http://i.cbc.ca/1.3764037.1473965949!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/eabametoong-2.jpghMore critically for the community, the unreliable internet also interferes with key functions, such as health care and business transactions.
"The band office... they require a lot of reporting to funding agencies and it takes them all day or maybe even a couple of days to upload a one megabyte file," he said.
A broadband communications working group with Matawa First Nations Management announced Thursday that the federal government has committed some funding to proceed to the design phase of a project aimed at bringing basic broadband internet into local homes.
Work to upgrade internet service is being planned for Nibinamik, Webequie, Neskantaga, Eabametoong and Marten Falls, according to Matawa.
While the group welcomes the funding, the communities continue to push senior levels of government for money needed to construct the new system, the tribal council said in a Thursday press release, especially in light of some rural communities in southwestern Ontario already moving on to ultra-high speed internet with the help of government funding.
Officials with Matawa say the plan is to have some of the remote communities hooked up to basic broadband by summer, 2017.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $4.028 million, according to Matawa.
