Janssens girls Maddie (3), Kaity (10), Lexi (6) and Hailey (3) do home work at their Boissevain-area home.

Home education highlights gaps in rural internet

School divisions are adapting with print materials, phone calls, adjusted expectations

Science experiments get complicated with twin toddlers running around. Kaity, 10, and her mom Heather Janssens started an experiment on evaporation — filling a cup of water and coming back periodically to mark the water level to show if it dropped. They took a break to play outside, and when they came in it looked

Telecommunication tower with beautiful sky background

Comment: CRTC scales back internet ambitions for remote areas

Being realistic about rural internet speeds is acceptable but the danger is ‘for now’ will become ‘forever’

When it comes to internet service, regardless how it is delivered, the one thing that matters most is speed – or so most Kitsilano condo dwellers would tell you. Because if you live in, say, Lunenberg County or Stony Rapids or Cambridge Bay, the thing that matters most about internet service is that you have


A CRTC report in 2016 declared broadband internet access an essential service. Are we there yet?

Bridging the digital divide is no easy task

Rural residents are still living life in the slow digital lane

Anyone who dares suggest country life moves at a slower pace would be laughed out of the room in most rural communities, especially at this time of year as the spring-planting frenzy kicks into high gear. But there’s one sector of the rural economy and of rural living that few would deny moves at a

Rural Landscape in south western Canada and snow capped mountains

Wiring the farm for the Information Age

The new classification of broadband Internet as a basic telecommunications service 
could significantly narrow the rural-urban digital divide

Information is power, and without data, it is impossible to operate a business — any business. At the tail end of 2016, Canadian agriculture received the news it had long been waiting for: the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) declared that broadband Internet access in Canada is now considered a basic telecommunications service for

Telecommunication tower with beautiful sky background

Study says faster Internet speeds not enough

The Rural Development Institute says increasing the culture of use in rural areas 
is equally important to making faster broadband available

A new study by the Rural Development Institute (RDI) in Brandon says rural residents will need help becoming more Internet savvy as faster broadband services become available. “Everybody treats broadband with a mentality of ‘build it and they will come,’” said RDI research associate Wayne Kelly. “What we’re finding, though, is that there is a


CRTC Internet decision draws strong support

The ruling will be a game-changer for Internet service in Canada say supporters

Rural Canada is in line to be a lot more online, thanks to a pre-Christmas ruling by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The commission concluded that residential and mobile Internet is a basic service required for modern life, as important as the telephone. All Canadians must have access to a basic service with

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

CRTC makes broadband a basic service

Gatineau | Reuters — Broadband internet access will be considered a basic service in Canada, the country’s telecom regulator said Wednesday, setting a higher target for download speeds and creating a fund that could see providers paying more to help meet those goals. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said it was establishing a

The ‘broadband gap’ still divides Canada despite investment, rural leaders say

Municipal leaders gathered in Winnipeg for the national Federation of Canadian Municipalities held a 
Rural Forum special assembly June 4 to draw attention to needs and policy issues for rural areas

Municipal leaders hope a $500-million commitment in this spring’s federal budget for expanding broadband Internet services to underserviced areas of rural and remote Canada achieves its goal this time. The “broadband gap” still divides rural and urban Canada despite significant investments already made trying to close it, said councillors and mayors attending the Federation of


Telecom proposal mixed news in rural areas

Telecom proposal mixed news in rural areas

Wireless frequencies now available to Internet users would be reallocated to cell phone use

Proposed changes to how telecommunications capacity is allocated could improve services for some rural Internet users, but be a step backward for those living on the outskirts of major population centres. Industry Canada is proposing to reclassify population centres of more than 30,000 people as “urban” and reallocate spectrum currently used only used for high-speed

Budget lacks funds for housing: AMM

Improved Internet access and a commitment to keep funding infrastructure upgrades were good news for municipalities in last week’s federal budget. Budget 2012 contained several highlights that will affect rural and small-town Canada. They included an ongoing commitment for a new, long-term infrastructure plan implemented before the Building Canada Fund ends in 2014, $150 million