YELLOWKNIFE, NWT – The federal government today said it will give $4.6 million to Northwestel from the Connect to Innovate program to bring “new or improved high-speed Internet” to nine Indigenous communities in the NWT and one Indigenous community in Yukon.
Northwestel will kick in $1.5 million to the projects, too, which will see it build fibre-optic backbone in the community of Jean Marie River, NWT (Tthek’éhdél Dene First Nation, population 77, and the only one on this list which you can drive to, although it’s a 1,300-km trip north from Edmonton). Northwestel will also extend satellite connection to the following nine remote northern communities beginning in April 2019:
- Colville Lake (Behdzi Ahda First Nation), NWT. pop. 149
- Gamètì First Nation, NWT. pop. 253
- Łutselk’e (Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation), NWT. pop. 303
- Paulatuk (Inuvialuit), NWT. pop. 313
- Sachs Harbour (Inuvialuit), NWT. pop. 112
- Trout Lake (Sambaa K’e First Nation), NWT. pop. 349
- Ulukhaktok (Inuvialuit, pictured), NWT. pop. 402
- Wekweètì (Dechi Laot’i First Nations), NWT. pop. 141
- Old Crow (Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation), Yukon. pop. 221
