CityWest wishes to acknowledge they will be working and expanding services on the unceded traditional territories of the Haida Nation.
Once again, CityWest is announcing an expansion of its services, this time westward to Haida Gwaii, through the Province’s Connecting British Columbia program, which encourages important investment in broadband and cellular infrastructure to help connect people in rural and Indigenous communities to the services that they need.
Over the next few months, the company will begin its first stages of expansion into the communities of Masset, Old Massett, the Village of Daajing Giids (Queen Charlotte), HlGaagilda (Skidegate), TlLaal (Tlell), and Taaw Tldaaw (Tow Hill). This expansion is to provide service to residents through the Connected Coast project.
“This is just a really exciting project that will connect Haida Gwaii with the rest of the world,” said Kris Olsen, Mayor of Daajing Giids. “It will allow us to expand economic development, improve education, and deliver e-health services, all while staying at home.”
As part of the expansion, CityWest is launching its “Dropping In” campaign, encouraging residents on Haida Gwaii to sign to have fibre optic cable installed directly to their home.
“The expansion of Internet services to Haida Gwaii is another step towards a new age of connectivity along British Columbia’s beautiful coastline,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Citizens’ Services. “People will be able to connect with the services that they need, and the people who they love, and the Province is incredibly proud to support that through our Connecting British Columbia program.”
For the first stage of expansion, CityWest will be going directly to the doors and mailboxes of residents in some communities on Haida Gwaii , to sign them up for their installation, and ask permission to bury a “drop” on their property. (A drop is the infrastructure that runs from the street to the customer premises). Once that is complete, customers on Haida Gwaii will have access to fibre-to-the-home services when the Connected Coast project brings bandwidth to the island.
“We’ve worked closely with our partners on Haida Gwaii for many months to lay the groundwork for this project, and their help has been essential to getting it off the ground,” said Stefan Woloszyn, CEO of CityWest. “We’re thrilled that we’ll soon be serving residents and businesses across Haida Gwaii with great Internet alongside fantastic customer service!”
CityWest worked closely with communities across Haida Gwaii as key partners to ensure the success of the project. The company also worked closely with the Province of B.C., which announced its funding support through the Connecting British Columbia program in a press release on March 26. To view that press release, please click here.