A multimillion-dollar installation of fibre-optic cable between Port Alberni and the west coast of Vancouver Island is being hailed by First Nations communities as a catalyst for economic development.
The project, a partnership of the All Nations Trust Company, Telus, B.C. Hydro and the province that began this week, will bring faster and higher-capacity Internet service to nine Island First Nations.
“Connecting local First Nations with affordable high-speed Internet access will help them provide more education and training opportunities for residents, improve health care and power up their economies,” said Paul Donald, chief executive of the All Nations Trust Company.
The project along Highway 4 is part of the $48-million First Nations Pathways to Technology initiative that aims to connect or enhance high-speed Internet connectivity in First Nations communities in B.C. that have no or limited online access.
To date, 184 of 203 B.C. First Nations have access to broadband, up from just 85 in 2008.
The project, to be completed in early 2016, will connect nine Island First Nations — Opitsaht, Macoah, Uchucklesaht, Ahousaht, Esowista, Huu-ay-aht, Ucluelet, Hesquiat, and Ty-Histanis.
The upgrade will help make existing businesses more competitive by enabling them to work at the same speed as others, said Al Little, general manager of the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation. “It will also create opportunities for new e-based and home-based businesses that, until now, have been unable to start up due to slow or no Internet connectivity.”
Saya Masso, chairman of the TFN Economic Development Corp., sees the project as a significant step toward economic self-sufficiency for the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation.
B.C. Hydro is in the process of upgrading telephone poles along the route that will carry the new fibre-optic lines. Telus will spend $10 million to string 80 kilometres of cable along Highway 4 and another 30 km of cable into Ucluelet along the Tofino-Ucluelet Highway.
“This fibre connection will support the local tourism economy, allow local health-care providers to adopt new technologies in their practices, and bring local students fast access to information now and into the future,” said Ray Lawson, Telus’s general manager for Vancouver Island.
