By Michael Lynch
Northwestern Ontario communities and the area’s chambers of commerce have come together to develop the use of information, communications and geo-spatial technologies.
Known as Northern Genesis, the project is being led by the Northwestern Ontario Technology Centre (NOTC) in Thunder Bay.
The communities participating directly are Dryden, Marathon, Manitouwadge, Schreiber, Nipigon and Thunder Bay. The Northwestern Associated Chambers of Commerce, which represents 2,000 businesses, is also involved.
“Our objective is to connect residents, government, and businesses in the northwest to each other,” says Judy Sander, NOTC’s business adviser, manager.
“It will be especially valuable in northwestern Ontario where many communities are remote,” Sander says.
Northwestern residents were invited to participate in an online survey, conducted in April, to determine what services users would like to see on their community’s Web portal when it is developed.
“We need to understand the needs of residents and their priorities before proceeding (with the project),” Sander says.
The survey, which takes approximately 10 minutes to complete, asks participants whether they would use online services in four service areas, including municipal, economic development, education/training and tourism.
“Having economic development information online will be of benefit to Dryden,” says Jim Dayman, economic development manager.
Dayman envisions a Web site for Dryden that contains information on the local economy, demographics, private and public land available for development, the cost of land and whether it is serviced, plus municipal services that can be handled online.
“The idea is to have a comprehensive database for potential investors, and to maintain (the database),” Dayman says.
“All communities have economic development information available, but putting it together on a Web site will make it easy for developers,” Sander says.
Sander says there are numerous advantages to having northwestern communities work together on the Northern Genesis project.
“One municipality can purchase software needed and share it with other municipalities, thereby reducing costs,” Sander says.
She says each community participating in the project will decide what services and departments they would like to feature on the Web site, ranging from dog licensing to economic development.
Sander says funding for the project is being made available from two provincial government programs: Connect Ontario and GeoSmart. The Connect Ontario component is led by the Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology. This program invests in broad-based partnerships for the development of infrastructure plans and the implementation of electronic infrastructure projects.
