Sometimes it begins with a meeting.


Sometimes it begins with a grant application.


Sometimes it begins with a new technology.

KiN began with a question:

How could a small rural community ensure it would not be left behind?

That question was being asked long before most Canadians had ever used the Internet.

During the early 1990s, email was still a novelty. The World Wide Web was only beginning to enter public awareness. Most homes had no internet connection at all, and in rural communities like Kaslo, many residents had never seen the Internet, much less imagined how profoundly it would change everyday life.

Yet a small group of local leaders had already begun thinking about what these emerging communication technologies might mean for the future of their community. They saw communication infrastructure not as an end in itself, but as a foundation for education, economic opportunity, and community resilience. They believed that if Kaslo failed to prepare for the digital age, it risked becoming even more isolated from the rest of the world.

Among those early visionaries were Joan Baer and Darlene Borley (now Smith), who were active with the Kaslo and Area Economic Development Commission. Joan served as Chair of Economic Development, while Darlene chaired its Telecommunications Subcommittee. Their work was not driven by technology for technology's sake. They were thinking about economic development: attracting knowledge-based businesses, supporting tourism, improving communications, and ensuring that Kaslo would remain a viable place to live and work in an increasingly connected world.

Darlene later recalled that she and Joan even explored attracting a Calgary software company to relocate to the area. Although that effort ultimately proved unsuccessful, it reflected the broader vision taking shape. Reliable communication infrastructure was already emerging as an essential ingredient for economic opportunity.

At the same time, educators were reaching similar conclusions.

At J.V. Humphries School, teacher Milt Stanley had spent years championing educational technology. During the planning and construction of the new school in the early 1990s, he helped ensure that networking and Internet connectivity were treated as priorities rather than afterthoughts. Through the Distance Education School of the Kootenays (DESK), J.V. Humphries became one of the first institutions in the community with reliable Internet access.

Meanwhile, Selkirk College instructor Eric Moon was exploring many of the same possibilities from the post-secondary perspective. Together with Milt Stanley, he recognized that the Internet had the potential to transform education, communication, and rural communities.

By late 1995, these independent efforts began to converge.

Building a Community Partnership

In June 1996, representatives from Kaslo travelled to Nelson to attend an Industry Canada workshop explaining how communities could qualify for funding under the new Community Access Program (CAP). Darlene Borley attended on behalf of Economic Development, while Milt Stanley represented J.V. Humphries School and the emerging community access initiative.

The workshop provided more than information about grants. It brought together educators, economic development advocates, librarians, local governments, and community organizations around a shared vision for Kaslo's digital future. At the same time, improvements to BC Tel's telephone infrastructure were making digital communications increasingly practical. Several early participants later recalled that upgrades to the local telephone network were an important prerequisite before many of KiN's ambitions could become reality.

A broad coalition soon formed.

Its principal partners included the Kaslo & District Public Library, Selkirk College (Kaslo Campus), J.V. Humphries School, and the Distance Education School of the Kootenays (DESK).

Supporting organizations included the Village of Kaslo, Community Futures Development Corporation, the Kaslo and Area Economic Development Commission, the North Kootenay Lake Tourism Society, the Kootenay Lake Historical Society, and many community volunteers.

Each partner brought different strengths.

The library would provide the public with access and exposure to the Internet.

The schools contributed technical expertise, facilities, infrastructure, and enthusiastic students.

Selkirk College brought Eric Moon, educational resources, and computer science students.

Economic development organizations saw an opportunity to strengthen the local economy through technology.

Community organizations envisioned entirely new ways of communicating with residents and visitors alike. Individually, none of these organizations could have achieved KiN's vision. Together, they formed an unusually broad coalition for a small rural community.

Among those helping shape the organization during its formative years were Joan Baer, Darlene Borley, Milt Stanley, Eric Moon, Kas Angelski, Marilyn Roberts, Craig Andrews, Ruth Thomson, Bob McLure, Janice Williams, Rod Dunnett, Harvey Armstrong, Dennis Saffran, Kevin Sawczuk, Ben Borley, and many others whose contributions helped transform an ambitious idea into a functioning community organization.

