Information highway comes to James Bay

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Computers

The information highway has arrived in the far-flung communities of northern Quebec. The Creenet BBS, the first electronic bulletin board service in northern Quebec, was launched May 8 by the Cree community of Wemindji, 1,000 kilometres north of Montreal.

Creenet allows anyone calling a Wemindji phone line (tel.: (819)978-0303) to read or post the latest information about local events in the nine Cree communities of James Bay. They can also publicize services offered by band councils and the Cree health and school boards, job openings, sports scores and vacation tips. Regional media can use Creenet to exchange news and a "chat line" allows callers to communicate instantly with anyone on one of the BBS's eight phone lines.

"It's a local phone call and the world is at your fingertips," said Mike McGee, Creenet's founder and the community's economic development director. "It will open the doors to every single computer in the world, and it will be a communications tool for the world to find out about the Crees of James Bay."

Wemindji hopes to partly offset the $10,000 start-up cost, plus $8,000 a year for the phone lines, with advertising and a $10 monthly fee to non-Crees. For Crees the only cost is long-distance to Wemindji.

By next fall, the community's band council plans to expand Creenet into a full-fledged Internet server, another first for northern Quebec. The Internet will give Crees access to worldwide discussion groups on hundreds of topics ranging from national First Nations politics to Beverly Hills 90210.

Internet will cost Wemindji another $50,000, plus $60,000 to $70,000 a year in operating expenses. The band council is currently working on a business plan for the Internet which must still be approved by the Quebec Communications ministry. The idea of a Cree Internet is already supported by the Telebec phone company, which agreed to pay for the installation of a 56-kilobit digital phone line from Val d'Or to Wemindji.

McGee has gone on-line with the Internet from his own home for the past three years, racking up long distance charges of $200 to $300 a month.

"I never took a course," he said. "I'm just one of those in-house cyber-dudes. Putting together a BBS was a lot of fun, but it's really useful too." He got the idea after Wemindji's band council came under fire last year from residents complaining of secrecy in the administration led by Chief Walter Hughboy and a lack of debate on community issues.

"Band members were always asking for band information and they have a right to that. But it takes time to dig through files to find that stuff," said McGee, who hopes the BBS will allow band officials to communicate better with residents.

He said Creenet gives other Cree bands and regional organizations a similar chance to improve communications with the Cree people. Many Crees say the feel left behind by the explosion of bureaucratic organizations in their villages in the past 20 years and that sufficient information isn't always provided about decisions made on their behalf.

Creenet provides each band with a confidential space open only to members of that band where local officials can publish financial reports, minutes of meetings and by-laws. McGee said that no outsiders will have access to this information except the system operator in Wemindji.