Feds, Alberta provide nearly $22M for Indigenous-led broadband project

Alberta’s government and Ottawa have jointly announced $21.9 million to finance internet buildouts in four rural communities across the Prairie province. The funding, partly administered through the federal Universal Broadband Fund (UBF), will help build fibre and fixed wireless infrastructure in Kehewin Cree Nation near the Saskatchewan border, Foremost in southern Alberta, as well as Buck Lake and Rocky Rapids, both of which are situated between Red Deer and Edmonton. The project will connect up to 1,099 homes to high-speed internet, defined by Ottawa as download and upload speeds of 50 and 10 megabits per second, and will be led by Bearspaw First Nation, an Indigenous community located outside of Calgary, which operates its own internet service offering. Eligible homes are scheduled to be connected by March 2028. “In today’s world, high-speed Internet is essential infrastructure,” said Buckley Belanger, secretary of state for rural development and the federal cabinet’s point-person for the UBF. “This project brings us another step closer to our goal of connecting every Canadian to high-speed Internet by 2030 and is another great example of what we can accomplish when Canada and Alberta work together.” Belanger, alongside Alberta Innovation Minister Nate Glubish, also announced $2.99 million for a fibre project to connect up to 734 homes across five communities in northwestern Alberta, including Landry Heights, Swan Hills, Silver Valley, Grande Cache, and St. Isidore. That contract was awarded to Canadian Fire Optics Corp., a Calgary-based provider that specializes in rural broadband. The rollout is also scheduled to be completed by March 2028. Both projects received funding as part of a federal-provincial agreement signed in 2022, in which the two jurisdictions agreed to provide $780 million in an effort to expand broadband access to Alberta’s more remote communities. According to federal data, 98.1 per cent of Albertan households currently enjoy access to high-speed internet, making it one of the most well-connected provinces (behind only Quebec). By the end of 2026, Alberta is forecasted to have a 99.2 per cent connectivity rate. Ottawa has committed to connecting every Canadian to high-speed broadband by the end of the decade, which it remains on track to achieve. Tuesday’s announcement marked the second UBF announcement in Alberta this year, following a $224.8 million investment in January. The feds have also made recent announcements under the UBF in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, B.C., the N.W.T., New Brunswick, and Nunavut. As first reported by The Wire Report, the Liberals will not renew the multi-billion UBF after it expires in 2029, with the government relying on satellite offerings to close Canada’s digital divide moving forwards. dlegree@thewirereport.ca

Feds, Alberta provide nearly $22M for Indigenous-led broadband project

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By Davis Legree
|September 15, 2026

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By Davis Legree
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