In 1996, the Kaslo infoNet Society was born.


A Vision Larger Than Internet Access

KiN's earliest published mission reveals just how ambitious its founders were.

A 1997 description stated that society existed to build a community access network, provide local access to global information, provide training in all aspects of Internet use, create a presence for the community on the World Wide Web, and qualify as a Community Access Program community.

The founders were not simply trying to connect computers.

They were trying to connect a community.

They also hoped to build local skills, create a digital identity for Kaslo, and help community organizations discover how the Internet could support their work.

Long before broadband, Wi-Fi, or fibre-to-the-home became part of everyday conversation, KiN's founders understood that the future of rural communities would depend as much on digital connectivity as on roads, electricity, and telephones.

The First Community Portal

, the earliest surviving version of www.kin.bc.ca, preserved by the Internet Archive in January 1998, demonstrates how quickly that vision took shape. You can click forward in time to see how content kept getting added to the site.

Far more than a simple organizational homepage, it served as a digital front door for the entire community. Visitors could find information about the Kaslo & District Public Library, J.V. Humphries School, Selkirk College, and DESK. The site featured school newsletters, tourism information, community events, economic development resources, a searchable Community Economic Profile, local organizations, and information intended to encourage people to visit, invest in, or relocate to Kaslo.

Long before social media—or even Google—became household names, KiN was experimenting with what today might be described as a digital town square.

The technical foundation supporting this work was built by a remarkably small group of dedicated volunteers, educators, students, and early technology enthusiasts.

Ben Borley, through his and Darlene’s business Digital Services, became one of KiN's earliest technical contributors, helping develop the practical infrastructure needed to support the society's ambitions.

Much of KiN's early technical leadership came from Milt Stanley, Eric Moon, Ben Borley, and student Kevin Sawczuk, together with successive generations of students and volunteers who built and maintained web servers, email services, dial-up infrastructure, and community websites. Their work created the technical foundation upon which every later chapter of KiN's history would be built.

Rod Dunnett, a teacher at J.V. Humphries School and a member of the Kaslo & District Public Library Board, contributed library webpages and collaborated closely with Milt Stanley on educational web projects, including an early website documenting the history of Japanese Canadian internment in Kaslo.


Community Access: Opening the Door

Through Industry Canada's Community Access Program, KiN established approved community access sites at the Kaslo & District Public Library, Selkirk College (Kaslo Campus), and J.V. Humphries School, with plans for a fourth location at the north end of Kootenay Lake.

The library became the community's primary public access site, introducing many residents to the Internet for the very first time. J.V. Humphries School, while not functioning as a public drop-in location in the same way, hosted much of KiN's technical infrastructure and became the operational heart of many early projects.

Students Building the Future: Growing the Next Generation

One of KiN's greatest strengths from the very beginning was its investment in young people.

In the summer of 1997, Kevin Sawczuk served as Technical Coordinator, assisted by Technical Trainees Tami Huitema and Tara Mowatt. Working alongside mentors such as Milt Stanley, Eric Moon, Ben Borley, and others, they developed websites, maintained servers, and helped expand the organization's growing digital presence.

A pattern established during those early summers would repeat again and again throughout KiN's history. Students became staff. Staff became technical leaders. One generation mentored the next.

Mary-Allana Holmes joined KiN's Board of Directors as Secretary while enrolled in Selkirk College's Computer Information Systems program. During one summer placement, she helped build simple HTML websites for local non-profit organizations.

She recalls that one of the biggest challenges was not writing code—it was convincing community groups that they even needed a website.

Today that idea seems almost unimaginable. In the late 1990s, however, the Internet was still unfamiliar territory for many organizations. KiN's students became some of the community's earliest ambassadors, helping local groups envision how a presence on the World Wide Web could support communication, tourism, economic development, education, and community life.

