Public Notice

June 27, 2025 – Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada must determine whether the proposed project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

To help inform this determination, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is inviting comments from the public respecting that determination. All comments received will be considered public and may be posted online.

Written comments must be submitted by July 26, 2025 to contact identified on the project page.

The Proposed Project

New (Single) Tower Construction

Broadband Communications North Inc. is proposing the construction of a 36.5 meters telecommunication tower to provide high-speed internet access to the Poplar River community. An antenna will be mounted at the top of the tower. The antenna will operate in the 5 GHz and 60 GHZ frequency bands. All of the equipment necessary to operate this facility will be housed in a small equipment cabinet located on site. This tower may undergo future modifications or the addition/replacement of antennas.

Upgrade (Single) Tower

Broadband Communications North Inc. is proposing the addition of a 0.08 meters antenna, in the 5 GHz and 60 GHz frequency band, mounted at the top of an existing 36.5 meters tower which is located on Poplar River. The antenna will be installed to improve network access to high-speed internet. In the future, the existing tower may have other antennas and other radiocommunication equipment added or replaced.

New Fibre Installation

Broadband Communications North Inc. plans to install underground fiber optic cabling to support the last-mile wireless network  in  Poplar River. The  installation includes approximately 97 km of underground fiber optic cable along the winter road corridor from Berens River to Poplar River.

The cable is to be buried by directional drilling, trenching, or using existing conduits, or a combination of these methods in existing roadway alignments.