It is the community that is the network, not the technology. The role of community networking is to turn experience of that transition into practice. The purpose of public access points is to ensure that all citizens not only those who can afford their own personal equipment and connections, can access the on-line resources offered by community networks and their service providers. Telecommunities Canada is an association of associations that expresses the collective interests of members and provides a means for them to connect in joint action. Telecommunities Canada s primary role is to find the means of rendering local community network learning into a common knowledge base that is generally accessible to anyone who might want to use it.
Community networks are grassroots organizations.
Their continuing growth depends on sustaining self-organized local initiatives. Telecommunities Canada assists electronic community networks in augmenting the means available to communities to participate in and control the socio-economic and political restructuring that affects them. Industry Canada is the federal government department which is, inter alia, the focal point for implementing the provisions of the Telecommunications Act and for accelerating the roll-out of the information highway in Canada. This framework will be announced mutually as convenient and subsequent announcements will provide for joint participation and exposure. The operational details of this framework will be jointly discussed and agreed upon by both parties before December 31, 1997.