OLIVER PAIPOONGE Ont., -- Another step is being made to try and end the long wait for high-speed internet in one Thunder Bay-area municipality.
Lucy Kloosterhuis, mayor of Oliver Paipoonge, says the municpality has applied for a $4.7 million grant from the Northern Heritage Fund Corporation in July.
The money would be used for high speed internet installation in the community.
“It does seem at times that it’s been taking so long,” said Kloosterhuis. “But from the conversations we’ve been having (with the provincial government), I know they’ve been listening to us.”
In April 2018, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation announced a total of nearly $10 million to fund three separate projects to improve Internet connectivity and speed throughout Northern Ontario. $2.9 million of that portion went to Tbaytel to increase fibre service capacity in the rural municipality areas of Thunder Bay, Fort William First Nation, Shuniah, and Oliver Paipoonge.
Tired of waiting, the application of the new grant would be used specifically for Oliver Paipoonge. The municipality will still have to wait for six months before NOHFC comes to a decision on the grant.
If approved, the money will be allocated to Tbaytel, where they will work with the province to determine where the money will be spent.
While fibre-optic internet exists in some areas of the municipality, some residents rely on copper wire connection.
Kloosterhuis says if the grant is approved, not all residents of the municipality will be serviced, but it will certainly act as a stepping stone in that direction.
For this reason, Oliver Paipoonge council members decided no municipal money will go towards the project.
“We feel it would be very wrong for the municipality to put money into something the whole municipality won’t benefit from,” Kloosterhuis said.
“The businesses require it. To keep a business in Oliver Paipoonge they have to have high speed internet. The university and high school students of today do so much work on the internet.
“I know a family personally whose daughters, once they got into university, had to move into town and work there at night.”
Kloosterhuis and council members are also waiting for the provincial government’s decision on the status of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.
The municipal partnership fund is the province's main general assistance grant program for Ontario cities and towns.
In February, former minister of finance Vic Fedeli said during a visit to Thunder Bay, that the fund is under review and a decision “will be made very, very shortly.”
However, Kloosterhuis remains optimistic in the fund and status of the grant.
“The discussions we’ve been having with the present government, they’ve been very understanding that rural and small communities are different from large urban centres.”