The pattern established in those early years would repeat again and again throughout KiN's history. Students became staff. Staff became technical leaders. Each generation mentored the next, creating a remarkable continuity that would span decades.

Another such student was Tyler Hamilton, who joined KiN during the summer of 1999. Over the years he would become one of the society's longest-serving technical leaders, eventually serving as Network Administrator and helping guide KiN through the transition from wireless broadband to fibre-to-the-home.

Solving Rural Connectivity

During the late 1990s, Internet access depended almost entirely upon dial-up telephone connections. For residents living north of Kaslo in the Lardeau Valley, obtaining Internet service often required placing long-distance telephone calls to Nelson—an expensive barrier for regular use. This was because Telus only had a dial-in number in Nelson in those early days.

KiN responded by creating its own local dial-up service.

A four-line modem bank was installed at J.V. Humphries School, while the organization's web and email servers operated from Milt Stanley's office. The system provided affordable local dial-up access for residents both in the northern communities on the 366 telephone exchanges.

Although its primary purpose was to eliminate long-distance charges for rural users, the service also became an important training ground for the volunteers and students learning how to operate real Internet infrastructure.

As commercial providers evolved, the situation gradually improved. West Kootenay Power Link established a local dial-in point of presence in Kaslo, followed later by Telus. As commercial services became more widely available, KiN's modem bank was eventually retired.

Its lifespan was relatively brief, but its significance extended well beyond the technology itself.

Over less than a decade, KiN had evolved from introducing residents to the Internet into operating community websites, email servers, dial-up services, public access terminals, and educational technology projects while training the next generation of rural technology leaders.

The organization had demonstrated a pattern that would repeat throughout its history: when existing communications services failed to meet local needs, the community found a way to build its own solution.

By the early 2000s, KiN had accomplished what its founders had set out to do. The organization had introduced residents to the Internet through public access sites, established an online presence for the community, connected educational institutions, supported local organizations, and created opportunities for students to develop technical skills.

The Internet was no longer an unfamiliar curiosity. It had become an essential part of community life. But technology was evolving rapidly.

By the mid 2000s, the challenge was no longer introducing people to the Internet.

The challenge was broadband.

Part II: Building a Broadband Network (2004–2015)

Broadband arrived gradually. By the early 2000s, websites were growing more sophisticated, businesses were exchanging larger files, students were relying on online resources, and people were beginning to expect the Internet to work whenever they needed it.

The digital world was changing. The challenge was no longer simply getting online. The challenge was bandwidth. Dial-up had connected the community but could no longer keep up with it.

In 2002, Kaslo-based Mountaintop Wireless demonstrated that fixed wireless broadband could work in the mountains around Kaslo. Although the company was short-lived, its legacy would continue. Several years later, KiN acquired its Mount Kaslo tower, incorporating it into the society's growing wireless network.

I moved back to Kaslo in October 2003 and began working at Ramsbottom’s Computer Shoppe in January 2004. Soon afterward, I attended a KiN AGM. Longtime chair Milt Stanley announced to those present: “Surprise. You’re the five people who showed up, so now you’re all on the board.” The remark perfectly captured KiN’s volunteer spirit. That was my first introduction. 

One of the major projects underway involved expanding and updating the community’s online presence. While many locals might remember kaslo.org, the vision dated back to the original kin.bc.ca community portal of the late 1990s. Working with Pat Gemmell of Pepper Sunlight Productions and volunteers, including Mary‑Alanna Holmes, KiN developed a more ambitious online hub for local organizations, events, services, and visitors' information.

This archived snapshot shows how the kaslo.org web design looked for the following few years. Rather than simply replacing KiN's earlier web presence, kaslo.org built upon the vision first established through kin.bc.ca in the late 1990s. Mary-Alanna 

In early 2005, Larry Leonard and I attended a BC3 (British Columbia Community Connectivity Cooperative) workshop in Nelson. The experience was transformative. BC3 was helping rural communities identify local champions, build capacity, and pursue funding opportunities to improve broadband connectivity. It became clear that KiN was uniquely positioned to tackle the connectivity challenges facing North Kootenay Lake.

