WORK PLAN FOR DEVELOPING A NATIONAL VISION STATEMENT
       
                                       BACKGROUND
       
      Bill C.38, the Telecommunications Act, passed in 1993, affirms that
      "telecommunications performs an essential role in the maintenance of
      Canada's identify and sovereignty" and identifies seven objectives,
      including:
       
           (a)  to facilitate the orderly development throughout Canada of a
                telecommunications system that serves to safeguard, enrich and
                strengthen the social and economic fabric of Canada and its
                regions;  and
       
           (b)  to render reliable and affordable telecommunications services of
                high quality accessible to Canadians in both urban and rural
                areas in all regions of Canada.
       
      Canada has achieved near universal access in both telephony and cable TV.
      In both areas Canada has one of the highest penetration ratios in the
      world. The number of phone lines in Canada (99%) compares dramatically with
      developing countries like the Philippines (4%) and very favourably with
      other industrialized countries such as the United States (93%). Similarly,
      Canada has the second highest cable TV penetration of any country in the
      world, surpassed only by Belgium which, unlike Canada, has the advantage of
      a small geographic area and very high population density.
       
      In both cases, grassroots support by community-based organizations was a
      critical ingredient in making these telecommunications services universally
      accessible and affordable. For example, after Bell Canada had judged that
      it was uneconomical to provide telephone services in western Canada, a
      grassroots movement of locally-based co-operatives played a leading role in
      making telephone available to all. Similarly, the Canadian cable TV
      industry still uses its original acronym "CATV" (Community Antenna
      Television), even if for many Canadians, the community ownership has now
      been superseded.
       
      As high-speed data communications play an increasing role in the lives of
      all Canadians, the Canadian Community Networking ("Free-Net") movement is
      following the pattern seen in earlier forms of telecommunications
      technology. Although the "Free-Net" concept originated in the U.S. in 1986,
      the growth of Community Networks ("Free-Nets") in Canada has been dramatic,
      with over fifty Community Networking Associations and thirteen operational
      Community Networks having been established since the world's first
      operational Free-Net outside the U.S. was opened in Canada in 1992.
      Canadian Community Networks ("Free-Nets") are also rapidly evolving into a
      uniquely Canadian service. For example, the Chebucto Free-Net in Halifax
      has developed a powerful software suite based on easy-to-use Graphical User
      Interfaces which far surpasses the text-only software developed in the
      U.S., while the Victoria Free-Net partnered with the Commonwealth Games
      Society, BC TEL, IBM, and the B.C. Ministry of Tourism in the use of
      Canadian ATM ("Asynchronous Transfer Mode") technology to deliver moving
      images, sound, and up-to-the-minute Games' results around the world. In
      order to ensure that this latest form of telecommunications technology is
      accessible and affordable to Canadians in both urban and rural areas and
      performs an essential role in the maintenance of Canada's identity and
      sovereignty, Telecommunities Canada, the umbrella body for Canadian
      Community Networks, plans to prepare a strategy or National Vision
      Statement for the development of Community Networking in all regions of
      Canada. The following Work Plan describes how Telecommunities Canada will
      prepare this National Vision Statement.
       
                                        APPROACH
       
      The Board of Telecommunities Canada, at their inaugural meeting in
      Vancouver in November, 1994, unanimously agreed that full membership In
      Telecommunities Canada should be available to all Canadian Community
      Networking organizations which:
       
           *    operate on a not-for-profit basis;
           
           *    have their legal membership open to every citizen of their
                community;
           
           *    provide equitable access to all citizens in their community;
           
           *    encourage exchange, publication and access to the broadest
                possible range of information of interest to the community; and
           
           *    endeavour to create connections with other computer-based
                networks and to allow the free and interactive flow of
                information between different communities.
       
