NBDC is working to ensure people have reliable, affordable access to broadband services in every single Nunavut community. As a not-for profit corporation with over 70 members, NBDC is guided by a volunteer board elected by the membership. Anyone can be a member of NBDC provided they live in Nunavut. (download membership forms HERE.)

NBDC has four jobs in the next few years as it works to meet the goal of affordable, reliable, broadband services delivered locally.

• Make sure the infrastructure built by the private sector provides reliable, affordable service….and be a watchdog on behalf of the public.
  
• Stimulate the development of applications that meet people’s needs – sharing information among regions…identifying funding sources and ensure funds are coming into Nunavut companies, organizations to develop made-in-Nunavut solutions.
  
• Encourage local businesses and organizations to deliver broadband services -- in order to ensure every community has local support for broadband.
• Work with Nunavut’s Inuit organizations, the Government of Nunavut, and the Government of Canada to ensure ongoing investment in broadband infrastructure and services in the territory so that Nunavummiut continue to have reliable, affordable access to broadband services in every Nunavut community.
  

Who is NBDC?

The Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation (NBDC) was created by the members of the Nunavut Broadband Task Force to ensure communities, companies, organizations and individuals not served by existing government networks can get connected to broadband at affordable prices.

NBDC is a not-for-profit corporation, controlled by Nunavut residents. The membership is made up of interested citizens who come from a wide range of backgrounds, including the general public, and people who work for private sector companies, Inuit organizations, community organizations, and hamlets - the only requirement for membership is that you live in Nunavut. Currently 57% of NBDC’s membership are Inuit under the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement, (NLCA). Anyone in Nunavut can sign up to be a member.

Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation owns 100% of the shares of the operating corporation, NBDC Inc., which is recognized as an Inuit firm under the NLCA. NBDC Inc. holds some of the assets of the QINIQ under the direction of the Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation Board of Directors. These assets are held as security for borrowed funds which are being repaid by the network operator SSI Micro Ltd. When these loans have been completely repaid the assets held by NBDC Inc. will be released to the network operator.

Be a Member

Download our membership form, fill it in, fax it to (866) 383-6315. There is no fee. You will receive updates by email on the development of broadband services in Nunavut. Your membership allows you to vote for the board of the NBDC in all Annual General Meetings.

Management

NBDC's management is based in Iqaluit.

Oana Spinu, Executive Director
Oana Spinu has been with NBDC since October 2009 in the roles of Project Manager and Acting Executive Director.  Previously, she was the Senior Advisor, Innovation and Technology, with the Government of Nunavut’s Economic Development and Transportation (EDT) department.  In her own words, “My interest is to see a robust ICT Infrastructure in Nunavut that enables creativity and innovation, that can be a tool for development (whether personal, social, cultural or economic), and that gives Nunavummiut the power to communicate with each other and the world, on their terms.”

Reporting to the board of directors, the Executive Director is responsible for managing the overall operations of the not-for-profit corporation and its operating subsidiaries.  This includes overseeing all projects and managing finances, contracts, government relations, stakeholder communications, and fundraising. 

Sean Rorison, Project Manager
Sean Rorison is an MBA graduate with over 10 years of international experience in management, business development, communications and information technology.  He has worked as a team leader in a large corporate environment and as an entrepreneur in his own software company.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Project Manager works with stakeholders, vendors and various levels of government to ensure the Infrastructure Phase II Project meets goals of Nunavut residents in the deployment of new services.   He will also be involved in the realization of ongoing northern capacity development.

Project Support

Dave Smith, Senior Advisor – Based in Ottawa, Mr. Smith provides strategic guidance on the Infrastructure II project, vendor relations and contractual agreements. His previous six years experience with NBDC ensures a smooth management transition through his continuing involvement.

Officers

As of May 1, 2009, Darrell Ohokannoak is the President of NBDC, as well as holding position of the Chairman of the Board.

The position of Secretary-Treasurer is currently vacant, but will be filled at the next board meeting.

