NCF Board of Directors
Minutes of Board Meeting
September 17, 2024
Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors
Board members present:
Anis Hanna (gb499) Chair
Majd Karam (gc029) 1st Vice Chair
Peter MacKinnon (fr198) 2nd Vice-Chair
Graeme Beckett (aw958) Secretary
Chris Cope (bz787)
Sean Geddes
Asiya Shams
Len Fardella
Spencer Calahan
Regrets:
Eddie Villarta (gd683)
Stephen Fanjoy (gd782)
NCF Management/Staff present:
Executive Director: Shelley Robinson
Guests:
None
- Confirmation of Quorum
Quorum was confirmed
- Consent Agenda (45 minutes: questions & comments or corrections)
- Approval of minutes of previous board meeting July 23 2024
Motion: To move in-camera.
Proposer: Majd Karam (gc029)
Seconder: Peter MacKinnon (fr198)
The motion was carried.
New board members welcomed: Sean Geddes, Len Fardella, Asiya Shams and Spencer Callaghan.
Thanks to outgoing board members Michael Chan, Emmanuel Adenlolu, Laura Novitsky and Chris Taylor.
- Executive Director's Report
The Executive Director's report was submitted in advance of the Board meeting. Highlights of the open portion of the meeting are provided below.
NCF members at Apr. 1, 2024: 4860
NCF members at May 1: 4753
NCF members at June 1: 4661
NCF members at July 1: 4641
NCF members at Aug. 1: 4581
NCF members at Sept. 1: 4523
Updates since the last meeting:
CRTC decision on FTTP and rates:
On August 14, the CRTC released a decision in Canada’s internet service markets: we’ve been
waiting a long time for this — the hearing was first announced in March 2023 and NCF
submitted a number of comments and appeared at the in-person hearing. But really, we’ve
been participating and waiting for this decision since at least 2015. Unfortunately, there’s more
waiting to come.
The good news is that we now have wholesale access to Bell’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP)
services! We are currently doing an internal alpha-test of this service.
We are also currently upgrading our network facilities, moving from the data centre at Carleton
University to two new facilities which will enable us to better support FTTP and cable internet
and plan to launch the new FTTP service in the new year once the move is complete.
In terms of pricing: we already have (quite high) interim rates for the temporary aggregated
FTTP services but this may change with the national interim FTTP rate promised by the end of
the year and then the CRTC says the final rates will come sometime later. New rates for
DSL/FTTN and cable internet services are then supposed to come after the final FTTP rates.
Unfortunately, this means the CRTC has effectively kicked pricing — and better affordability —
down the road.
A related issue is that the Commission granted Bell exclusivity on all new FTTP installed for the
next five years (between August 14/24 and August 13/29), meaning NCF won’t be able to sell it
for that time. At the same time, the CRTC did not require Bell to maintain their current
DSL/FTTN infrastructure in areas where they install new FTTP infrastructure.
Bell had already been decommissioning (ripping out) their older infrastructure before the
hearing -- causing issues for many NCF members, including knocking them out of service. This
may mean we can no longer offer DSL or FTTP service to some addresses, but these addresses
may have access to cable internet.
Here's the CRTC's press release about the decision: https://www.canada.ca/en/radiotelevision-telecommunications/news/2024/08/crtc-takes-action-to-bring-canadians-morechoice-and-lower-prices-for-high-speed-internet.html
Here's the full text of the decision: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2024/2024-180.htm
Here's CBC's web story: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-expands-ruling-smallerinternet-providers-1.7293166
Community WiFi:
NCF’s free Community WiFi Network that we’re building to serve Vanier, Overbrook and Sandy
Hill and Lowertown is well underway! Here’s the CBC article and interview from earlier this
year: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/free-internet-ottawa-community-housing1.7096280
We’ve just connected to our backhaul connectivity offered by our partner Hiboo Networks and
are installing the equipment at 251 and 255 Donald Street, two Ottawa Community Housing
buildings. We are working to have the network up for tenants to test by the end of October and
we’ll officially launch phase one of the project by the end of the year.
In the new year we’re extending the WiFi to at least 10 other community organizations!
We’re hosting a Community Info Session about the network soon and will keep members posted
about the details once confirmed.
Thanks to summer student Naomi Badour, we’re also launching a new podcast series soon
about other Community Networks. Stay tuned!
Upcoming Panel Discussions and Workshops:
Thanks to summer student Kelly Huang, we’re re-launching a series of workshops, panel
discussions and related resources. It’s a mix of practical hands-on workshops offering digital
skills and panel discussions of experts offering context for what’s happening online. This
includes:
Tuesday, October 29 @7pm: Misinformation, Disinformation and Fake News
This online panel discussion will help give context about the kinds of disinformation and how
you can trust what you’re reading online. This is especially important during the run-up to
elections.
Wednesday, November 6 @ 2pm: Password Managers
Presented by Chris Taylor who has won awards for his digital skills workshops with the Ottawa
Public Users Group, this workshop will help teach you how to use an online password protector
in a way that’s safe and useful.
Registration details coming soon!
Volunteering at NCF:
Our Volunteer and Training Coordinator Luke Deschenes has been busy recruiting and training
new volunteers for our HelpDesk with dozens starting training! Do you have tech skills you want
to share? Contact Luke at volunteering@ncf.ca.
Motion: To hold an in-person strategic planning session with a date in October or November following an online poll for the date of best availability.
Proposer: Sean Geddes
Seconder: Majd Karam (gc029)
The motion was carried
Motion: To approve the consent agenda.
Proposer: Chris Cope (bz787)
Seconder: Peter MacKinnon (fr198)
The motion was carried.
- Strategic Discussion: (60 minutes)
- This item was deferred to the next meeting.
- Date of Next Meeting _________
The next Board meeting October 15, 2024 (no meetings in August): Hybrid, electronic and in-person at NCF office.
- Standing agenda item for discussion without staff and review (15 minutes)
- Discussion item (Anis Hanna)
This item is conducted in-camera.
Motion: To move out of camera.
Proposer: Majd Karam (gc029)
Seconder: Peter MacKinnon (fr198)
The motion was carried.