Pacific Community Networks Association

1
Pacific Community Networks Association

• Connecting the Diaspora Migration as an
  Opportunity

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Pacific Region

• 26.1 of British Columbians are immigrants

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Pacific Region

• The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program
  (BC PNP) offers accelerated immigration for
  qualified skilled workers and experienced
  entrepreneurs who wish to settle in British
  Columbia (BC) and become permanent residents of
  Canada.
• Sounds good? The reality is only about 30
  actually have those skills. They are looking to
  start businesses too.
• Immigrants in similar situations are
  groupingtogether to share resources and to start
  small businesses. Mosaic is one of
  ourlocations participating in the Imalls
  project.

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Pacific Region

• ICT skills can play a big role in helping
  families communicate via email, web, chat and
  Voice Over IP
• Not everyone has access to the technology or to
  the training.
• That is where we come in.

5
PCNA what do we do?

• The PCNA is a network of networks we have 21
  networks representing over 560 telecenters in
  rural and urban British Columbia and the Yukon
  territories.
• Immigrants may have access to technology in the
  workplace but often it can not be used for
  personal use.
• Our telecenters provide free access.
• Our telecenters provide assistance.

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PCNA what do we do?

• The PCNA runs a program every year called CAP
  Youth. We hire over 100 youth to work in our
  centers with the sole mandate of helping folks
  that come in the door.
• The PCNA also works to provide tools that are
  free to use by anyone using one of the 560 sites
  in the region. These tools include VOIP in every
  network site Ventrillo a free voice
  communication tool meeting software and free
  technical support.

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PCNA Projects

• The PCNA is also an active member in the
  Telecenters of the Americas Partnership (TAP).
• Imalls Project
• Exchange Project
• Locus Project