By Ruby Pratka
GETTING RELIABLE HIGH-SPEED Internet to Manitoba’s far north is no easy task. Logistical obstacles, long distances and a relatively small potential client base tend to scare away large private players. And then there’s the land itself.
“The terrain up here is not cheap or easy to build through – it’s full of muskeg, which is basically quicksand, and a lot of the communities don’t have the infrastructure to make [builds] easier,” explains Ken Sanderson, outgoing executive director of Broadband Communications North (BCN), an Indigenous-run non-profit communications provider based in Winnipeg, whose goal is expanding wireless access to Northern Manitoba Indigenous communities.
BCN was established in 2002 to bring equitable, modern high-speed broadband to 28 remote Northern Manitoba Indigenous communities, and now serves more than 50. “A lot of Northern communities are satellite-dependent; others have copper lines but in terms of bandwidth, that doesn’t give you much,” says Sanderson. “Communities have us and they have Xplornet, which has been shifting its focus to urban areas in recent years; after 
that, they don’t have a whole lot of options.”
“Society in general has done connectivity backwards,” says Sanderson. “Everyone is focused on getting connectivity to cities, but cities need it the least. If you’re looking for a job in a city, you can walk to an employment centre; remote communities don’t have that.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has also led to increased dependence on the Internet, particularly streaming video capacity, for accessing health care and education and participating in local government. Federal MPs from rural and northern communities, including Niki Ashton, whose riding covers a huge swath of northern Manitoba, have spoken out about the impact of poor connectivity on everyday life during the pandemic.
“In our region, kids are not able to access education, people are facing major barriers in applying for EI, CERB and other government supports, and far too many communities are being left behind. It’s time that internet access be treated as the essential service that it is,” Ashton, whose Churchill-Keewatinook-Aski riding covers three quarters of Manitoba’s geographical area, writes in an open letter.
“Internet is your main [means of] communication with the outside world, of participating in our economy and in our democracy,” Sanderson sums up. “It’s beyond essential.”
BCN was initially established in partnership with funding from the federal government and leadership from Keewatin Tribal Council, but now functions as a standalone co-op ISP, with upgrades and expansions funded by its own revenue and periodic government subsidies for specific programs.
“We need governments to invest in a neutral backbone and then allow open competition to tap into that and push prices down.” – Ken Sanderson, BCN
In August, BCN received $9.9 million in funding from the CRTC’s Broadband Fund to improve satellite connectivity in the remote communities of Barren Lands, Lac Brochet, Puktawagan, Shamattawa First Nation and Tadoule Lake. The funding will allow BCN to improve service to speeds of 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload (10/1 Mbps), with unlimited monthly capacity, according to documentation from the CRTC. Sanderson believes increased commitment from governments is key to getting the North connected.
“All levels of government need to get serious and consider [increased access to high-speed Internet] an investment, not an expense,” says Sanderson. “You don’t build a highway and privatize it, and you wouldn’t do that for an information highway. We need governments to invest in a neutral 
backbone and then allow open competition to tap into that and push prices down.”
He believes Covid-19 will be a tipping point for that realization, and that long-term solutions for communities that are still underserved will come from community-based providers like his own.
“This [pandemic] is not going away anytime soon, and if there’s ever been a case for infrastructure investment, this is it. You can’t have an all-or-nothing approach where… 64 First Nations have to agree on one provider; you have to be smart about it,” he continued.
“Here in Northern Manitoba, we have a solid approach and we’re focused on getting the builds done (such as the fibre build to Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, about 900 kms north of Winnipeg, in the pictures above). Some communities are very close to Manitoba Hydro fibre lines, for example, and those will be easy to build from unless they end up privatized. We need government investment to do this, but it is doable.”
