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.
  
• Stimulate ICT (Information and Communication Technology) training opportunities by developing a Virtual ICT Centre of Excellence for training local representatives in communities to attain further skills in using ICT for the benefit of their communities;
  
• Encourage local businesses and organizations to deliver broadband services -- in order to ensure every community has local support for broadband.

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.

Managers

NBDC has two full time managers based in Iqaluit.

Patrick Doyle, CEO/Executive Director
Patrick Doyle is a senior management professional specializing in Aboriginal and Northern subjects. Originally from an Information Management and Technology background, in recent years Mr. Doyle has worked increasingly on strategy, policy, risk, and ‘machinery of government’ issues affecting basic human rights and civil society in the federal and not for profit sectors. Mr. Doyle has over 25 years of experience in all levels of government, private sector, National Aboriginal, and Non-Governmental Organizations.

Reporting to the board of directors, the CEO/Executive Director will be 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.

Oana Spinu, Project Manager
Oana Spinu will be joining NBDC in Iqaluit as a contractor to run the Infrastructure Phase II project in collaboration with a project team. She is currently completing her work as the Senior Advisor, Innovation and Technology, with the Government of Nunavut’s Economic Development and Transportation (EDT) department. As such she was also the GN’s appointed NBDC board member. 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 Executive Director, the Project Manager will be working 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. She 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.

Wendy Klinger, Professional Project Management – Based in Ottawa, Ms. Klinger has been instrumental in establishing the project management operating procedures for Infrastructure Phase II. She will work directly with Oana Spinu to ensure successful capacity development in Nunavut relative to this project.

David Veniot, Communications – Based in Ottawa, Mr. Veniot provides communications support. He is a former 4-year resident of Iqaluit where he was a senior communications account manager.

Officers

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

Robert McLean, is the Secretary-Treasurer, in addition to being the Vice-Chairman of the Board.

Both officer positions are being held on an interim basis by these volunteer board members until NBDC has staff in place when core funds allow.

Board of Directors

The board of directors represent all regions of Nunavut, and include members from both large and small Nunavut communities.

At the 2009 AGM, three directors were elected from the NBDC ‘individual class’ membership to fill the 3 of the 4 open two-year term positions. These include Adamee Itorcheak of Iqaluit (returning), Qingyi Su of Baker Lake, and Morrie Schneiderman of Iqaluit.

Sarah Meeko of Sanikiluaq was appointed by the board at the subsequent March 20th, 2009 board meeting to fill the last vacant two-year term. These two-year term board members will join with the three previously elected members who are completing their three year terms, making a total of 7 elected members on NBDC board.

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, while Robert McLean continues as Vice-Chairperson.

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

Adamee Itorcheak, (Iqaluit)
Bob McLean, (Sanikiluaq)
Darrell Ohokannoak, (Cambridge Bay)
Mike Perry, (Cape Dorset)
Qingyi Su, (Baker Lake)
Morrie Schneiderman, (Iqaluit)
Sarah Meeko, (Sanikiluaq)
Vacant, EDT Appointed Director
James Sandy, NTI Appointed Director as of May, 2007 (Rankin Inlet)

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.

Bob McLean, (Sanikiluaq)
Mr. McLean was an active participant with the previous NBDC Board of Directors, and prior to that, served on the NBDC Advisory Committee. He is manager of a Sanikiluaq-based Inuit owned company supplying local dial up access since 1998 and is the Community Service Provider for the new QINIQ broadband network in Sanikiluaq. He has acted as the "voice of small businesses from a small community" on the board, and provided insight into a variety of important subjects at NBDC meetings concerning the problems with living in a small, remote Northern community and doing business on an online web store selling locally produced, world-class, handcrafted soapstone carvings. Mr. McLean would like to continue being a member of the Board of Directors for the Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation to pass on his experience working with computers and using the Internet. He adds that he has met some of the nicest people in the North and had a pleasurable time getting to know them.

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.

Qingyi Su, (Baker Lake)
As the systems librarian for Nunavut Public Library Services, Government of Nunavut, Mr. Su maintains the integrated library system and provides technical support and training services to community librarians across the territory. He wants to see broadband in Nunavut bring the highest quality of library services to as many communities as possible, and provide people the same standard of programs, events, and materials as are found in libraries down south. Currently, the Internet service in Nunavut can only offer library patrons light website surfing and email access, but cannot handle audio books, E-books, virtual library, or streaming video. He wants to see progress made in the next few years on expanding broadband bandwidth and applications that compress and optimize audio/video transmission and larger files downloading. Mr. Su currently works at the library headquarter in Baker Lake and has been a resident of Nunavut for almost two years.

Sarah Meeko, (Sanikiluaq)
Ms. Meeko has lived in Sanikiluaq her entire life, and as the owner of SANNY Internet Services since 1998 with her partner Bob McLean, which provides the local sales and technical support for the QINIQ broadband network, she brings valuable experience to NBDC as a CSP in a small community. She comes from a family of carvers and together with Bob started an online web store www.soapstoneartists.com to give all carvers in the community another sales outlet for their work. They started SANNY Internet by offering a dial-up Internet connection to customers as a way to offset the high cost of telephone bills resulting from long-distance calls to Iqaluit. Ms. Meeko was also the retail department manager at the Northern store for many years and literally knows everyone in Sanikiluaq, which means she knows her Internet customers very well indeed. After all these years she felt it was time to “add her two cents” to the NBDC board. Her main concerns are Internet connection speed and reliability. She would also like to see an increase in cap size, even if that means raising the price a bit.

Information to follow when available
James Sandy, NTI Appointed Director (Rankin Inlet)
EDT Appointed Director (to be determined).