In Canada, residents of rural, remote and Northern communities generally pay more for slower, less reliable, and more expensive telecommunications services compared to southern and urban residents. This situation is particularly concentrated in small-population, rural Indigenous communities located in the Northern territories. Over the last several decades, many public policy initiatives have attempted to develop telecommunications services, including high-speed broadband, in these underserved areas. However, Northern input into these initiatives and their outcomes has been limited — despite increasing evidence of the benefits of place-based planning, monitoring and evaluation processes. In this context we examine a recent public consultation about telecommunication services in these regions, focusing on expectations submitted by individual Northerners and by intermediary organizations representing their interests. Our analysis reveals distinct but complementary functions expressed by these different kinds of intervenors, which we suggest policymakers could take into consideration when planning consultations involving rural and remote regions.

在加拿大，与南部和城市居民相比，农村、偏远和北部社区的居民通常为速度较慢、可靠性较低和更昂贵的电信服务支付更多费用。这种情况尤其集中在位于北部地区的人口少的农村土著社区。在过去的几十年里，许多公共政策举措都试图在这些服务不足的地区发展电信服务，包括高速宽带。然而，北方对这些举措及其成果的投入有限——尽管越来越多的证据表明基于地点的规划、监测和评估过程的好处。在这种情况下，我们研究了最近关于这些地区电信服务的公众咨询，关注个体北方人和代表他们利益的中介组织提交的期望。我们的分析揭示了这些不同类型的干预者所表达的独特但互补的功能，我们建议政策制定者在规划涉及农村和偏远地区的协商时可以考虑到这一点。