Reliable internet access remains a dream for this Fraser Valley community

Danielle Beausoleil has lived in Ryder Lake on and off for the majority of her life, raising her two children there for the past 10 years.

While the small B.C. community — which lies within Chilliwack's boundaries — has generally been a great place to raise a family, there is one drawback that has become more pronounced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"It can take up to 10 minutes to send one email," she says.  

The area — tucked between Mount Thom and Elk Mountain — is served by satellite internet service, which Beausoleil says is extremely unreliable, slow and expensive.    

Now that B.C.'s education system has shifted online, she says many children, including her 15-year-old son, have lost the opportunity to take part in virtual classes because it's next to impossible to join a video call.

The family is not alone. 

The CRTC says only about 41 per cent of Canadians in rural communities have access to internet with speeds of 50 megabits per second (mbps) download and 10 mbps upload, which are the target speeds for the commission.

Richard Smith, a professor of communications at Simon Fraser University, says Ryder Lake is in an interesting example because although it isn't geographically remote, it is still internet remote. 

"[The internet] has been growing from a nice-to-have to a need-to-have," says Smith. "In the pandemic, it's gone from need-to-have to absolutely essential."

$600K for high-speed internet

A couple of years ago, the community — which is home to about 1,500 people — worked with Telus to determine how much it would cost to extend the telecom's fibre optic network. But, with a price tag of $600,000, the bill was too high for the residents.

However, both the City of Chilliwack and Telus say they continue to explore options to enhance connectivity in the area.

For the residents, though, the upgrade can't come soon enough, so they've put pen to paper, gathering more than 400 signatures on a letter requesting help from both the provincial and federal governments.

Beausoleil says she has had to make difficult choices about her children's education and safety during the pandemic, due to the family's lack of internet connectivity. 

"I either don't allow my children access to the education system and keep them safe at home. Or I risk their safety and well-being and bring them into my office and give them internet access there," says Beausoleil.

She made the difficult decision to bring her son into her office for his pre-calculus Grade 10 class, after she received a message from his teacher, warning that he was at risk of failing.

Much like Beausoleil, Ryder Lake resident Andy Harrington has faced many of the same issues since moving to the community four years ago.

As the executive director of an educational charity in Rwanda, his job relies heavily on using Zoom and the only option he has during the pandemic is to disobey public health orders and work from his office.

Seniors increasingly isolated

But more importantly, he says one of his community's greatest fears — being completely cut off from the outside world during a time of crisis — has become, at times, a reality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It needs to be fixed," says Harrington.

And Beausoleil agrees, adding that many of her elderly neighbours are becoming increasingly isolated now that they are missing out on many of the social activities they normally depend on, such as religious services, which have also moved online.

"I find it absolutely devastating. Access to church services can be a huge need. It's a sense of community and it's been taken away from everybody in Ryder Lake because they can't [access] the live-streams," she says.

While it could be seen as a positive that Stats Canada says only six per cent of Canadians live without reliable internet access, SFU's Smith says for those without that access, it's a significant problem.

"It's even more important in a time like today, when the thing that people are missing is the thing that we're using to keep us safe," he says.