“Hearing impaired people in Nunavut now have access to a state-of-the-art communications tool”

By JANE GEORGE

Nunavut MP and federal health minister Leona Aglukkaq took what she calls “a new way of communicating” on a test drive April 10 in Iqaluit.

That’s when she spoke to Clayton Ungungai of Baker Lake, a student at Algonquin College in Ottawa, who is deaf, thanks to a new video-conference telephone connection.

Helped by sign language interpreters on both ends, Aglukkaq asked Ungungai when he planned to graduate and what his plans were.

Aglukkaq learned that at the end of the month Ungungai graduates in aboriginal studies — and then he wants to head back to Baker Laker, where his communication will be that much easier due to the new video telephone he’ll have at home.

“Thanks to this project, hearing impaired people in Nunavut now have access to a state-of-the-art communications tool,” Aglukkaq said.

Six communities in Nunavut are now participating in a pilot project to test the video-conference equipment in a partnership between the governments of Canada and Nunavut, the Nunavut Broadband Development Corp., and the Canadian Deafness Research and Training Institute.

The special telephone, which is outfitted with a tiny video screen so that people on both ends can see each other sign, is an easy thing to use — and not expensive to supply: $200 a phone, a $75 modem — along with access to dedicated broadband, the most expensive and essential part of the new communication.

For James MacDougall of the Canadian Deafness Research and Training Institute, April 10 was a special day.

Special, he said, because he still remembers how hard communication used to be with his deaf parents when they had to type to each other over a special telephone, but had no way to see each other.

And “video phone technology can greatly assist in the full inclusion of deaf Nunavummiut in all aspects of community life,” he said.

“This represents one of the core values of Nunavut,” said MacDougall, who has been involved with a Government of Nunavut-sponsored project to document Inuit Sign Language.

The new communication tool is also important because it represents yet another way that deaf people in Nunavut can get access to the sign language interpretation they are guaranteed by law when they require services in the justice and health sector, MacDougall said.

Wendy Ireland, executive director of the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society, called the new video telephone connection “a great advance for deaf people.”

“It also holds considerable potential for people with other types of disabilities who need face-to-face communication within and between communities from the comfort of their home,” she said.

This pilot project is part of “Meet Online” for video-conferencing solutions designed to operate over Nunavut’s satellite-based network.

Meet Online has dedicated bandwidth that offers a reliable connection between any two communities in Nunavut — and which won’t be competing for other internet devices for bandwidth.

Arviat, Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit, Pond Inlet, and Arctic Bay are all participating in this pilot project for deaf Nunavummiut.

This video-conferencing pilot, which was developed with Qiniq service provider SSi Micro Ltd., is funded through Nunavut Broadband Corp.’s Infrastructure II project.

The Canadian Deafness Research and Training Institute, which helped identify participants across Nunavut, will be the primary partner in the project.

As for how many Nunavut residents there are who could benefit from the service, that’s something the institute — and MacDougall — hope to establish.

The federal government is contributing more than $21.6 million from the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund as well as an additional $500,000 from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada to the Infrastructure II project. Nunavut is giving $500,000 and the Nunavut Broadband Corp. more than $18.5 million.