Community Champions.

One of the people who immediately recognized the significance of the opportunity was Debra Hamilton. Before moving to Shutty Bench, Debra had enjoyed a successful career with Telus in its mobility division. She understood telecommunications, network planning, and business development. She also understood firsthand what it meant to live in one of the many underserved areas surrounding Kaslo.

While many residents found the limitations of local internet service frustrating, Debra pointed to a local business that illustrated the problem particularly well.

Honey Candles, a successful local manufacturer, regularly needed to upload large catalogue files to customers and partners. With the Internet services available at the time, those uploads often had to be started overnight and left running while everyone hoped the connection would remain stable. If the upload failed, the entire process might need to be repeated the following evening.

Honey Candles was not unique. It simply illustrated a problem that many home-based businesses, professionals, and community organizations were already experiencing. Poor connectivity was more than an inconvenience. It was an economic barrier.

The story reinforced something many of us were beginning to realize. Broadband was not simply about faster downloads or greater convenience. It was about ensuring that rural businesses could compete, grow, and create jobs without being disadvantaged by geography.

Debra immediately saw the potential in what KiN might accomplish.

Together, we worked on a business plan and grant application aimed at bringing broadband infrastructure to underserved communities throughout the North Kootenay Lake region.

At the time, it felt like one more ambitious community project.

Looking back, I now see that the business plan and first grant application that Debra Hamilton and I worked on in 2004 helped spark a transformation that few of us could have fully anticipated. Building on the foundation laid by those who came before us, it helped set in motion the transition from a community technology organization into a broadband provider. What began as an effort to improve internet access for rural residents ultimately grew into a regional broadband network, a significant local employer, and an enduring community asset.

Broadband as Economic Infrastructure

The need for broadband was not limited to established local businesses. It was increasingly becoming a requirement for professionals who wanted to live and work in rural communities.

One example was Mike Foster, a software developer who moved to the Kaslo area partly to be closer to his father, a local artist. Mike settled on Fletcher Creek Bench, where reliable internet options were extremely limited. Like many rural residents at the time, he depended on Xplornet’s satellite service. Rob McLennan did as well. I did all the local XplorNet installations.

While satellite connectivity provided a basic connection to the outside world, it was often frustrating for people whose livelihoods depended upon reliable communications.

Mike and Rob both quickly became involved with KiN and served on the board for several years. They brought the perspective of people who were not simply using the Internet recreationally but relying upon it professionally. Rob had a business management course he sold on the web.

Their experience reflected a broader reality that was becoming increasingly clear throughout rural British Columbia. Communities hoping to attract entrepreneurs, professionals, and knowledge-based businesses needed more than beautiful scenery and affordable housing. They needed modern telecommunications infrastructure.

Broadband was becoming as important as roads, electricity, and telephone service.

Raising towers


Looking back, it is tempting to attribute KiN's success simply to government funding. The reality was more complicated.

Funding programs created opportunities, but opportunities alone did not build networks. They required organizations that were ready to act.

Larry Leonard had already been experimenting with wireless networking in Lardeau. Network BC had secured affordable backhaul opportunities for selected underserved communities, including Meadow Creek. The BC3 workshop announcing the coming provincial funding was the spark that lit the kindling. The Columbia Basin Trust was prepared to support innovative regional projects. Most importantly, KiN had spent nearly a decade building community capacity, partnerships, and technical expertise. 

Much of the credit for turning vision into reality belongs to Rob McLennan. Rob combined technical knowledge, project-management skills, business leadership experience, and persistence. Living on Shutty Bench, he understood the connectivity problem personally. Under his leadership, KiN secured funding, coordinated construction, and began building the wireless infrastructure that would transform connectivity across the region.


Before towers could be built, they had to be located. Larry Leonard and Greg Davidson spent countless hours identifying sites. Sometimes this involved mirrors and line-of-sight checks across mountainsides. Later, Radio Mobile software helped model coverage and validate designs.

