Connecting nations: Partnering to meet the infrastructure and telecommunications needs of all communities

Resolving a crisis of isolation could create untold value for Indigenous communities.

Joe Bevan discusses connectivity alongside fellow panellists at the 2022 Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase.

The statistics on rates of digital connectivity position Canada in a positive and progressive light — 88 percent of Canadians currently have reliable internet access. Yet a closer look at the numbers reveals a landscape of disparities. In urban centres, 99 percent of residents have reliable internet access; however, in rural areas, the number drops to 46 percent. And in Indigenous communities, the rate of connectivity is only 34 percent.

These alarming numbers were presented by Shazia Zeb-Sobani, then VP of network implementation at TELUS, during the panel discussion Connecting Nations: Partnering to Meet the Infrastructure and Telecommunications Needs of All Communities at the 2022 Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase (IPSS).

“And when you actually start to look at the provinces, BC is really well-connected comparatively, where Indigenous connectivity is about 63 percent,” says Zeb-Sobani. “But Alberta, the connectivity for Indigenous communities there is sub 20 percent — 18.4 percent. The majority of people are being constrained from participating in the digital economy, constrained from participating in digital health, in remote learning and education.”

It’s not solely the lack of telecommunications infrastructure impacting Indigenous communities, but all forms of infrastructure.

Ruby Littlechild, who lives in Alberta and comes from a Cree-Maskwacis background, says of where she is from: “We’re not near a city. So, the four nations, they’re along Highway 2 between Edmonton and Calgary, but there’s no economy. It’s the poverty. . . . I’m always constantly educating my colleagues on the prevalent poverty in our communities, the lack of connectivity. Once we drive into the reservation, our phones stop working, our battery dies because of the lack of connectivity. . . . My mother, my family, their teeth are bad because of the water. The water’s yellow, it’s not drinkable. The roads are horrible.”

Joe Bevan of the Kitselas Nation in BC says his communities have been in a more fortunate position partly due to their proximity to the northern BC city of Terrace. The Nation formed a relationship with the city and the regional district: “We had signed a protocol agreement to work together instead of opposing one another. Even though they were on our traditional territory, we said, ‘Let’s develop it together’ . . . and we developed the Skeena industrial lands right beside the airport up in Terrace.”

Bevan adds his Nation also has “a lot of great relationships with some of the LNG industry folks.”

Yet one of the communities was still faced with connectivity challenges: “Here’s a community, 22 kilometres outside of Terrace, and didn’t have broadband. And it was just so frustrating. . . . That’s where our main administration building is. And we have quite a few of our people living out that way. It was very frustrating for a lot of people to get connected to the world, in more ways than one. If we think about it, we’re going to be transacting that way in the near future. And if we don’t have broadband, that means we’re excluded.”

The Kitselas Nation worked with TELUS to bring broadband internet to the community, and Bevan is very happy with the results and the relationship. His one concern was the amount of time — 17 months — to get provincial regulatory approval and funding subsidies. “Seventeen months. If we were in business together, business would’ve gone sideways real quick. And we are in business together right now. We really need to rethink these ways of going forward.”

Zeb-Sobani agrees that 17 months for approval is unacceptable, and notes that more recently, “we have actually seen speedy approval processes, especially with the government of BC.

“We are seeing that the applications are invited, and they are accepted and being provided feedback on, in a rather quick way. . . . The result of that is that us alone at TELUS, through that change in the policy and availability of funding, we have connected 19 Indigenous communities just last year. We are working on 22 Indigenous communities to be connected with pure fibre this year, and then we have another 19 communities on the books for the next year. That is progress. Maybe it’s not fast enough, but I’m a very optimistic person and a positive person. . . . So we are moving in the right direction.

“But does that mean that there’s nothing left to be addressed? There’s still a lot to be addressed. There are lots of challenges, right? And, when we think about our beautiful country and its diverse geography . . . it’s difficult to build infrastructure, and it’s difficult to apply a single technology solution across various types of footprints and geographies. We need to have a very rich tool set, and we need to stay flexible with the use of that tool set.”

And it is through great partnerships that the right solutions can be found, says Zeb-Sobani. One example is in the Cariboo Chilcotin, where TELUS started a project in 2019 with partners including Interior Health and a dozen Indigenous communities.

“By the end of next year, that entire region will have connectivity. And that entire region will have pure fibre connectivity except for one reserve. And why were we not extending it there? Because we worked with that community closely, and they did not want a very intrusive solution to the land. So, we are extending fixed wireless solutions for that community. This is what we call partnership, where everybody has a place at the table, where everybody’s capabilities and their unique perspective is respected and integrated to create a beautiful outcome.”

A graphic illustration by Drawing Change reflecting session themes.

In Quebec, TELUS also worked with the provincial and federal governments to bring connectivity to Innu communities.

“They had a desperate need for connectivity. Because 5,500 people living across 14 communities on 400-kilometre-long coastline without roads and connectivity, you can just imagine what they were deprived of and how they were constrained not to participate in economic and social activities of their lives. So that was a very difficult geography to extend connectivity.”

That strong partnership led to a one-of-a-kind solution: one of the world’s largest microwave-based cellular-technology applications. Today all 5,500 residents across the coastline enjoy the connectivity.

“At TELUS, we start partnership with deep relationship building, then progress it to mutual trust and respect for the unique capabilities that each party or each partner brings to the table,” says Zeb-Sobani.

“By combining those unique skills, then we can go stronger together. So, in the realm of connectivity, we work with the Nations directly . . . really working closely and understanding what the unique needs are, and then going together with the Indigenous communities to provincial and federal governments, then to broaden that partnership agreement.”

James Delorme of Indigeknow technology services, and former chief of the Klahoose First Nation in BC, says: “I’ve got to give kudos to TELUS, and obviously SNC-Lavalin, because they’re investing. They’re not just the words, but they’re actually taking the revenue and they’re putting that into that effort. . . . What I want to see is for more private companies to invest those dollars, time, and energy into learning more about that Indigenous lens. . . . And what I mean by that is that we’re not linear. We think more in a broader sense, and we think less in silos and more in partnerships and unique situations. And when industry starts to look at that, in that lens, then you start to see the partnerships and the opportunities that lay in front of you. And they’re huge. They’re massive.”

Ruby Littlechild, national director of Indigenous relations with SNC Lavalin, suggests companies should hire grassroots First Nations professionals — those with education and lived experience.

“That’s how you create systemic change in companies. I’ve always worked in mainstream organizations, but I’ve always brought my grassroots lived experience to these companies. And they’ve listened, they wanted to learn. . . . I am really grateful for those non-Indigenous allies who partner and... who say, ‘We’ve got to do better. We need to do better, and we need to do it right.’”

Zeb-Sobani is returning to IPSS 2023 as a panellist in a conversation called Indigenous Digital Equity in the AI Era: Connectivity and Opportunity, alongside Shawn Gervais and Kory Wilson.

Tickets for the 2023 Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase, coming to Vancouver and online on June 1st and 2nd, are available here.

This article was originally published in Rights & Respect, Issue 2. To purchase a physical copy of the magazine, click here. To purchase tickets to the Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase, coming June 1-2, 2023, click here.