Board of Directors

The board of directors represent all regions of Nunavut, and include members from both large and small Nunavut communities. There are a total of seven board director positions elected from the “individual class” membership, and two positions appointed from the “government class” membership, for a total of nine positions.

At the 2011 AGM, four directors were elected from the NBDC ‘individual class’ membership to fill the 4 two-year term positions. These include Adamee Itorcheak of Iqaluit (returning), Morrie Schneiderman of Iqaluit (returning), Chris Heide of Pangnirtung and John Aglukark of Baker Lake.

The Department of Economic Development and Transportation of the Government of Nunavut appoints one member from the ‘governmental class’ of membership. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. appoints one member from the ‘non-governmental class’ of membership.

Mr. Darrell Ohokannoak continues as the Chairperson for NBDC.

The board members include the following people, who will act as volunteers to guide NBDC:

Adamee Itorcheak, (Iqaluit)
Darrell Ohokannoak, (Cambridge Bay)
Mike Perry, (Cape Dorset)
Morrie Schneiderman, (Iqaluit)
Chris Heide (Pangnirtung)
John Aglukark (Baker Lake)
Vacant, currently recruiting
PJ Akeeagok, NTI Appointed Director (Iqaluit)
Eric Jean Doiron, EDT Appointed Director (Iqaluit)

Adamee Itorcheak, (Iqaluit)
Mr. Itorcheak has been on NBDC’s board since NBDC started. He is very interested in seeing NBDC continue its work to ensure the evolution of broadband services to meet evolving needs of Nunavut residents. He sees NBDC as playing a critical role in conducting research and development in satellite applications to ensure people in Nunavut benefit from broadband.  He wants to stay on top of communication technology developments worldwide, and make sure Nunavut deploys these new technologies. One of the most critical things for Mr. Itorcheak is to see NBDC achieve stable core financing for the work it does for Nunavut residents. He wants to see continual improvements to services for residents, and sees an important role for NBDC in ensuring residents have access to training on how to use broadband tools for their own benefit. In the 1990’s, Mr. Itorcheak worked with Microcell and was one of the founders to get the Inukshuk Networks started – the company that developed the current wireless system that is deployed in the QINIQ network. Mr. Itorcheak began his career with Bell Canada in the early 1980’s and has remained involved ever since in all aspects of the communications industry. He has been the owner and President of Nunanet, a local ISP in Iqaluit for 11 years. He sat on the National Broadband Task Force in 2001, and was elected to the NBDC board in 2003, where he has served since. Mr. Itorcheak is a lifelong resident of the Baffin region.

Darrell Ohokannoak, (Cambridge Bay) Chairperson of NBDC
Mr. Ohokannoak was first selected as Chairman of NBDC in 2005 by the NBDC directors. As Manager of Polarnet, Mr. Ohokannoak now heads up the delivery QINIQ in all the communities of the Kitikmeot, with Polarnet as the Community Service Provider. He was contracted by SSI Micro (the company who built the new QINIQ broadband network) to conduct training for all the Community Service Providers in all the regions. Mr. Ohokannoak was one of the principal people who started Polarnet in 1997 – providing local dial-up services to the 5 Kitikmeot communities. Today, he wants to see broadband technologies available in Nunavut at the same level as technologies in southern Canada. He sees a huge potential to help Nunavummiut improve ways of communicating – including VoIP, videoconferencing, and various forms of real-time communication. A life long resident of Cambridge Bay, he is very experienced in working on various boards of organizations. He sat on Nunavut Trust as a Trustee, and been a director the Nunavut Liquor Licensing Board. He volunteers on the Cambridge Bay Justice Committee, and runs the local cadet corps. Mr. Ohokannoak negotiated for Polarnet to be the Globalstar Dealership reseller for satellite phones. In addition to being technically competent, he also has a great deal of experience working with people.

