An Improved Connectivity Component for an Infrastructure Index for Remote Indigenous Communities

In March 2018 a report entitled “An Infrastructure Index for Remote Indigenous Communities” was delivered to INAC. The report included discussion of the rationale and methodology for the index and estimates for the index for 236 remote communities (200 Indigenous and 36 nonIndigenous) with breakdowns by jurisdiction (province/territory) and heritage group. The Index itself consisted of seven components of infrastructure (broadband, transportation, energy, health, education, water and housing) and 15 separate indicators. A database of over 3,450 data points was constructed with publically available information. One weakness identified with the index was the broadband indicator, which focused on the availability of broadband, not its quality in remote Indigenous communities. INAC (now CIRNAC) was interested in addressing this weakness and commissioned the Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) to develop a new broadband indicator. In this report, we develop a new index for broadband connectivity, incorporating two key factors that determine the quality of broadband services in Indigenous communities in remote regions: speed and capacity.