Skip to content
About | Contact | Advertise | Manage Subscriptions
  1. Home
  2. Around the North

New fibre optics for Far North communities

Michael Gravelle, Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry, announced an $81-million initiative to bring a state-of-the-art backbone fibre optic network to 26 Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) communities in Ontario’s Far North.
Northern Ontario Business Staff

 

Michael Gravelle, Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry, announced an $81-million initiative to bring a state-of-the-art backbone fibre optic network to 26 Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) communities in Ontario’s Far North.

This new infrastructure will help create network service jobs, improve access to high-speed Internet for all users, open new economic opportunities and enhance quality of life for the region’s First Nations.

The Northwestern Ontario Broadband Expansion Initiative consists of five projects to be completed over four years and will span more than 2,300 kilometres when complete. Internet and other broadband services that are currently delivered to these 26 remote communities rely on dated satellite and microwave technology.

As the communications provider, Bell Aliant will work in partnership with NAN to build the network which will enable speeds up to 50 times faster than current systems. The company’s share of the project will be $26 million over four years to build and operate a new fibre optic cable that has the capacity to deliver a minimum of 1.5 megabits per second to each and every household in the communities.

"Expanding broadband capacity is part of the McGuinty government’s Open Ontario planto improve infrastructure, create jobs and encourage economic growth for further development," said Minister Gravelle in Nov. 19. "This fibre optic network will help provide NAN communities with improved access to distance education, health care, government and other business services."

"This investment in connectivity infrastructure will mean that the Nishnawbe Aski Nation will now have access to the Internet, enhancing opportunities for education, business, and monitoring of community infrastructure," said John Duncan, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. "Through programs such as the First Nations Infrastructure Fund, the government is engaging First Nations in meaningful partnerships, fostering sustainable First Nation communities and supporting stronger, safer and healthier communities."