FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 20, 2022
The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) and SSi Canada are proud to launch a brand-new communications platform for the North called Qview.
Qview is a user-friendly media-streaming platform with a focus on the North and the ability to share and collaborate with the South. It was born out of a necessity to provide remote communities a cost-effective platform to distribute their content without losing copyright control and ownership.
Launching on National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21st, Qview will house close to a hundred original videos from IBC, SSi Canada and Qiniq and new content will be uploaded to the platform every week with new updates including
livestreaming and the ability for the audience to message and interact live with the hosts.
“We saw the need for a reliable, innovative way of sharing IBC’s archives, children’s shows, and new television programming on demand and SSi was able to provide us with something that turned out to be beyond our expectations. This platform will allow our elders in the South to watch hours of Inuktut content and feel like they have a little piece of home while they are away. It will be available in daycares, educational institutions and hospitals through the website or a smart TV. Qview will continue to change and grow with the needs of Inuit all over the world and we couldn’t be happier,” says IBC Executive Director Manitok Thompson.
“The end goal is to have servers in every Nunavut community to ensure that data charges are kept to a bare minimum for customers while consuming Qview content. It’s also a creative way to showcase the Northern culture and encourage viewers to become content producers of their own. New features will be added on in the coming months as more content gets added,” says Jeff Philipp, CEO, and founder of SSi.
IBC has archival footage spanning four decades, shot and produced by Inuit, for Inuit in all dialects of Inuktut. Eventually, the plan is to have all the content available on the platform for the public, researchers, and educational institutions.
“The possibilities are endless, and we are so excited to move forward in this partnership with SSi. The more Inuit content that is distributed all over the world, the better understood we become, and the prouder our youth can be of their beautiful culture,” says Thompson.
IBC also wishes to acknowledge the generous contribution to the archives and the production of television programs from the Government of Nunavut, Culture & Heritage, Canadian Heritage, Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program, Library and Archives Canada and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc
“This is the start of something innovative and unique that we truly believe people in the North and everywhere else will
enjoy and benefit from,” Philipp adds.
For more information about this release or to speak with someone regarding Qview please contact Karen Prentice, IBC
Director of Communications and Content (226) 222 8742, karen@inuitbroadcasting.ca or Mathieu Gorman, SSi
Communications & Marketing Specialist at (819) 230-9522, mathieug@ssicanada.com or qview@qiniq.com
Additional information about the partners:
Inuit Broadcasting Corporation has been producing award winning programming by Inuit for Inuit and been “A Window to the Arctic” for 40 years. The organization maintains a collection of approximately 40 years of priceless historic film andvideo material. It involves an estimated 9,000 hours of footage and completed programs valued at approximately $60million dollars. These materials have been funded by various governments, corporations and multilateral organizationsthat support and believe in the valuable work IBC does with its proven track record of accountability and resourcefulnesswith limited funds. Currently, IBC is in the process of organizing, digitizing and cataloguing all of this material so that itmay be available to our staff, to researchers and academic institutions and to the public worldwide.
SSi Canada is based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, with a satellite teleport and network operations centre inOttawa, SSi designs, builds and operates state-of-the-art communications networks. SSi is a pioneer in delivering remotearea connectivity in Canada’s North and the developer-operator of the award winning SSi Mobile and QINIQ broadbandservices. In 2019, SSi partnered with two other Cree-owned companies and founded Eeyou Mobility, a mobile serviceprovider in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region in Quebec. As the first in the industry, SSi launched SSi Fire Solutions in2022 to deliver a fire-protection solution which is environmentally friendly. With over 30 years of operating experience,SSi is a leader in delivering advanced satellite, broadband, mobile wireless and clean energy solutions. SSi understandsfirsthand the challenges faced in providing effective and affordable communications services and other infrastructuresupport to remote and outlying areas, having launched broadband and mobile voice and data services into many marketswhere these previously did not exist. For more information, see: http://www.ssicanada.com