FlexNetworks has announced its acquisition of Fiber.CA Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2005 by Ron Dallmeier and Mike Gobeil, Fiber.CA’s ultra high-speed networks in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba, currently serve roughly 1,500 residential and business users and 250 schools with 93,000 staff and students. FlexNetworks first entered the Manitoba market when it acquired Fastnet Communications, a Winnipeg-based Internet Service Provider, in 2020. Combined with the acquisition of Fiber.CA, FlexNetworks is expected to have over 110 km of fibre-optic infrastructure in Winnipeg by year-end.
Canadian Fiber Optics (CFOC), has launched its 250 km privately-funded high-capacity fiber-optic transport network through the heart of the Montney gas field connecting Grande Cache with the Grande Prairie region in Northwest Alberta. Bringing industrial 10Gbps fiber internet and connectivity services to the Highway 40 energy corridor, following completion of the network between Wembley, Grovedale and Grande Cache, AB, the availability of 10Gbps internet and bandwidth services will benefit under-served communities in the Municipal District of Greenview, the County of Grande Prairie and the oil and gas industry.
Beth Deer & Patronus
AMI (Accessible Media Inc.) has released a statement outlining recent incidents that have seen its reporters, who live with impaired vision and other disabilities, encounter human rights violations. AMI says recently Beth Deer, AMI This Week’s Edmonton-based bureau reporter and documentary host, was denied transportation by a ride sharing company because she is a guide dog user. The network says unfortunately this isn’t the first time that Beth – who was born with optic nerve hypoplasia and lost her sight in 2014 – and her guide dog have been denied transportation. Earlier this year, AMI This Week host, Paralympian and CNIB Guide Dog spokesperson Victoria Nolan was delivered by cab to the wrong Victoria, B.C. address. The driver sped off, leaving her stranded. AMI says this week, Nolan and her family were turned away when they attempted to book a hotel room in Ucluelet, B.C.
The Mary and Philip Seeman Mental Health Investigative Journalism Fund is being launched to support the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) at the University of Toronto. The fund will enable the IJB to further its work in finding solutions to the youth mental health crisis. A new $25,000 fund, launched by data entrepreneur and mental health advocate, Neil Seeman, will advance the bureau’s inaugural project,Generation Distress, along with other projects related to mental health.
