Fort William First Nation to receive increased connectivity through provincial funding
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY—Fort William First Nation Chief Peter Collins and Shuniah Mayor Wendy Landry are looking forward to an increase in TBaytel’s fibre Internet services in their communities through more than $2.9 million in provincial funding.
“This is another step in a positive direction for our community,” Collins says. “We’ve been trying to get high speed Internet and more connectivity in some of our remote parts of our community. This helps our community to be more connected to the Internet.”
Collins says some Fort William citizens are currently living with slower or less Internet connectivity than others in the community, which is located on the south side of Thunder Bay.
“But in the last couple of years, we’ve been upgrading that and this is another step in that direction,” Collins says.
Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, chair of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) and MPP for Thunder Bay—Superior North, announced the TBaytel funding during an April 3 announcement at Confederation College in Thunder Bay.
The NOHFC investment will enable Tbaytel to increase the fibre Internet service capacity of 12 project locations in four rural municipalities, including the City of Thunder Bay, Fort William, Oliver-Paipoonge and Shuniah.
“It will help the community because it is going to bring some broadband out to some of our community members that are on the beaches,” says Landry, who is also the president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association and a Red Rock Indian Band citizen. “So I think extending our ability to access Wi-Fi and higher speed Internet is a good thing.”
Landry says some areas of Shuniah, which is located on the north side of Thunder Bay, have faster Internet service than others, “but generally speaking it is fairly slow”.
“It’s obviously not as slow as some areas like the Far North of course, but the boost will be nice,” Landry says. “We’re very grateful.”
Gravelle also announced NOHFC investments of $2 million for Confederation College for a new Technology Education and Collaboration (TEC) Hub and more than $3.2 million for the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre to complete wireless upgrades and provide an upgraded fibre network from Thunder Bay to Marathon, as well as to improve their current facilities to better respond to an increase in clients, outreach and programming created by the TEC Hub.
Gravelle’s announcement also included more than $2.2 million for the Western James Bay Telecom Network to improve residential Internet connection speeds for homes in the Fort Albany, Kashechewan and Attawapiskat and more than $1.8 million for the Keewaytinook Okimakanak to purchase satellite bandwidth and install equipment to increase bandwidth in Fort Severn and Peawanuk.
“This is a great initiative to connect everybody, from the Far North to Thunder Bay to the college here,” Collins says. “It’s just another positive step in creating that connectivity. We’re just excited about more connectivity in our communities.”
Gravelle says the $12.4 million in total NOHFC investments demonstrate the provincial government’s commitment in creating opportunity and growing the economy.
“I am delighted that our government is choosing to invest in projects that will help organizations in their efforts to update existing infrastructure, in particular digital infrastructure, as well as to bring exciting new developments and opportunities to fruition,” Gravelle says. “These projects are absolutely investments in the future because they will undoubtedly help attract investors, create jobs and build the economy.”