The Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory is a First Nation reserve on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario. And it charts a fiercely independent course guided by the wisdom of its Anishinabek culture — a course they call proud, progressive, and prosperous.
Like many communities across Canada, however, Wiikwemkoong contends with challenges like depression, crime, and addictions. That’s where the progressive side of their agenda is making an impact.
By combining compassion with cutting-edge technologies and support from Cisco, the community is seeking a positive path towards a safer, healthier, and more connected future – all informed by Elder teachings.
In 2023, after careful consultation with community members, Wiikwemkoong’s chief and Tribal Council approved a project that would bring Cisco Meraki security camera and modernized, cloud-managed networking to the community.
Since then, security teams have utilized the cameras, Internet of Things sensors, and monitoring dashboards to increase deterrence and safety in public areas — enabling fast responses when a drug overdose, fire, environmental threat, lost people, or potential crime is detected.
“Using Meraki technology, we’ve created a 24/7 command center, said Michael McCormick, Information Technology Manager at Wiikwemkoong. “If an alarm comes up on a dashboard, we can click in to focus on it, and find out quickly, is it a real fire? Is there elevated CO2? Is someone in trouble?”
Tammy Duffy, acting staff sergeant with the Wiikwemkoong Tribal Police Service, stressed the importance of close collaboration and communication between police, IT teams, and community members.
“We understand the trauma that some of our people have endured and build that into how we engage and support the community we serve,” said Duffy. “Our approach as a police service is rooted in respect and prevention, and partnership with our IT team allows us to do this.”
The initiative, which got an added boost in monetary and technical support from Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program earlier this year, has already saved lives.
“In collaboration with the Tribal Police Service, we’ve prevented deaths,” McCormick explained. “If we monitor people about to overdose, we’ll send an ambulance. And even if they decline a visit to the hospital, we’ll still have eyes on that individual and send the ambulance back, if we need to. Any dose could be their last, especially in cold temperatures when they could pass out and freeze.”
Guy Diedrich, Cisco’s senior vice president and global innovation officer, also leads the CDA program, which has worked with governments and private sector organizations to help transform communities in more than 50 countries.
“Cisco has a long history of supporting Indigenous communities around the world,” said Guy Diedrich, “and we firmly believe in the power of connectivity for transforming lives. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory.”
Intuitive, secure, and scalable
The Cisco team was excited to engage with Wiikwemkoong, where they felt their expertise and technology could make a real difference.
“CDA is all about using technology helping improve life in communities,” said Wayne Cuervo, director of Canada’s Digital Impact Office. “A project like this is solving important problems like public safety, and it’s scalable for other communities around the world. So, we were drawn to it right away.”
McCormick was well acquainted with Cisco Meraki products from using them previously in his career. And when he assumed his new role in 2023, he saw a great opportunity to modernize Wiikwemkoong’s technology. But his budget was limited.
“CDA really helped us in increasing our bandwidth and purchasing additional cameras and equipment,” McCormick said.
Along with public safety, that increased bandwidth has enabled opportunities for greater connectivity throughout the community, including a soon-to-launch public Wi-Fi. This initiative will help residents benefit from increased connectivity and access to community services.
McCormick is quick to vouch for the reliability of Cisco Meraki products, even in the sometimes-extreme weather of Northern Ontario.
“I’ve had no issues with Meraki in the past and know how reliable the equipment and technology is,” he said. “It’s easy to use, easy to configure, easy to scale up quickly, and secure. It just made sense to me to use it here as well.”
As for the human side of the relationship, McCormick has been heartened by the level of support he and the community have received from Cisco and CDA.
“There was a lot of empathy, and the level of understanding for our culture and community surprised me,” he stressed. “It gave me a good feeling that we invested in the right company.”
Up Next: Building and scaling skills
Wiikwemkoong is continuing to modernize its networks and systems, but the community looks forward to taking advantage of another Cisco program overseen by Diedrich. The Cisco Networking Academy has empowered the lives of more than 24 million people with real-world technology skills. And it is seen as a perfect fit for Wiikwemkoong.
“Networking Academy is involved in everything that we do now at CDA,” Diedrich explained. “We don’t walk in anywhere without a skilling component being a part of it. It’s critical, and it’s a great leveler economically. It doesn’t matter about your past. It doesn’t matter what you learned up to that point. A Cisco NetAcad certification is a golden ticket to opportunities that can change lives.”
McCormick is excited to recruit more home-grown talent onto his team.
“We look forward to using the Networking Academy in our community,” McCormick said. “We struggle with hiring IT folks, and many are quite junior. So, those kinds of learning modules could help our youth build skills and capacity.”
As Cuervo explained, the Networking Academy courses will be free for anyone who’s interested, and he expects it to have a big impact.
“This is an opportunity for anyone to get a foot in the door of the IT industry,” he said.
In addition to adopting Networking Academy courses in the community, McCormick is excited to support other Indigenous communities looking to implement similar solutions — all while continuing his core mission: keeping Wiikwemkoong safe, connected, and thriving.
Duffy agreed.
“Since the inception of this program,” she concluded, “there is a greater sense of safety in the community. We just want everyone to know that even while they sleep, we’re helping to protect them — but with a preventative, not punitive stance, to safeguard the whole community.”
