The National Broadband Task Force was an initiative of the Government of Canada

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...

 whose mandate was established in 2001 by the Canadian Minister of Industry

Minister of Industry

The industry minister is a cabinet position in a government.The title may refer to the head of the governmental department that specializes in industry. This position may also be responsible for trade and employment, areas that fall under the ministries of commerce and labour in some governments...

, at that time Brian Tobin

Brian Tobin

Brian Vincent Tobin, PC is a Canadian businessman and former politician. Tobin served as the sixth Premier of Newfoundland from 1996 to 2000. Tobin was also a prominent Member of Parliament and served as a Cabinet Minister in Jean Chrétien's Liberal government.- Early life, education, and family...

.

The Task Force was chaired by David Lloyd Johnston

David Lloyd Johnston

David Lloyd Johnston is a Canadian academic, author and statesman who is the current Governor General of Canada, the 28th since Canadian Confederation....

, and its report was delivered on June 18, 2001.

Mandate

The initiative sought "to map out a strategy for achieving the Government of Canada's goal of ensuring that broadband services are available to businesses and residents in every Canadian community by 2004."

Recommendations

The Task Force recommended four overall "priorities" for achieving basic broadband access by 2004:

• Transport Link: "All communities should be linked to national broadband networks via a high-speed, high-capacity and scalable transport link."
• First Nation, Inuit, Rural and Remote Communities: "The priority of the broadband deployment strategy should be to link all First Nation, Inuit, rural and remote communities to national broadband networks".
• Public institutions: "The local broadband access infrastructure should be extended to the community's public facilities, including every public learning institution, public health care facility, public library and other designated public access points."
• Connecting Businesses and Residences: "The local broadband access infrastructure should also be extended to local business and residential users, for example, by leveraging broadband infrastructure serving public facilities."

Membership

The membership of the National Broadband Task Force included web-linked members in Clarenville

Clarenville

Clarenville is a Canadian town on the east coast of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Clarenville was incorporated in 1951 and is located in the Shoal Harbour valley fronting an arm of the Atlantic Ocean called Random Sound....

, Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

; Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

; Sioux Lookout, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

; and Iqaluit, Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

.

Members

Vic Allen, Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chair, Upper Canada Networks (UCNet)

Louis Audet, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cogeco

Cogeco

Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian media and communications company. The name is an acronym for Compagnie Générale de Communication .-History:...

 Inc.

Kathy Baldwin, Superintendent, School District 14, 15 and 16, Miramichi

Miramichi, New Brunswick

Miramichi is the largest city in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated at the mouth of the Miramichi River where it enters Miramichi Bay...

, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

Brian Beaton, Co-ordinator, K-Net Services, Keewaytinook Okimakanak in Sioux Lookout, Ontario

Andrew Bjerring, President and Chief Executive Officer, CANARIE

CANARIE

CANARIE is a Canadian government-supported non-profit corporation, founded in 1993, which maintains a set of leased wide area network links for the transfer of very large data files. The core network consists of 19000 km of fibre optic cable capable of speeds as high as 100 Gbps but...

 Inc.

Larry Boisvert, President and Chief Executive Officer, Telesat Canada

Pierre Bouchard

Pierre Bouchard

Pierre Émile Bouchard is a retired former professional ice hockey player with the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals....

, President and Chief Executive Officer, RISQ Inc., Quebec Scientific Information Network

Donald Ching, President and Chief Executive Officer, SaskTel

SaskTel

Saskatchewan Telecommunications is a provincial Crown Corporation operating under the authority of the Saskatchewan Telecommunications Act. It is the only remaining Crown Corporation in the Canadian telecommunications industry....

Hubert de Pesquidoux, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alcatel Canada

Denis Dionne, President, Montreal Technovision Inc.

Darren Entwistle

Darren Entwistle

Thomas Darren Entwistle is a Canadian business man, currently president and chief executive officer of TELUS, a Canadian telecommunications company....

, President and Chief Executive Officer, Telus

TELUS

Telus is a national telecommunications company in Canada that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, video, and satellite television. The company is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, part of Greater Vancouver...

Adamee Itorcheak, President, Nunanet Worldwide Communications

John Kelly

John Kelly

- People :* John Kelly of Killanne , leader of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 in Wexford* John Kelly , Congregational minister* John Larry Kelly, Jr. , originator of the Kelly criterion...

, Principal, Reid Eddison Inc.

Philippa Lawson, Counsel, Public Interest Advocacy Centre

William Linton

William Linton

William Linton may refer to*William S. Linton, U.S. politician*William James Linton , Anglo-American artist and author*William Linton , British landscape artist*William Richardson Linton, botanist...

, President and Chief Executive Officer, Call-Net Enterprises Inc.

Mary Macdonald

Mary Macdonald

Dame Mary Beaton Macdonald, DBE is a British schoolteacher and former headmistress who was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for her work turning around the failing Riverside Community Primary School in North Tyneside, where she spent 13 years.-Scandal:The same...

, President, Macdonald and Associates Ltd.