The first communications tower erected by KiN was located at the Lardeau Valley Community Hall in Meadow Creek. The project embodied the spirit that would come to define the organization for decades to come: local volunteers solving local problems through ingenuity, cooperation, and determination.

Director Don Edwards played a central role in the project, helping design and organize the construction. The tower foundation was prepared by volunteers, the structure was assembled on the ground, and a helicopter pilot working local wildfire operations agreed to assist with the lift (after a conversation with Rob, who once managed “Okanagan Helicopters”) - Once raised, the tower became the foundation of KiN's first wireless expansion into the Lardeau Valley.

The successful completion of the Meadow Creek tower demonstrated that a small community organization could build and operate telecommunications infrastructure in places that larger providers had long overlooked. In many respects, it marked the beginning of KiN's transformation from a community access organization into a community broadband network.

The LVCC tower continued to evolve after its construction. In addition to supporting broadband services, the site later hosted a VHF radio repeater used by local fire and emergency responders, illustrating how communications infrastructure built for one purpose often found value in serving others.

The first tower embodied something that would define KiN for decades:

Local people solving local problems in creative ways.

Additional sites followed:

Powder Creek, originally the Mountaintop Wireless tower, on the ridge of Mount Kaslo directly across the lake from the village, with a line of sight to both Shutty Bench, and some residents to the south of town.

Hamill Bluff, with its line of sight to the LVCC community hall in Meadow Creek, to Cooper Creek, parts of Meadow Creek, and to the tower we put up in Lardeau on Larry Leonard’s property, became a particularly important relay location, linking communities throughout the valley and along Kootenay Lake using solar-powered infrastructure and strategic radio links.

Howser had its own tower, serving the community at the north end of the power grid.

Cooper Creek had the “Cooper Face” tower, which also served parts of Argenta.

The Schroeder Creek tower served the ring road of that community, as well as a handful of residents in Johnsons Landing – which also had a small repeater on the side of a chicken coup at one point.

The Loki Creek tower served more residents south of Kaslo, and the Leviathan tower (named for nearby Leviathan Lake) served more clients in Shutty Bench.

The Hartech tower in Shutty Bench served a few remote residents in Campbell Bay.

Not all of KiN's tower sites served conventional communities. One of the more unusual locations was Mount Jardine, an off-grid site on the west side of Kootenay Lake south of Lardeau and west of Schroeder Creek - uphill and off an old logging road. From this elevated position, the network could reach isolated residents on portions of the east shore where no road access existed. Some customers, such as those in Birchdale, could only be reached by boat, making them among the most remote subscribers in the service area.

Another important site was Claypit near Meadow Creek. Unlike many of KiN's solar-powered installations, Claypit benefited from commercial power and occupied a strategic high-elevation location. Its combination of elevation and reliable power made it a valuable component of the growing wireless backbone.

Three of KiN’s long-serving directors, Denise Funk, Dick Martin, and Don Edwards, all came from Meadow Creek. Larry Leonard is from Lardeau. Debra and Rob both live in Shutty Bench. KiN’s board has hailed from all over its territory, including the far northern tip of Howser.


Home base

As KiN continued to grow, its operations became increasingly centralized in offices located in the historic Kootenaian building in downtown Kaslo. From this modest headquarters, staff provided customer support, managed network operations, coordinated installations, and planned future expansion projects.

The location also played an important technical role. Antennas mounted on the roof provided wireless links to multiple sites around Kootenay Lake, including connections serving the East Shore. During the early stages of fibre deployment, the building became an important network hub linking legacy wireless infrastructure with emerging fibre systems.

From the street below, the office appeared unremarkable. Yet, for many years, it served as the operational heart of a communications network stretching across mountains, valleys, lakeshores, and remote communities throughout the North Kootenay Lake region.

While KiN's public face was its office in the Kootenaian Building, much of the network's core infrastructure was housed nearby in the basement of the historic Kemball Memorial Building. Originally constructed as a provincial government office and courthouse, the building became an unlikely home for the community's communications infrastructure.

