Rogers partners with Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation to provide high speed broadband service

With a good internet connection being a vital lifeline during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rogers Communications announced Wednesday that they have partnered with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) to provide high-speed broadband services to the community.

Chief Stacey Laforme says First Nations often get left behind when it comes to such services and the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the problem further.

“It’s always been a challenge having internet connection out here, but we’ve really noticed it because the children rely on it to go to school,” he told CityNews. “The pandemic has really shown us the need for that connectivity.”

Chief Laforme said like thousands of others, the MCFN community needs to stay connected via virtual tools like Zoom to maintain both personal and professional connections.

“It absolutely is [a necessity.] It’s essential not only for business, but we have arts and artists that need to connect and be involved in their business and they’re showcasing what they can do [online],” he said. “We have interactions with each other and families that need to occur during the pandemic, so this is really, really important for us.”

Rogers will invest $1.4 million in expanding its fibre network to deliver “fibre-to-the-home technology” to over 275 homes and businesses in the community, across 30 square kilometres.

The communications giant says it will work with local contractors to build the network and will continue to explore ways in which it can help the community’s economic growth.

Chief Laforme says Rogers has been a good partner in the initiative and it will help “transform the lives of everyone” in the community.

He recalls that the conversation about MCFN getting high-speed internet dates back to over a year ago, when he met Rogers officials at an event in Toronto and discussed having a conversation about the community’s internet needs.

“About six months later I hadn’t heard anything, so I got in touch with some friends at Rogers and said ‘it’s about time we had that conversation’,” he said. “They said ‘absolutely’ and they reached out and we set up a committee here at MCFN to work on it.”

The project is slated to begin construction in July and services will be available by early 2022.

“This partnership and partnerships like it are the mainstay for the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation,” said Chief Laforme. “We’ve worked very hard to develop relationships and friends and it means a lot. As you can see, when times of crisis hit, it’s good to have friends.”

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