The Community Access Program (CAP) site at EasTech in Poole’s Corner has become the first one in Canada to be open for 24 hours a day. The site was opened to 24/7 use because of a demand from the community. CAP sites are administered in the province by Technology PEI.
“Not all people and businesses operate from nine to five,” said Development and Technology Minister Mike Currie. “It’s important for the CAP sites, which perform a community service, to be flexible enough to meet the needs the community identifies. I am proud that EasTech is the first group in the country to recognize this need and to respond to it,” he said.
In order to take advantage of the service, individuals must become members of the CAP site. Members have access to the CAP site through a swipe card system at all times. The members are pre-screened at a minimal cost to assure that they have a legitimate need for the service. For example, it is not uncommon to see fishermen at the site at four in the morning checking marine weather forecasts before heading out.
EasTech is one of three Rural IT centres in the province. The centres were set up to make information and communications technology, such as video conferencing, available to individuals and businesses in the rural areas of the province. The other two Rural IT centres are located in O’Leary and Kensington.
Technology PEI is the Government of Prince Edward Island’s lead agency in the development, adoption and use of information technologies in business and community in the province.