As fibre deployment expanded throughout Kaslo, the Kemball Building served as the network head end, housing equipment that aggregated traffic from neighbourhood fibre cabinets and connected the local system to regional backbone networks. From this quiet basement, internet traffic flowed between homes, businesses, wireless sites, and the wider world.

The arrangement reflected a recurring theme throughout KiN's history: adapting existing community assets to meet emerging technological needs. 

As the network expanded, KiN also continued building local expertise. Volunteers learned network engineering. Directors learned project management. Students gained technical experience. The same culture of learning and mentorship that had characterized KiN’s first decade continued into the broadband era. But KiN was no longer simply a volunteer society.

 By the end of the decade, the results were undeniable. Communities that had once relied on dial-up connections gained access to broadband. Businesses could compete more effectively. Students could access modern educational resources. Families could communicate in ways that had previously been difficult or impossible. KiN was an employer, and staff provided installations, customer support, network monitoring and engineering, and infrastructure work. 

The achievement was remarkable. Yet, success revealed a new challenge. Demand for bandwidth continued to grow. Streaming video, cloud computing, remote work, and modern online services required ever-increasing capacity.

The wireless network had transformed life throughout much of the North Kootenay Lake region.

The next question was whether a small community organization could build something even more ambitious.

 The answer would eventually be fibre.

Part III: Building Essential Infrastructure (2012–Present)

After my time on the board concluded in early 2011, I stepped into a different role. Beginning in 2012, I joined KiN's staff as Client Support Manager. For the next six years, I would experience the network from a very different perspective. Instead of attending board meetings and working on strategy, I found myself climbing towers, installing radios, troubleshooting outages, and maintaining equipment scattered across mountains, forests, and remote valleys.


By 2011, Kaslo infoNet had evolved from a community access network into a thriving regional broadband provider. What began as an educational and community-development initiative had become critical infrastructure for the North Kootenay Lake region.

While Network BC helped make early wireless expansion possible, another important development would later reshape broadband across the Columbia Basin.

Columbia Basin Trust created Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation (CBBC) in 2011 after acquiring the assets of the struggling Columbia Mountain Open Network. The new corporation was established to activate and expand the regional fibre-optic network and improve broadband access across the Columbia Basin. In 2013 they completed construction and activation of approximately 900 km of regional fibre backbone. That dramatically increased the amount of bandwidth available to communities throughout the Basin.

When that opportunity emerged, KiN's leadership recognized what it could mean. CBBC would eventually become one of the essential building blocks of the society's transition to fibre. They became a key partner for KiN as its internet backbone provider, while also supporting many other community ISPs. 

KiN’s wireless network relied on point-to-multipoint radio technology. Every customer required clear line-of-sight between their equipment and a communications tower. Trees, terrain, weather, and snow all mattered. Every installation presented unique challenges.

 Many of KiN's towers occupied extraordinary locations: Powder Creek on Mount Kaslo, Leviathan Lake, Loki Creek, Hamill Bluff, Cooper Face, and numerous other remote sites. Maintaining these installations required dedication, ingenuity, and countless hours of travel.

 For several years my primary partner on tower maintenance was Kevin Wille. Kevin brought practical knowledge, resourcefulness, and calm judgment to every challenge. Later, Bob McGregor became my regular partner in the field, similarly bringing extensive expertise in off-grid power systems and infrastructure support. Together we maintained sites that often felt closer to wilderness outposts than telecommunications facilities.

 Most tower locations operated entirely from solar power and battery banks. During dark winter months, low solar production occasionally required emergency charging runs. Generators were loaded onto utility sleds and towed behind snowmobiles up logging roads to remote sites. Looking back, I felt fortunate every time I was paid to go snowmobiling.
The mountaintop towers, surrounded by forests and overlooking Kootenay Lake, remain the best office I have ever had.

