JAMES BAY, Que. – The governments of Canada and Quebec announced Tuesday nearly $57 million in joint funding to Eeyou Mobility to extend cellular coverage along several highways in the Eeyou Itschee James Bay region.
More than $28 million in federal funding is coming from the Rural and Northern Communities stream of Infrastructure Canada’s Investing in Canada program. The more than $28 million from the Quebec government is coming from the Ministère du Conseil Exécutif du Québec (over $17 million) and the Société du Plan Nord ($11 million). Funding from the Ministère du Conseil Exécutif is made possible by the Quebec broadband program.
The cell network expansion is being done in two phases. In the first phase of the project, almost $37 million in funding will help Eeyou Mobility extend coverage along 47 per cent of the 1,900 kilometres of highways in the region, with 30 tower sites located along the Billy-Diamond Highway, Routes 113, 167 and 109, and part of the Route du Nord. A cell site is also planned for the Kilometre 381 roadstop on the Billy-Diamond Highway.
In the second phase, the remaining $20 million in funding will be used to improve coverage, with 16 new cell sites planned along access roads to communities in the region. These strategic sites are intended to provide service for Cree traplines, hunting and fishing zones, and industrial and mining sites, according to a press release announcing the government funding for the project.
“Our government is proud to invest more than $28 million in the large-scale establishment of this mobile wireless network to serve the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region,” Sean Fraser, federal minister of housing, infrastructure and communities, said in the release. “This funding will help bridge the digital divide affecting the region’s communities, and will help ensure greater safety for residents and motorists using these roads.”
“The deployment of telecommunications services in the Nord-du-Québec region involves huge challenges, given the area’s vastness and remoteness,” said Jean Boulet, Quebec minister of labour and minister responsible for the Nord-du-Québec Region. “This investment of over $28 million by the Québec government will allow citizens in remote regions to benefit from the same modern infrastructures as the residents of major urban centres.”
Henry Gull, president of Eeyou Mobility, said in a statement his company “is very enthusiastic to be given the opportunity to provide this much needed service to the people of Eeyou Istchee and Baie-James.”
“As we have completed the deployment of the service in all the communities of the region, the missing piece of the puzzle remained the coverage of the various roads of the region,” Gull explained. “This extensive cellular infrastructure we are deploying along the roads will greatly improve accessibility and safety for those living and travelling in the region, and improve the performance and reach of business operations and government services throughout Northern Québec. We are thankful to the governments of Québec and Canada in supporting this essential initiative.”
The federal government says in the press release its portion of the funding is conditional on meeting its environmental assessment and Indigenous consultation obligations. Consultations with the Cree Nation are underway, it says.
The Société du Plan Nord says its mission is “to contribute to the integrated, coherent development of Québec’s northern territory,” within a sustainable development perspective, “in keeping with the government’s orientations and in collaboration with the representatives of the regions and the Indigenous nations concerned and the private sector.”
