Rural, remote, and indigenous communities in northern B.C. and across the province, will be getting access to high speed internet.
In partnership between the federal and provincial government, $236 million in joint funding will go towards eight high-speed internet projects to 13,000 households.
The Honourable Buckley Belanger, Secretary of State for Rural Development said this will especially help those in need of healthcare.
“The technology connects you, and through the technology, connectivity, and the direct communication and relationship between the doctor, the specialist, and the patient many miles away, that could reduce fatigue on the patient and reduce costs.”
Missing Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender diverse individuals are more likely to be murdered or go missing, which was another example given for having more connectivity tools in moments of danger.
For B.C.’s Minister of Citizens’ Services Diana Gibson, it was also about expanding the work they’ve been doing to ensure communities can participate in economic growth.
“The big difference that we’ve been making since 2017 is in rural and remote households that were just over half, 57 per cent were connected, and now its over 80 per cent.”
“With Indigenous communities, we’ve gotten it to 88 per cent when it was also about two thirds.”
In B.C., 96.5 per cent of households currently have access to high-speed internet, and 98 per cent in Canada, with a goal to reach 100 per cent by 2030.
Canada’s Connectivity Strategy aims to provide Canadians with access to internet speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 10 Mbps upload.
More information about the announcement can be found here.
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