As KiN matured, so did its operational practices. Cal Lorencz played a pivotal role in professionalizing the organization. Drawing on extensive experience in communications systems and tower operations, he introduced improved safety standards, formal training, and professional operating procedures. Later, advanced rope-rescue training provided by Bruce Walker further enhanced staff safety and confidence when working at height.

Although Rob McLennan gradually stepped away from day-to-day operations, the systems and organizational culture he helped establish continued to shape KiN long afterward. Much of the fibre era was built upon the foundations laid during the wireless years.

Light in Glass

Meanwhile, demand for bandwidth continued to grow. The wireless network that had transformed connectivity throughout the region was beginning to approach its limits. Streaming media, cloud computing, remote work, and modern business applications demanded more capacity than wireless systems could efficiently provide.

Long before fibre became practical in Kaslo – for any entity other than Telus – Milt Stanley had spoken about community-owned fibre networks he had seen elsewhere. At the time the idea seemed ambitious. By the mid-2010s, however, it was becoming increasingly realistic.

 One of the most influential figures in this new era was Tim Ryan. Before moving to Kaslo, Tim had served as Chief Technology Officer for a national company whose operations depended on fibre connectivity. He brought extensive technical expertise, business management experience, and a deep understanding of communications infrastructure. Being in charge of connectivity for a business with 4 fibre-connected offices across Canada, Tim needed enterprise grade internet for his home office. This was not a convenience, it was a necessity. He wasn’t quite retired yet when he moved here. He signed up for copper connections, which he had been using in the cities only to realize how poor they were in rural areas.

 Tim helped KiN adopt newer battery technologies, develop infrastructure mapping systems, and register KiN's network with BC One Call. These behind-the-scenes improvements helped transform KiN from a broadband provider into a utility-scale infrastructure operator.

Tim Ryan's contributions extended beyond network design and planning. Drawing on experience from the private sector, he helped KiN develop more sophisticated approaches to procurement, infrastructure mapping, and asset management. His efforts to source fibre cable directly from manufacturers rather than through traditional distribution channels reportedly saved the society hundreds of thousands of dollars over time, allowing scarce funding dollars to be stretched significantly further.

 As fibre construction accelerated, many individuals contributed to the effort. Don Scarlett provided steady leadership as Board Chair and volunteered with many on-the-ground logistics.

I have personally seen how hard Don works as a volunteer and he has put in more time than any of KiN’s many other volunteers throughout its history. He has been out with a shovel on hot days burying the fibre in a community, helping pull cable through conduit, implementing creative solutions for KiN’s electrical power needs, and so much more. That he has now been president for roughly half of Kaslo infoNet’s existence is a testament to his key role.

Tyler Hamilton has continued to oversee network architecture and engineering since KiN’s early days as WISP. Designing and managing the highly technical interconnectivity between all of KiN’s many network switches and routers is a feat that not many information technology experts would be up to. Tyler’s contributions to the success of Kaslo infoNet cannot be overstated, and he is the only person who was involved in each of KiN’s phases and incarnations: from the organization's early years through the wireless and fibre eras.

Dan Dobkins contributed project management expertise to the very early fibre deployments. Bueno Bauer, a local equipment operator with deep roots in the community, became a key part of the fibre construction effort, helping make expansion affordable and efficient.

A critical but often overlooked factor in KiN's fibre success was the creation of the Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation (CBBC), a Columbia Basin Trust initiative established to build and operate a regional broadband backbone throughout the Basin. By bringing substantial bandwidth into rural communities, CBBC helped remove one of the major barriers that had historically limited internet service providers in the region.

When the opportunity emerged in 2014, KiN's leadership recognized its significance. Tim Ryan, Don Scarlett, Tyler Hamilton, and others understood that access to affordable, high-capacity backhaul fundamentally changed what was possible for a small rural provider. Fibre-to-the-home was no longer a distant aspiration. It had become a realistic objective.

Just as earlier generations of KiN leaders had recognized opportunities presented by the Community Access Program and broadband funding initiatives, the organization was once again prepared to act when circumstances aligned.

