Citizen Engagement in Practice - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 65

As a result they were able to establish K-Net (the Kuhkenah Network -
Kukehnah being an Oji-Cree term for everyone, everywhere) to provide an
electronic bulletin board service, offer training and acquire computers for
each KO First Nation. The first communities on the network (which at that
time did not have telephones) were given access to the Internet and instant
messaging. Federal resources were then successfully leveraged to get some
of the communities connected to the phone for the first time. By 1999, the
programme had fulfilled the original objectives of providing regional tele-
communications connectivity (bandwidth), training, promoting awareness,
linking the technological needs of the communities with various funding
and development programmes to facilitate communication (Ramirez et al.
2004).
In 2000 the programme organisers bid to the Canadian Government for
funds to become a Smart Communities Demonstration Project. The com-
petition required the winners to demonstrate both community engagement
and 'smart results'. In other words, the sponsors “ wanted to ensure that
services were developed with the communities, not for them ” (Ramirez
et al. 2004). K-Net succeeded in the competition to become Canada's only
Aboriginal Smart Community Demonstration Project. This brought grant
funding of $5 million between 2000 and 2004, which had to be matched
with $5 million from other sources, including private businesses, to enable
an expansion of the programme's activities.
A series of facilitated workshops was held in communities across the
region to engage community members in defining their own requirements
and priorities for expansion. As a consequence, two important develop-
ments emerged. One is the online Keewaytinook Internet High School
(http://kihs.knet.ca/). Chiefs and community elders could see that the use
of computers and Internet communications would make life far more inter-
esting for their young people, as well as providing them with new skills.
The establishment of the online High School has enabled young people
from grade 11 upwards to stay within the support of their families and
communities, rather than flying out to board at High Schools, whilst also
giving them the opportunity to contact young people in other communities.
From September 2005, online schooling has also been available for grades
9 and 10. The school is authorised to give credits leading to the Ontario

Secondary School Diploma. The online High School is seen as a critical

benefit to community, not only in providing an attractive educational facil-
ity which can encourage young people to complete their high school edu-
cation, but also in retaining young people within the community at a time
when they are maturing and could lose a sense of belonging by having to
board away from home. The K-Net technologies also of course allow people
of all ages in the community to educate themselves through participating in