this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2025
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Ontario's severed ties with Starlink impedes access to legal services in remote First Nations (www.cbc.ca)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/canada
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Indigenous legal advocates in northwestern Ontario are sounding the alarm over the Ontario government's cancellation of its contract with Starlink, citing concerns with people's access to legal services in remote First Nations.

Last month, Premier Doug Ford announced he'd be ripping up the $100-million deal with Elon Musk's internet provider, as a retaliatory measure in the ongoing Canada-U.S. trade war.

But in northwestern Ontario, this means the end of the Starlink-Navigator Program delivered by Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services Corporation (NALSC), which "permitted community members, who often do not have access to internet, or reliable internet, an opportunity to participate in virtual courts."

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Connecting these homes properly is worth it, yes.

The question was always is it worth giving it to SpaceX specifically given Elons ties, or a US based company due to Trump. Xplore is US owned as well now, and was the other option.

In June 2020, Xplore announced its sale to New York private equity firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners

During the pandemic

According to Lis McWalter, a Carling, Ontario resident and chair of the West Parry Sound SMART Community Network, speeds are so slow that audio calls are impeded, and said “Even at the best of times we don’t get the speed that’s promised.”.

I think we should try and avoid supporting the US for the moment, but if there isn't a good alternative and the other options might seriously impact the quality of life for our citizens, then I think it's worth considering still doing it until we can work something else out.

Edit: I thought this addition would be worth while... Xplore struggled during the pandemic when usage was higher, and starlink has much higher bandwidth capabilities. If we not only want to connect but encourage people to consider living in these communities, that also means more population growth, which means more demanding usage which means Xplore struggles further.

[–] Dearche 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I see. Didn't realize that Xplore wasn't Canadian anymore, nor that actual performance was that bad. I just saw some speed tests and those didn't look that bad.

That said, I still don't think we should be spending $100 million on Starlink. For the purpose its suppose to serve, I would think that we could meet all the proposed needs with single digit million at most, even if we have to rely on Starlink to do so. We taxpayers are being shafted hard by such a contract.

If private individuals want to get Starlink for their normal internet, I don't oppose such a decision since it's not like we have good alternatives for high speed satellite internet until the EU's version gets fully deployed. But that's a decision on an individual level. A provincial decision should minimize excess expenditure on something that's a pure luxury and instead concentrate on meeting the needs of its people first, since Ford is already pulling so much funding from public resources to pay for his vanity projects that keep getting rejected by the courts.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I don't know all the costs, but definitely not single digits.

15,000 (people) * 500 (dish) + 15000 * 140 (service) * 12 (months) is 37.2 million. If they help with roof installs that'd be more too.

Commercial stuff costs more, so if they connect a hospital it'd be more.

There was something in the contract about paying more to ensure guaranteed bandwidth for them as well, and I wonder if the government is helping pay for some of the ground stations it'd need which might be one time costs?

Also the government has a policy of connecting all of Canada to high speed internet which is considered 50 down, 10 up with 98% in 2026 and the rest by 2030.

https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/high-speed-internet-canada/en

Edit: to be fair though that policy isn't about paying for the end user, but it would include going towards infrastructure like ground stations, guaranteeing the bandwidth and paying for SpaceX to launch a few extra satellites to help guarantee the service.

[–] Dearche 1 points 1 day ago

I understand spending $100million of it's to fix Ontario's infrastructure and get more people connected, but this isn't it. It's simply paying off someone else to put in a band-aid solution that only looks good on the surface.

I understand the idea of building up the infrastructure for isolated communities to become connected, but I strongly feel that this isn't the way. It's forcing a group of people onto a monopoly that can be taken away at any point. If the government really wanted to do this, then they'd fund cell towers to these isolated communities instead. That'll give them reliable internet access that isn't beholden to a single company on top of helping local companies. Nobody would be forced to use hardware from a specific company or suffer complete loss of service.

This is likely more expensive, but it's far more beneficial and forward looking and may even bring people together more. And it doesn't exclude Starlink for those who want it as well. They just have to pay for that on their own, but Starlink is already priced to be affordable to individual families.