Financing the Dream

The story of KiN's growth cannot be told through technology alone. It is also a story of financing, partnerships, and community confidence.

Over the years, KiN secured significant support from federal and provincial broadband programs, Network BC, and the Columbia Basin Trust. Collectively, these investments amounted to millions of dollars in infrastructure funding.

Yet grants alone did not build the network. Construction schedules, reimbursement requirements, and matching-fund obligations often created challenges that required local solutions.

One memorable example involved Regional Director Andy Shadrack. At the time, approximately $80,000 had been allocated for fire service improvements in Meadow Creek. Because the community was not yet in a position to utilize the entire fund, Shadrack proposed an innovative solution. Following approval by the community, $40,000 was loaned to KiN interest-free to support network construction and expansion.

The loan was repaid at a rate of $1,000 per month over forty months. The arrangement provided KiN with access to capital at a critical stage in its development while ensuring that the funds would ultimately return to their original purpose. The episode reflected both the creativity and the community trust that often characterized KiN's growth.

At one point, when it was discovered that a large federal grant would only reimburse expenses after the project was complete, a few directors, including Don Scarlett gave KiN a loan.

Community leaders found creative ways to bridge funding gaps, including interest-free loans, community partnerships, and personal bridge financing from directors who believed strongly enough in the organization's mission to put their own money at risk. Those acts of confidence helped transform ideas on paper into infrastructure on the ground.

Burying cable to every property line

Neighbourhood fibre builds gradually expanded beyond the downtown core. Kaslo Heights became an important early project. Distribution cabinets, patch panels, backup batteries, and emergency power systems began appearing throughout the service area. Fibre routes were mapped, documented, and maintained with increasing sophistication.

This model was repeatedly duplicated until almost every property between Ainsworth and Howser had fibre coming to their door. The final gaps will be filled over the next year or two. The fibre in the lake will soon be a redundant loop that will continue operating if any single segment were to get severed. The submarine cables come ashore to landing points with battery backup power and relay the network connectivity to the properties above and to the next landing point. This redundancy creates a robust and reliable connection to the world. 

The organization also continued its long tradition of developing local talent. Just as earlier generations of students had helped build websites and community networks, a new generation stepped forward. Sam Truchon succeeded me after my departure in 2018. Scott Gillies, Stewart Coonce, Eric Early, and others became important members of the operational team. Many had grown up in the area and represented the next generation of KiN's story. For the past several years, the executive director has been Isaac Maxfield and the office manager is Hillary Schell. 

Under Don Scarlett's long tenure as Board Chair, KiN entered yet another phase of growth. Fibre expansion reached additional communities. Underwater lake crossings connected underserved areas. Partnerships expanded. The organization continued pursuing the same mission that had guided it since the 1990s: ensuring that geography would not determine opportunity.

Another current director is Angele Ortega who for many years ran a business from Johnsons Landing publishing a magazine called Issues. A print business needs internet even more than most, and Johnsons Landing is almost as remote as it gets.

KiN is now expanding to reach communities on the east shore of Kootenay Lake and has entered into agreements with Riondel Cable Society for a landing point there and use of some of their infrastructure. The vision of an underwater loop of fibre-optic cable, around all north Kootenay Lake, is now within reach. This redundancy will create a robust and reliable connection, when combined with the backup power at each of KiN’s powered sites. 

By its thirtieth anniversary, KiN has become far more than an Internet service provider. It has become an essential community asset, a significant local employer, a training ground for technical talent, and a model of what rural communities can achieve when they work together.

 The technology has changed dramatically over three decades. The mission remained remarkably consistent. KiN repeatedly succeeded because it was prepared when opportunities appeared.

KiN's story is ultimately not about towers, servers, radios, or fibre cables. It is about people: teachers, students, volunteers, staff, technicians, directors, and community leaders who believed their region deserved the same opportunities available elsewhere.

Together, they built something extraordinary.


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AUTHOR’S NOTE *The author acknowledges the extensive use of ChatGPT in the composition of the above. He makes no apologies. He is a very busy man.