WINNIPEG – Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, today announced $4.2 million in funding for the next phase of a project to bring high speed Internet access to all Manitoba First Nations and surrounding communities.
According to the press release, funding will support design and planning for an Internet network that will bring affordable, dependable, high speed Internet to all 63 Manitoba First Nations, and 189 other Manitoba communities and municipalities.
The Manitoba First Nations Network of the Future project is managed by the Manitoba First Nations Technology Council (MFNTC) under Nanaandawewigamig, the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba.
"Many remote Manitoba First Nation communities, particularly the youth, are held back by unreliable and slow Internet access. This project will provide access to key educational, health, social and community development resources, and will connect Manitoba First Nations people with the Canadian and global community. This investment is essential to the success of the entire community, especially Indigenous youth. We are very pleased to continue to work with the Manitoba First Nations Technology Council and the other partners on this project,” reads the quote in the release for Minister Bennett.
"In order for all Manitoba First Nations to benefit and progress for the future, we need to be connected to the world,” Chief Nelson Genaille, Sapotaweyak Cree Nation and MFNTC Co-Chair is quoted in the press release.
"Connecting Manitoba First Nations and surrounding communities will dramatically improve the quality of life for those people by increasing opportunities in health, social services, education, economic development and other sectors," says Chief David Crate, Fisher River Cree Nation and MFNTC Co-Chair in the release.
The work for this phase of the project will be completed in 2016-17 and planning to extend Manitoba Hydro's existing fibre optic infrastructure to remote communities will be the starting point of this phase of the project.
Once this extension is completed, Internet Service Providers will be able to use this fibre optic infrastructure to deliver Internet service at the community level, adds the release.
