The City of Timmins is northeastern Ontario’s fourth largest city and one of Canada’s major centers of mining. Local legends say that in 1909, a Porcupine Lake prospector named Harry Preston skidded on a moss-covered rocky knoll and revealed a massive vein of gold, setting off the great northern Ontario Porcupine Gold Rush of 1909-1911. The company town that sprang up to house the miners became known as Timmins. Over the next hundred years, over 50 mines in the area produced 70 million ounces of gold making this region Canada’s greatest gold producer.
In 1973, 35 townships covering 1,260 square miles (including Porcupine, South Porcupine, Schumacher, and Timmins) were organized into the City of Timmins.
In 2010 the City of Timmins launched its new streaming video solution, which provides greater access to municipal information and services for residents.
“The city looked at several vendors across North America,” said Laneville. “Swagit {now part of Granicus} was the best fit and had the most robust CDN that was qualified to handle our needs.” Swagit’s Content Distribution Network allows Timmins to store and deliver all of its content from Swagit’s Montreal Point-Of Presence (POP). By developing its own CDN, Swagit (now part of Granicus) does not rely third-party providers like Akamai or Limelight. This not only keeps costs low, but enables Canadian customers to maintain compliance with their laws.
By using Swagit’s EASE™ solution the city is able to promote live events, as well as broadcast meetings and other content via the internet.
The City of Timmins provides transparency for residents despite unique obstacles: Canadian international privacy law, a 1,260-square-mile city footprint, and northeastern Ontario winters. Providing remote access to City Council meetings has notably eased concerns of reduced citizen engagement due to distance from the City’s Council meetings or weather that could make it impossible to attend public meetings.
Since 2003, Swagit (now part of Granicus) has been a leader and innovator when it comes to streaming media technology. Helping government agencies to transform their role with the public and provide better service for their citizens. The hands-free EASE™ solution harnesses the power of streaming video for government.
Meetings for the City of Timmins can be viewed on the City’s website from any device that is connected to the internet (livestream and on-demand videos at http://www.timmins.ca/mayor-and-council/webcasts.)
