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COVID drives Almaguin Highlands Health Centre to intensify efforts for high speed internet

The Almaguin Highlands Health Centre committee has made securing high-speed internet a major priority
internet 2016

The communities that make up Almaguin Highlands have lobbied for high-speed internet to no avail for about half a dozen years.

The chair of the Almaguin Highlands Health Centre committee says the drive was renewed a few years ago but has intensified because of the obstacles COVID-19 created.

See related: Starlink one step closer to providing high-speed internet

Rod Ward, who also is a councillor in Armour Township, says it was already difficult for people and businesses to operate under current internet speeds, and the pandemic only made it worse with more people forced to work from home.

“Right now the service is horrible,” Ward says. There is no way you can do virtual health-care visits with video and there's also no Zoom.”

The communities of Burk's Falls and Sundridge are both seeing their internet speeds increase significantly thanks to Lakeland Energy bringing fibre optics to both municipalities.

But Ward says that's where the improvements stop.

He says the smaller rural areas will not see high-speed internet and he doesn't fault the internet providers for not wanting to invest in these smaller areas.

Ward says it makes no sense for internet providers to “spend millions of dollars just to get 50 new subscribers.” And this is where the federal and provincial governments have to play a role.

The committee has worked with Blue Sky Net to help it make the case for government funding to subsidize internet providers so they can bring faster internet speeds to all of Almaguin Highlands, a region made up of about 12 communities.

Ward says COVID-19 has made it clear how badly the area needs high-speed internet.

“I lived in southern Ontario and there are things there you take for granted,” he says.

“High-speed internet is something you don't even think about there. It's like hydro, you know it's going to be there.  But (in Almaguin Highlands) it's a whole different story. All we're looking for is a level playing field.”

If down the road the region faces reduced health services because it's no longer feasible to have some services on-site, Ward says the impact won't be as bad if patients can replace the service through online capabilities that allow for virtual care meetings with health-care personnel.

The Almaguin Highlands Health Centre committee, he says, has made securing high-speed internet a major priority.

And the committee has begun getting wide support for its drive.

In his role as chair of the committee, Ward wrote a letter to all Ontario municipalities making the case for why the rural areas need high-speed internet.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the responses we got,” he says. “Councils in rural areas responded with their own resolutions and they sent copies to the premier and prime minister.”

Ward says it's obvious from the responses it's not just Almaguin Highlands that's disadvantaged with slower internet.

Every rural area faces the same problem.

He says governments can help change this and create a level playing field for all communities.

“This is no different than putting in a half-decent road into Kirkland Lake,” he says.

“You got to have the service, and once it's there it will create so many advantages in the health-care system alone.”

Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the North Bay Nugget. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.