Michael MacMillan

Michael MacMillan

Michael I.M. MacMillan is the Co-founder and Chairman of , a charitable organization that studies citizen engagement with the Canadian democracy. Through its projects, it hopes to strengthen the health of Canada's democracy and encourage others to do the same....

, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Alliance Atlantis

Alliance Atlantis

Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Toronto-based media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney.Alliance Atlantis was acquired by Canwest...

 Communications Inc.

John McLennan

John McLennan

John McLennan was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Glengarry as a Liberal-Conservative member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1879 to 1882....

, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

 Canada

David Marshall

David Marshall

Dave Marshall or David Marshall may refer to:* Dave Marshall , former professional baseball player* Dave Marshall , guitarist with Vince Neil and Slaughter...

, Vice-Chairman, Electronic Commerce, Technology and Operations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is one of Canada's chartered banks, fifth largest by deposits. The bank is headquartered at Commerce Court in Toronto, Ontario. CIBC's Institution Number is 010, and its SWIFT code is CIBCCATT....

 (CIBC)

Gerry Miller, Executive Director, Information Services and Technology, University of Manitoba

University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

Wendy Newman, Chief Executive Officer, Brantford Public Library

Brendan Paddick, President, Regional Cablesystems Inc.

Michael Sabia

Michael Sabia

Michael John Sabia, is a Canadian businessman. He is the current CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Sabia formerly served as CEO of Bell Canada from 2002 through 2008.-Personal life:...

, President, BCE Inc. and Vice Chairman, Corporate, Bell Canada

Bell Canada

Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...

Jim Shaw

Jim Shaw

Jim Shaw is the name of:* Jim Shaw , artist and musician* Jim Shaw * Jim Shaw , Canadian businessman* Jim Shaw * Jim Shaw * Jim Shaw , mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota...

, Chief Executive Officer, Shaw Communications

Shaw Communications

Shaw Communications is Canada's largest telecommunications company that provides telephone, Canada's fastest Internet and television services as well as broadcasting and soon Wifi. Shaw is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta...

 Inc.

Gerri Sinclair

Gerri Sinclair

Dr. Gerri Sinclair is a Canadian businesswoman and technologist and current Executive Director of the Masters of Digital Media Program at the Centre for Digital Media, Great Northern Way Campus, Vancouver, British Columbia....

, President and Chief Executive Officer, NCompass Labs

Charles Sirois

Charles Sirois

Charles Sirois, is a Canadian businessman. He is the founder, controlling shareholder, Chairman and CEO of Telesystem Ltd., a Canadian private equity company....

, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Telesystem Ltd.

Carol Stephenson

Carol Stephenson

Carol Stephenson, OC is the former dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. She was named to the board of directors of the post-bankruptcy General Motors Co. in July 2009 as a representative of Canada Holdings. She also serves as a director of ING Canada...

, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lucent Technologies

Lucent Technologies

Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...

 Canada Corp.

Allister Surette, President and Chief Executive Officer, Collège de l'Acadie

John Tory

John Tory

John Howard Tory is a Canadian businessman, political activist, former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, former Member of Provincial Parliament and broadcaster...

, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rogers

Rogers

-Places:Canada*Rogers Island *Rogers PassUnited States*Rogers, Arkansas*Rogers, California*Rogers, California, alternate name of Muroc, California*Rogers, Minnesota*Rogers, Nebraska*Rogers, Ohio*Rogers, Virginia*Rogers City, Michigan...

 Cable Inc.

Pamela Walsh, President, College of the North Atlantic

College of the North Atlantic

College of the North Atlantic is the public college of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The enabling legislation is theCollege Act....

Dr. Mamoru Watanabe

Mamoru Watanabe

is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor, known for his work in the pink film genre. Along with directors Genji Nakamura and Banmei Takahashi, Watanabe is known as one of the "Three Pillars of Pink".-Early life:...

, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Calgary

University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...

John Wetmore, Vice President, IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

.com, Americas

Stephen Wetmore, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aliant

Aliant

Bell Aliant Inc. is a communications company providing services in various areas throughout eastern Canada, as Bell Aliant throughout Atlantic Canada, and under the NorthernTel, and Télébec brands in rural areas of Ontario and Quebec....

 Inc.

Participating Associations

Canadian Association of Broadcasters

Canadian Association of Broadcasters

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters was the national voice of Canada's private broadcasters, representing the vast majority of Canadian programming services, including private radio and television stations, specialty, pay and pay-per-view services....

Canadian Association of Internet Providers

Canadian Cable and Television Association

Canadian School Board Association

Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association

CATA Alliance

Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Federation of Canadian Municipalities

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is a civic advocacy group representing many Canadian municipalities. It is an organization with no formal power but significant ability to influence debate and policy, as it is main national lobby group of mayors, councillors and other elected municipal...

Information Technology Association of Canada

Information Technology Association of Canada

Information Technology Association of Canada is an advocacy group representing members of Canada's information and communications technologies industry....

External references

• The National Broadband Task Force
• Report of the National Broadband Task Force (PDF)