The CRTC is making it easier for Indigenous communities to get connected to high-speed Internet and cellphone services through its Broadband Fund.
Through the Broadband Fund, the CRTC contributes to a broad effort by federal, provincial, and territorial governments to connect underserved rural, remote, and Indigenous communities across Canada. To date, the fund has helped connect 135 Indigenous communities to high-speed Internet and cellphone services. This includes helping to bring high-speed Internet to all 25 communities in Nunavut, and committing funding to deliver fibre Internet to Atlin, an underserved remote Indigenous community in northern British Columbia.
Many Indigenous communities continue to face a gap in access to high-quality Internet and cellphone services. To help close this gap, the CRTC is gathering views on how to better support Indigenous applicants to the fund. This includes looking at how to reduce the time and work it takes to submit a project to the Broadband Fund and providing applicants with more flexible deadlines. The CRTC is also looking at how to reduce administrative burden through simplifying the amount of information it requires after a project has been selected for funding. This work builds on improvements the CRTC has already made to make it faster and easier to receive funding from the Broadband Fund.
The CRTC is accepting comments until September 18, 2026. Interested persons can participate by:
- filling out the online form;
- providing a link to an oral intervention video using the online form,
- writing to the Secretary General, CRTC, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0N2; or
- sending a fax to 819-994-0218.
