Multiple funds, lack of co-ordination, remains a strumbling block
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Funding from Indigenous Services Canada for broadband on reserves has been limited because connectivity objectives often compete with other priority projects, such as energy, roads and bridges, according to the ministry.
The federal government also hasn’t targeted funding to ISC’s First Nation Infrastructure Fund specifically for those broadband objectives in federal budgets 2016, 2018 or 2019, the ministry said in response to an order paper question from Conservative MP Cathy McLeod of Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo.
“While connectivity projects are eligible for funding from the First Nation Infrastructure Fund, they often receive a limited share of funding due to competition from priority infrastructure projects in the other project categories eligible under the First Nation Infrastructure Fund program which include energy, roads and bridges and fire protection,” the answer reads.
Total spending on the roughly 12 connectivity projects since April 2019 has amounted to about $13 million, read the answer tabled late last week and signed off by ISC parliamentary secretary Pam Damoff. In budget 2016, the feds made an overall investment of $8.4 billion over five years to Indigenous communities for a broad range of initiatives; it added $4 billion in the next budget to span over 10 years starting in 2018-2019.
According to the Indigenous Services website, as of March 31, 2020, at least 230 connectivity-related projects have been completed using money from a pool of $4.7 billion since budget 2016. That’s out of 4,950 infrastructure projects, of which 3,192 have been completed, the site says.
“This is not surprising,” said Mark Buell, regional vice-president in North America for the Internet Society of Canada, about the small amount of spending for broadband. “The bulk of the government’s funding for Internet infrastructure has come from ISED and the CRTC, and there have been investments made to connect Indigenous communities there.”
The federal government has a number of broadband programs that it hopes will eventually connect all of Canada with speeds of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload by 2030. That includes the $1.75-billion Universal Broadband Fund, the $585-million Connect to Innovate program, $600 million for satellite capacity from Telesat, and a recent injection of $2 billion for broadband under the infrastructure bank.
“The real challenge in connecting Indigenous communities is how the money is spent,” said Buell, whose organization has held a number of conferences and discussions on Indigenous connectivity.
He said little improvement is made in connectivity projects in the North because federal money generally flows to large incumbent telecoms “with little return on investment for their consumers.
“Making it easier for regional, or even local level entities (including Indigenous-owned and operated networks, such as cooperative community networks) to access federal money could be more impactful,” he added.
Recently, the federal government revoked a $30-million funding commitment to a First Nation broadband project in Northern Manitoba under the Connect to Innovate program because it didn’t meet progress satisfactory to Innovation Canada, the department said.
That project was hobbled by political infighting when a competing First Nations group, called Clear Sky Connections, claimed it had the authority by the owners of the land to build in the region.
Ken Sanderson, the executive director of Broadband Communications North, which was recently approved for CRTC funding, said funding holdups has been a “longstanding issue.”
“Communities are behind in so many areas so competition for funds is fierce,” Sanderson said.
“Another issue – who gets to access these funds that are supposed to be earmarked for communities? Does ISC guarantee prior community consent before an organization claims to be working on behalf of the community?” Sanderson asked, alluding to an example he said he saw where a project claimed to have community consent but didn’t, which resulted in funds going to different communities.
Indigenous Services Canada said it could not respond in time for publishing about how much it thinks should be allocated from the budget to Indigenous communities or whether that need has been communicated.
Buell agrees that there needs to be more targeted funding to fund Indigenous communities, but there also needs to be a national strategy that includes “community- and Indigenous-driven solutions, addresses access to spectrum, and includes not just funding for capital costs but also operating costs for remote communities.”
He added another challenge is funding for broadband is spread out over a number of departments and agencies – ISED, CRTC, ISC, Infrastructure Canada – and that the initiatives need to be coordinated and must include “strong accountability provisions for recipients (value for money spent).”
Telus made a similar request in a report this month about tackling the rural broadband challenge, recommending a co-ordination of “all federal and provincial subsidy dollars to be allocated at the same time and based on the same set of shared and measurable outcomes for eligibility.” It also suggested the government move quickly to release spectrum and to judge success by how many premises are being connected.
Telus says it provides services to 240 Indigenous communities across British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec and plans to connect a further nine Indigenous communities by the end of the year.
In the same order paper answer, ISED reported spending of $53.7 million on Indigenous Broadband projects since April 2019, while over the same period, Infrastructure Canada said it spent $2 million.