Mike Perry, (Cape Dorset)
Mr. Perry is the Community Service Provider of the new QINIQ broadband network, providing services to the residents of Cape Dorset. He wants to see broadband services extended to as many people as possible, and ensure people receive the support they need to use broadband effectively. With broadband, Nunavummiut will be able to define a new Nunavut – as people can more easily communicate with each other across the territory. He has experienced watching people go on line for the first time, and the priority they have given to using broadband to talk to others. So in the next year, Mr. Perry wants to see attention paid to broadband applications that make communicating with others easier and more accessible. Mr. Perry currently works at the Hamlet as the inventory manager, and operates the local cable company. A long-time resident of Nunavut, he first moved to Iqaluit in 1978 and relocated to Cape Dorset for the West Baffin Coop in 1983. He then worked with the Dept. of Public Works, GNWT, and is currently employed by the Hamlet.

Morrie Schneiderman, (Iqaluit)
Mr. Schneiderman has over 30 years experience as a leader in operations, customer relationship and business process development projects, most of which involved the use of computer and information technology. He sees Broadband Internet as the crucial piece of infrastructure key to economic and community development in Nunavut. From experience he firmly believes that Nunavut’s future success requires efficient broadband connectivity and high quality information systems to enable people, businesses and government to work and communicate effectively with each other and the rest of the modern world. Mr. Schneiderman is currently the NNI Information Analyst in the GN's Department of Economic Development and Transportation, where he uses PHP and HTML in his day-to-day activities. As well, he is the Acting Secretary of the NNI Contracting Appeals Board and Coordinator of Next Steps, an education program for owners and managers of Nunavut based businesses. He is also a member of the City of Iqaluit’s Economic Development Committee and sits as a director on various boards.

Chris Heide, (Pangnirtung)
Mr. Heide has dedicated much of his working life to the concerns of youth in the areas of literacy, crime, abuse, immigration and the environment.  Throughout his career he has focused strongly on community development and has worked closely with a broad variety of community groups.  His exploration of drama as a tool in youth development earned him the title of National Ambassador for Safety Community Service in 2008 for a theatre project on teen suicide.  As well, in 2005 he was honored with the Gordon Foundation’s Award for Children and Youth.  Mr. Heide’s relationship with Nunavut dates back to the 1980’s, when he lived and worked in Pangnirtung.  After a number of years in the south, he returned in 2007 to work for the Hamlet of Pangnirtung as the Coordinator of Making Connections for Youth.  Chris is also responsible for the local CAP Site, based at the Pangnirtung Youth Centre.  With fifty percent of the population in Pangnirtung being under the age of 21 years, Chris is very familiar with the aspirations of youth for better internet access.  Nunavut youth travel more than ever and are painfully aware that they are second-class citizens in Canada's cyberspace.  Chris wants to work within the Board of NBDC to advocate for broadband services that respond to the needs of Nunavut youth.  His wife Deborah Hickman is a tapestry weaver and long-time arts consultant with Uqqurmiut Sanaugaqarvingat in Pangnirtung. They have a son Dylan in Cape Dorset and a daughter Kaleigh in Halifax.

John Aglukark, (Baker Lake)
Mr. Aglukark has been involved in the IT field since 2002, when as a librarian he was tasked with managing a network of ten computers.  Since then he has been employed in various other positions in which his responsibilities have included day-to-day PC and network troubleshooting issues and end user support.  Currently he works as an IT Technician for Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (Meadowbank Division), while also running a start-up company, Nunavut Technologies (Nu-Tech), which provides technical support for office networks and home clients in Baker Lake.  It is Mr. Aglukark’s goal to expand Nu-Tech to provide IT services throughout Nunavut and to educate Nunavummiut in efficient and effective ways to make the best of current and future technologies.  As a board member he intends to keep his clients and Inuit in general apprised of the growing QINIQ network and services, as well as any new broadband developments and information related to the work of NBDC.   Mr. Aglukark’s education includes Networking Technology (CCNA) and ongoing studies for CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft Client and Server 2008 certifications.

Information to follow when available
PJ Akeeagok, NTI Appointed Director (Iqaluit)
Eric Jean Doiron, EDT Appointed Director