Information Technology

Recognizing that Information Technology is essential to advancing the Nation’s goals and interests, this department is committed to ensuring information is accessible and readily available to the Nation’s members and ensure digital equity in our community.

Improving Connectivity

This department has been working closely with the Connected Coast project, an initiative that will bring new or improved high-speed internet accessibility to 139 rural and remote coastal communities, including Bella Coola, via a subsea fibre-optic cable, stretching from Prince Rupert south to Vancouver, then around Vancouver Island.

Improved connectivity will be transformative to our community. Benefits of highspeed internet include improved access to telehealth and online consultations with medical professions, improved access to online education – which can build capacity in our community – and improved access to the information we need to grow our community.

Fast and reliable Internet services will also strengthen the safety of our community: it is always beneficial to have access to a high-speed network in cases of emergency, because time is always the most valuable asset in those situations.

Due to its remote location, our community has been underserved for many years. The Connected Coast project will link our community with the world and we will no longer experience the negative effects of the digital divide. As a result, we will experience a better quality of life in the place we call home.

Joseph Nash

Director of IT and Project Management

Creating the Department of IT

The Nuxalk Nation has been without a dedicated department of information technology (IT) for over half a century.

In 2020 the nation was able to initiate its own department of IT. The aim of the department is to overcome the digital inequity the nation has faced for many years. This department will play a key role in connecting and safeguarding our community with the digital world, ensuring we can flourish and grow.

The department of IT maintains additional day-to-day responsibilities, including:

Digital infrastructure. This includes hardware components, the network, the circuitry, and all other equipment necessary to make an IT system function according to the established needs and system size.
Data Governance: This includes the implementation of operational parameters for working units and individuals' use of IT systems, architecture, and networks. This is part of the conventional IT security as well as data
Functionality: This includes creating and maintaining operational applications; developing, securing, and storing electronic data that belongs to the organization; and assisting in the use of software and data management to all functional areas of the organization

The IT team will continue to explore and understand challenges and paint points; define policy, out-comes and measure our effectiveness; asses the technical and user readiness; deliver solutions while creating organisational awareness and continue to develop an interminable growth trajectory.

Joseph Nash

Director of IT and Project Management

Cheyenne Anderson

Service Desk Technician

Digital Equity

Digital equity is a condition in which all individuals and communities have the capacity and resources needed for full participation in 21st-century education, economy, and society. The First Nations Technology Council defines digital equity as a state in which “every Indigenous person, community and Nation is fully equipped to access and effectively use technology to contribute, thrive, and succeed in today’s digital society while preserving self-determination.”

A lack of equitable, affordable and sustainable access to digital and connected technologies has resulted in Indigenous peoples representing only 1% of the country’s rapidly growing digital economy. As the future of work becomes increasingly reliant on workers with digital skills, this lack of Indigenous representation will continue to perpetuate socioeconomic disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in BC.

The Indigenous Framework for Innovation and Technology identifies several areas of intervention including; connectivity and infrastructure, skills development, employment and business development, tech and innovation leadership, policy and legislation, and governance and self-determination. These areas of intervention were informed through province-wide engagement with Indigenous community members, innovators and entrepreneurs to support a nation-to-nation relationship and technological advancement as a driver of reconciliation.

The Nuxalk Nation, along with the First Nations Technology Council, are currently working with various provincial ministries to forward the advancement of Indigenous peoples in the digital economy.

Joseph Nash

IT Director