS/ipis
  stakeholder forum
• Will prepare and submit 7 Aboriginal
  Connectivity discussion papers
• Connecting Schools, Connecting Community Centers
• Connecting Health Centres
• ACP / Aboriginal Canada Portal
• Promoting Digital Aboriginal Culture / Languages
• E-skills development
• On-line Government Services Aggregation models

• Funding for WSIS participation
• set-aside Cdn. 90k within WSIS/ipis pool to
  support less developed
• countries Indigenous reps to participate
• support approximately 25 South/Central American
  Indigenous attendees
• support 2 or 3 African Indigenous Connectivity
  representatives
• sponsor 6 to 12 reps from Canadas 6 National
  Indigenous organizations to
• attend Geneva WSIS 2003
• support 4-7 government representatives

9
Aboriginal Canada Portal working group Next
Steps

• Government Agency Recruitment // July to
  September
• DFAIT, IC, INAC and CIDA approach contacts in
  other governments
• state departments
• telecom/industry departments
• aboriginal departments
• development departments
• Denmark, Norway, US, Mexico, Japan, Brazil,
  Africa?, Asia?,
• Australia, New Zealand
• International Funding Agencies
• United Nations permanent forum participation

• Indigenous Recruitment // July to September
• AFN, MNC, NWAC, CAP, ITK and CANDO
  identify/suggest other
• African, North/Central/South American,
  AsiaPacific and European
• Indigenous stakeholders

• Prepare, Review and Share Input // July to
  September
• WSIS/ipis Canadian Connectivity discussion
  papers
• Suggest and share draft declaration and action
  plans

• Develop, update and moderate Virtual WSIS/ipis
  On-line Consultation Forum
• key international Indigenous connectivity
  stakeholders contacts
• list of Canadian and international Indigenous
  connectivity papers
• draft declaration and action plans

10
Appendix Aboriginal Canada Portal members
Craig Clark Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Marc Trudeau Human Resource Development of
Canada
Judy Whiteduck Assembly of First Nations
Ernie Dal Grande Health Canada
Jay Roberts Congress of Aboriginal People
Mark McDowell Foreign Affairs and
International Trade
Katelin Gillis Metis National Council
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Appendix Aboriginal Canada Portal members
Suzanne Robert Industry Canada
Jelena Golic Native Womens Association of
Canada
Andre Guertin Privy Council Office
Mike Tokunaga Council for the Advancement
of Native Development Officers
Anne Marie Milner Canadian Heritage
Ian MacArthur Indian and Northern Affairs
Brian Phillips Canadian International Development
Agency