FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | October 15, 2021 | COUNCIL OF THE HAIDA NATION AND CITYWEST ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

Published by info@haidanation.com on

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2021

 

COUNCIL OF THE HAIDA NATION AND CITYWEST ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

 

The Council of the Haida Nation, Skidegate Band Council, Old Massett Band Council, and CityWest are jointly announcing a partnership agreement, which will see communities on Haida Gwaii connected to a world-class fibre-to-the-home network.

The partnership will see the creation of a new company, CityWest Haida Communications Corp. The fibre-to-home network will be owned by the Haida Nation, and powered by CityWest fibre-optic services. The agreement – the first of its kind in the telecommunications industry –will also send a share of the new company’s profits to the Haida, resulting in a direct financial benefit to community members.

“Developing last-mile connectivity solutions will be transformative for our communities because of the many benefits that modern fibre network solutions will bring with the capacity to meet our growing needs and provide more reliable service,” said Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, President of the Haida Nation.

This partnership expands the Haida Nation’s governance over Internet services on Haida Gwaii and delivers on CityWest’s continuing mission to improve connectivity in underserved rural and remote communities.

“We are very excited about this agreement because it’s more than a partnership – it’s an opportunity for the communities to own their connectivity destiny for many years into the future,” said Stefan Woloszyn, CEO of CityWest. “As a company that was built in northern BC, we’re proud to have this opportunity to serve new communities in our region.”

CityWest Haida Communications Corp. will be able to serve these customers by connecting these communities to the Connected Coast network, an undersea cable project that will bring backbone bandwidth to 139 rural and remote coastal communities along the BC coast, as well as around Vancouver Island. The Connected Coast project is co-managed by CityWest and the Strathcona Regional District.

The partnership will yield results very soon. The first phase of construction for Internet services – building a “drop” from the road to the home – will be starting in the next few months. Further construction updates will be released as the project commences.

For more information, please contact Brady Yu, Interim Director of Policy at the Council of the Haida Nation: <policy@haidanation.com>, 250-559-4468; or Chris Armstrong, VP of Sales & Marketing at CityWest: 250-624-1499 or 250-624-7006, <chris.armstrong@cwct.ca>.

Learn more about the Haida Nation: <haidanation.ca>.

CityWest is a locally owned company with a vision to represent the northern BC communities which it serves and is proud to provide a superior customer experience to our customers across BC, who subscribe to Internet, TV, and phone services. For more information on the company, please visit <citywest.ca>.

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