Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 19/98) - Canada's Northern colleges, including Aurora College and Yukon College in Whitehorse, are looking for help from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

When colleges met on June 8 in Yellowknife they agreed to send a letter to the CRTC asking them to keep an eye on the North's unique situation when telephone competition is introduced in 2000.

"All of our institutions are planning to enhance accessibility to training though increased usage of the Internet and telecommunications for distance education," said Yukon College president Sally Ross in the letter.

"The emergence of Nunavut, the settlement of land claims and implementation of self-government in the Yukon, the resurgence of interest in northern forestry, the ecological and environmental conservation needs, climate change issues, and so on, are forces requiring the enhancement of community access to education and training."

Last month, NorthwesTel announced that it needed between $20 million and $30 million annually from a national fund to subsidize high-cost servicing areas. If that fund is not created, phone service could deteriorate and perhaps be lost in some communities.

Comparing the need for Internet access in the North to the creation of CBC, the building of the Trans-Canada railroad and the Trans-Canada Highway, Ross said that it is time for another investment.

The new national need is in the creation of information linkages to improve regional participation in information technologies and the support to make it affordable, she said.

"Self-sustaining communities in Canada's north are in the best interest of all Canadians," said Ross.

"As deregulation in the communications industry proceeds we respectfully request that you bear in mind the unique situation in the North."

On June 12, at meeting in Fredericton, Canada's information highway ministers returned to the need to eliminate barriers to the expansion of the information highway.

The ministers agreed on several proposals to ensure Canada remains at the forefront in harnessing social and economic potential of the knowledge-based economy.

They talked about issues of access, delivery of government services, the protection of personal information, electronic commerce, affordable access and using the Internet to offer services to remote communities such as tele-education and tele-medicine.