(OTTAWA) Ottawa’s slow rollout of high-speed internet in rural areas is putting Indigenous communities at an economic disadvantage, while billions of dollars to fix the problem are not even being fully spent, pointed out the Auditor General of Canada on Monday.

Lack of internet access continues to prevent First Nations reserves from accessing online education, work and medical or government services, Karen Hogan said in a report released Monday. Yet last year’s budget provided billions of dollars to address this inequity.

The audit report, which covered the period from July 2018 to last January, concludes that “connectivity to high-speed internet and mobile cellular telephone services is not the same for all Canadians”.

On First Nations reserves, about 43% of households had high-speed internet in 2021, just under half of households across Canada (91%). In rural and remote areas, this rate was about 60%.

The audit found that the federal government was ignoring the affordability of this service, as Ottawa focuses solely on the price charged by providers, without considering consumer income.

However, the Auditor General points out that price alone does not indicate whether a Canadian household can afford internet or cell phone services.

In fact, “unaffordable or poor quality connectivity does not improve the lives of Canadians living on First Nations reserves or in rural and remote areas” any more than not having it. everything, concludes the report.

But the government is not only behind on its goal of improving internet access for First Nations and rural residents: it is also lagging behind in using available funds to solve the problem, said revealed Ms. Hogan’s audit.

The 2022-2023 federal budget provided 2.4 billion to improve internet and mobile phone services, but the government only spent 40% of this sum, or less than 1 billion.

In addition to this funding envelope, the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s Growth Plan includes an additional $2 billion to support select large-scale connectivity infrastructure projects, through loans or equity financing, indicates the report.

“Connectivity is no longer a luxury, but an essential service for Canadians. This observation has become more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has transformed the lives, work and ways of learning of a large number of Canadians,” said the Auditor General.

“Without access to fast, reliable and affordable high-speed internet and mobile cellular services, people in remote areas cannot enjoy the same opportunities as people in urban areas. In other words, people in remote areas cannot participate in the digital economy or access education, work, medical care and government services online. »

The federal government had committed to connecting 90% of Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2021, 98% by 2026 and 100% by 2030. The objective is to equip homes with a minimum speed 50 megabits per second for downloads and 10 megabits per second for uploads.