“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.
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/business/nine-island-first-nations-to-get-high-speed-internet-1.1690977#sthash.sYsxKgGR.dpuf

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