      51 associations and 13 operating Community Networks have already been
      identified and other organizations will be added as more and more
      grassroots organizations are formed. Links have also been established with
      provincial organizations such as the B.C. FreeNet Association, the Blue-Sky
      Free-Net in Manitoba, and the Ontario Free-Net Association to agree on
      national/provincial responsibilities and avoid duplication. The concept of
      a "community" is deliberately broad, so that a province-wide organization
      which meets the above criteria, such as the Blue-Sky Free-Net, will be
      encouraged to become a full members of Telecommunities Canada.
       
      Telecommunities Canada is, therefore, unequivocally the "national voice"
      for Community Networks in Canada. However, the Community Networking
      movement expects and indeed demands that the essential element for
      Community Network development in Canada is grassroots community control.
      Therefore, while Telecommunities Canada has the role of articulating a
      long-term strategy for Community Network development in Canada, it is the
      Community Networks themselves that will actually implement that strategy.
       
      Telecommunities Canada the following approach in developing a National
      Vision Statement:
       
      1.   Using the "Profile of Community Networks in Canada" as a starting
           point a comprehensive and up-to-date list of all operating and
           embryonic Community Networks in Canada will be maintained.
       
      2.   Based on this list, an on-going dialog will be initiated between the
           Board of Telecommunities Canada and its constituents.
       
      3.   Thanks to the generosity of the Pacific Region Association for
           Telematics, the B.C. FreeNet Association, and Digital Equipment of
           Canada, a Telecommunities Canada "domain" will be established (tc.ca)
           which will point to all Community Networks in Canada using such tools
           as WWW and the Chebucto Software Suite and allow direct communication
           with the Board (board@tc.ca) and the entire membership (members@tc.ca)
           of Telecommunities Canada.
       
      4.   The members of the Board of Telecommunities Canada will donate their
           services at no cost in order to hold face-to-face sessions on at least
           three occasions in different parts of the country.
       
      5.   Where practical, these meeting will coincide with sessions of the
           Information Highway Advisory Council and the CRTC Hearings on
           Convergence and, even when such a scheduling of meetings is not
           practical, the Board of Telecommunities Canada will provide both the
           Council and the Commission with considered input which derives from
           its undisputed sapiential authority.
       
      6.   An International Conference and General Meeting of Telecommunities
           Canada will be held on Vancouver Island in mid to late 1995 which will
           endorse the National Vision Statement and elect a new Board of
           Directors.
       
      7.   The new Board of Telecommunities Canada will meet following the
           Conference and General Meeting to present the National Vision
           Statement to Ministers responsible for both Industry Canada and
           Heritage Canada and will then hold a Press Conference with one or both
           Ministers which will be netcast over the entire Internet.
       
                                       TIMELINES
       
      1.   The founding meeting of the Board of Telecommunities Canada was held
           in Vancouver B.C. on November 18 through 20, 1994, with funding
           assistance from Industry Canada.
       
      2.   The initial list of all Community Networks in Canada has been prepared
           and a dialogue has already been initiated to ensure the accuracy and
           completeness of this list.
       
      3.   The Telecommunities Canada domain will be operational early in 1995
           and by this time a dialogue proper concern the proposed "National
           Vision Statement" will have been initiated.
       
      4.   A meeting of the Board of Telecommunities Canada will be held
           coincident with the Information Highway Advisory Council meeting in
           order to begin to apprise the Council of the development of a
           "National Vision Statement" and allow the Board to share its view with
           the Council Members. 5.   A meeting of the Board of Telecommunities
           Canada will be held coincident with the Convergence Hearings of CRTC
           in order to present the Commission with a draft "National Vision
           Statement" and allow the Board to share its views with the
           Commissioners.
       
      6.   A meeting of the Board of Telecommunities Canada will be held
           coincident with the International Conference and General Meeting of
           Telecommunities Canada on Vancouver Island in the third quarter of
           1995 to formalize the "National Vision Statement" which will then be
           endorsed by the General Membership or revised in accordance with the
           views of the General Membership.
       
      7.   A meeting of the Board of Telecommunities Canada will be held in
           Ottawa in the fourth quarter of 1995 to present the "National Vision
           Statement" to Cabinet and hold a joint press conference with the
           Minister(s) responsible.