Hëtıë ghına há nëkǫë nëkanëlnı́*

Healing from the comfort of home

When Candace Black’s grandson was born with a medical condition that required him to be in the hospital for the first 10 months of his life, she knew that her family would need a lot more than attentive medical care to ensure his needs were met.

With limited access to stable internet service in the community and an unreliable wireless connection from her home, it was hard for Black to check in on her daughter and grandson while they were at the hospital in Edmonton, five hours away from their home of Chard Métis Nation in northern Alberta.

But that all changed when Chard Métis Nation was connected to TELUS PureFibre® – thankfully, just as her grandson was making progress on his healing journey and the care team started to develop a plan for him to go home.

The PureFibre build was co-funded by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, TELUS, the Government of Canada’s Universal Broadband Fund and the Government of Alberta, which connected three First Nations, four Métis communities and six rural municipalities in 2023.

Black shared, “Without connectivity, he would not have been able to come home when he did as being able to connect with his doctors and nurses would have been an issue.”

Now that her grandson is home, he’s been able to receive care seamlessly through video meetings and phone call check-ins with his care team now that their home has both internet and landline connections.

Before TELUS PureFibre internet was enabled at their home, Black mentioned that her daughter had considered relocating to be able to better access the care her son needed. Thankfully, the critical connectivity services came online just in time.

“Something so simple as TELUS, it really helped save our family and kept us home where we belong.”

Outside of supporting her grandson’s recovery, Black is leveraging the Nation’s new connectivity in her work as the program coordinator for the Nation. Black shared that the stable internet has changed the type of programming her team can offer and “we are trying to be creative with our new connectivity where we can.”

From curating drivers’ education video courses that are engaging for local youth to hosting a livestreamed bingo for the Elders where the winner can actually call in using the TELUS internet-enabled home phone, she celebrated that “peoples lives are being enriched by this service.”

Elders have SmartHome Security and landlines installed in their homes, helping them feel safe. What’s more, Nation members receive the best rates possible for TELUS services, thanks to the customized universal service program that Chard Métis Nation leaders and TELUS have enabled, demonstrating TELUS’ commitment to collaborating with communities to meet their unique needs and goals.

Black is proud to be part of the team that helped make this life-changing connectivity solution possible for her community and her family. She reflected on how a few years ago her team was hoping that one day TELUS would be available in her community, “and next thing you know, here it is and it is absolutely wonderful.”

*Dënesųłıné translation

TELUS’ commitment to artistic integrity

We are committed to supporting the artistic practices of Indigenous Peoples while being mindful of the historic role organizations have played in the misappropriation of Indigenous art and culture. We have an obligation and responsibility to ensure that TELUS’ use of Indigenous art in our digital and physical spaces is respectful of Indigenous artists.

In 2024, expanding on our commitment to artistic integrity, we declared that we will not use AI technology to create or replicate the art of or imagery of Indigenous Peoples.