The CRTC has approved by majority decision an additional $631,000 in funding from its Broadband Fund for a fibre project by Minto Communications Society in Ogden, British Columbia — a community impacted by wildfires in 2023 after Minto’s original funding application was submitted.
Minto, a non-profit, community-owned and -operated organization, was initially awarded $6.71 million in Broadband Fund money in June 2025 to build nearly 51 kilometres of fibre infrastructure in the community of Ogden and the broader Upper Bridge River Valley of B.C., benefitting approximately 415 households. With Monday’s decision, the CRTC has increased that approved funding amount to $7.34 million.
Minto had originally applied for funding as part of the CRTC’s third call for applications to the Broadband Fund, which closed June 15, 2023. In mid-July 2023, a wildfire started in the Downton Lake area northwest of Ogden, eventually burning nearly 9,500 hectares of land, destroying more than 40 homes and damaging a portion of Minto’s telecommunications infrastructure.
In its completed statement of work, submitted in February 2026 for the CRTC’s approval, Minto included a $631,000 increase in project costs as well as changes to the network design, indicating the changes took into account the impacts of the wildfire on its operations and infrastructure. The altered network design included a reduction in the fibre length, from 51 to 48 kilometres, while maintaining the originally planned coverage and targeted areas of the fibre transport project.
In its approval Monday, the CRTC said it considered that Minto had sufficiently justified its increased project costs and that the network changes will enable Minto to improve network reliability and resiliency, operational efficiency and infrastructure sustainability.
Minto’s statement of work had also requested that Minto be allowed to submit claims for reimbursement more frequently and to claim for costs incurred rather than costs paid. In addition, Minto asked the CRTC to reduce the holdback amount from 10 per cent to five per cent and to reduce the holdback period from one year to six months.
In its majority decision, the CRTC approved on an exceptional basis Minto’s requests to submit claims for reimbursement as frequently as monthly, to claim for costs incurred, and to allow the release of the holdback amount after six months of service, rather than one year, once Minto demonstrates fulfillment of the conditions of service outlined in the funding decision.
The CRTC denied Minto’s request to reduce the holdback amount from 10 per cent to five per cent.
The approved project completion date as per Minto’s statement of work is August 2028.
In a dissenting opinion, commissioners Ellen Desmond (Atlantic region and Nunavut) and Stephanie Paquette (Quebec) argued that the majority did not “articulate or specifically consider whether Minto has made a minimum or commensurate amount of investment in its own project” before approval. The commissioners said the investment shows commitment to the project and sufficial resources to complete it.
“In this case, Minto’s statement of work proposed to significantly reduce its contribution to the project,” the commissioners said. “The amount now proposed is significantly different than was first approved in the project proposal. This is likely a result of the wildfire in 2023 that has damaged critical infrastructure and has created substantial financial challenges for Minto.
“While the amount of the proposed contribution remains confidential, we are not satisfied that Minto has met the criteria set out in the Broadband Fund framework. In our view, Minto’s proposed contribution to the project is not more than a nominal amount and is not commensurate with the nature of the project.”
An email to Minto requesting comment was not answered.
