Question Period Note: BROADBAND AND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

What is the Government of Canada doing to connect more Indigenous communities to high-speed broadband networks?

• No matter where they live, Canadians—including Indigenous Peoples—need access to reliable and affordable high-speed Internet.

• The Government of Canada is committed to addressing the diverse needs of Indigenous Peoples during the planning, design and implementation of federally funded high-speed Internet and mobile service programs.

• The government is working with Indigenous partners and provincial and territorial counterparts to bring better connectivity to every Indigenous household.

• Since 2015, the government has announced projects that will improve high-speed Internet and mobile service for approximately 100,000 Indigenous households.

• As of November 28, 2022, 20,000 Indigenous households are on track to benefit from the Rapid Response Stream of the Universal Broadband Fund.

• Indigenous communities have had meaningful success with government high-speed Internet programs, and are making important advances on their projects.

• The Universal Broad Fund has allocated $50 million for mobile service projects that primarily benefit Indigenous Peoples. This includes investments to provide full coverage along Highway 16, or the “Highway of Tears,” in British Columbia, which fulfills a critical recommendation in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report.

• The government has also committed $1.44 billion to support Telesat’s Low-Earth Orbit satellite constellation and entered into a $600 million agreement with Telesat to secure Internet capacity for hard-to-reach communities, including in the far North.

According to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) 2020 Communications Monitoring Report, only 40% of First Nations reserves have access to high-speed Internet at speeds of 50/10 Megabits per second (Mbps), compared with 99% of urban households and 56% of rural households.

Leading up to the launch of the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) in November 2020, the government met with Indigenous organizations and companies to ensure that the UBF was designed to address the unique needs of Indigenous Peoples.

The $3.225 billion UBF includes up to $50 million for mobile Internet projects that primarily benefit Indigenous Peoples, including an investment to provide 100% mobile coverage along BC’s Highway of Tears. Under the UBF Mobile Steam, over $3.5 million in funding for three projects has been announced to provide improved mobile connectivity along 277 km of road.

Project implementation is already underway for successful projects under the UBF’s Rapid Response Stream (RRS). As of November 28, 2022, the government has announced over $188 million in funding for 197 projects under the RRS to cover over 97,000 households across Canada, including 20,000 Indigenous households with improved Internet access. Announcements can be viewed on the selected projects website.

In addition to the UBF, across the federal government, significant investments are being made in broadband, including in Indigenous communities:

• The First Nation Infrastructure Fund (FNIF) addresses long-standing infrastructure gaps on reserves in 8 project categories, including connectivity.

• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) has a $750 million Broadband Fund and dedicates 10% of its funding to satellite-dependent communities, which are mostly Indigenous.

• The $2 billion Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) - Rural & Northern Communities Infrastructure Stream includes high-speed Internet and mobile infrastructure projects. Indigenous projects on-reserve could receive federal funding of up to 75% for eligible project costs and off-reserve projects could receive funding of up to 100% for eligible project costs (75% federal; 25% provincial).

• The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) provides $2 billion in financing for large, high-impact broadband projects brought forward by Internet Service Providers, including Indigenous ones.