Marc-Antoine Desjardins has spent 15 years advising Indigenous governments, federal bodies and telecommunications providers on connectivity infrastructure planning in isolated northern environments. Based in Ottawa, he collaborates regularly with the Kativik Regional Administration and Makivik Society. Claire Beaumont from Soleica Editorial met with him for an unflinching assessment of Nunavik’s connectivity in 2026 and a projection to 2035.
Editorial note: Representative editorial character. This interview synthesizes documented analyses and projections on northern connectivity in Canada.
Claire Beaumont: Where does connectivity in Nunavik’s 14 villages really stand in 2026? Can you give an honest assessment?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: The honest assessment is: real progress, persistent structural insufficiency. Starlink’s arrival since 2023 was a major qualitative shift — for the households and institutions that can afford it. Latency dropped from 600 ms to 30-40 ms, speeds were multiplied four or fivefold. That’s concrete and measurable. But when you look at the whole picture, there are still villages like Aupaluk or Ivujivik where the majority of households depend on a geostationary Tamaani connection at 5-10 Mbps with 600 ms latency, for which they pay $150 to $200 per month. If you offered that in Laval, you’d be taken to court. The gap with southern Quebec is gigantic and it’s narrowing far too slowly.
Claire Beaumont: LEO satellite — Starlink, Telesat Lightspeed, Amazon Kuiper — is this the end of geostationary satellite for the Far North?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: Not the end, but an inevitable transition over 10 to 15 years. Geostationary satellite will survive for specific uses — broadcast, certain government telecommunications — but for residential and professional connectivity, LEO has surpassed it on every relevant metric. The question is no longer technical, it’s economic and political. Telesat Lightspeed is interesting because it’s Canadian — it answers the sovereignty question that Starlink can’t. If Telesat delivers on its Arctic coverage and affordable pricing promises, it could become the reference solution for Nunavik by 2028-2030. But “if” is still a big word.
Claire Beaumont: Submarine fibre optic all the way to Nunavik — is it feasible? On what timeline and at what cost?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: Technically feasible, yes. Economically and logistically, it’s another story. Preliminary studies cite costs in the range of $300 to $600 million for a submarine cable running along the Hudson Bay coast from Quebec’s terrestrial network to Kuujjuaq, with extensions to the most populated villages. For a population of 14,000 residents, that’s a colossal investment. It requires a federal-provincial political decision and a partnership with operators and communities. On timing, I would be very optimistic to say 2032-2035 for a first operational segment. The reality could be 2040. In the meantime, LEO must bridge the gap.
Claire Beaumont: Telesat Lightspeed — what strategic role in northern Quebec’s connectivity?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: Telesat Lightspeed has two arguments Starlink can’t match. First, its polar orbits cover latitudes 55° to 70° North better — exactly where Nunavik is located. Starlink is optimized for temperate latitudes. Lightspeed is designed for the Far North. Second, it’s a Canadian company, listed on the TSX, subject to Canadian law and CRTC regulation. For Inuit communities who legitimately raise the question of their data sovereignty — do I want my data flowing through SpaceX servers in California? — Lightspeed is a different answer. On pricing, everything depends on how Telesat positions its northern offer. If they commit to rate parity with the south, it could change everything.
Claire Beaumont: How do permafrost and climate change affect northern telecom infrastructure?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: This is a topic that’s only just starting to be taken seriously in infrastructure planning. Permafrost is gradually thawing — not uniformly, but in patches. Towers installed 15 years ago on supposedly permanent permafrost are now showing measurable tilting in several villages. Technical building foundations are cracking. We’re beginning to have to recalculate investment payback periods by incorporating climate risk. An antenna designed for a 20-year lifespan may need structural review after 12 years if the ground beneath its foundation has shifted. It’s a hidden cost overrun that no one is really funding in current budget envelopes.
Claire Beaumont: Digital sovereignty — why is it a crucial issue for Inuit communities and how can it be concretely built?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: Digital sovereignty for Inuit is several overlapping things. There’s the data question — who stores, who accesses health data, school data, Inuit households’ communications. If all this data flows through American servers of foreign private operators, it raises legitimate questions about Quebec’s Law 25, protection of Inuit cultural identity, and narrative control. There’s also the economic dimension — the money spent on telecom subscriptions in Nunavik, where does it go? Largely outside the region. Tamaani and Tarqavik are the instruments of Inuit digital sovereignty. But they need far more structured public support than they currently receive to hold their own against Starlink on service quality.
Claire Beaumont: Tamaani and Tarqavik Communications — do community operators have a future facing the satellite giants?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: Their future depends on a collective political decision. If they’re left alone against the market, they’re condemned long-term — Starlink offers better service and consumers will naturally migrate. But if we decide collectively — Quebec government, federal government, Inuit communities — that northern digital sovereignty is a priority, then Tamaani and Tarqavik can become hybrid operators leveraging LEO satellite (becoming resellers or partners) while maintaining their local infrastructure. The model that worked for Air Inuit — a viable Inuit community airline — can inspire the telecom sector. It’s not utopian, but it requires political will and investment.
Claire Beaumont: What can the CRTC realistically do to reduce the digital divide in northern Quebec?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: The CRTC has more power than it’s using. In 2016, it declared broadband access a “basic service.” In 2022, it set the objective of 50/10 Mbps for all Canadians. But enforcement mechanisms for unmet areas are weak. What the CRTC could concretely do: one, condition Broadband Fund subsidies on affordable pricing commitments, not just technical coverage. Two, create a universal service obligation specific to isolated Indigenous communities with measurable outcome indicators. Three, require operators receiving public subsidies to train local technicians in the communities they serve. These are possible regulatory measures, not revolutionary ones.
Claire Beaumont: Federal “Connecting Canada” programmes — are they truly effective for Nunavik?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: Partially. These programmes have funded real projects — infrastructure upgrades in several villages. But there are structural problems. First, funding cycles are short (2 to 3 years) while northern infrastructure projects take 5 to 8 years. Second, the administrative requirements for funding applications are designed for southern municipalities — small Inuit communities often lack the human resources to put together complex applications. Third, the co-investment logic (30-50% from the community) is unrealistic for villages of 200 to 400 residents. The design of these programmes needs to be adapted to northern realities, not just applied uniformly.
Claire Beaumont: Vision 2035 — what will northern connectivity look like in 10 years if current projects come to fruition?
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: Optimistic scenario, with the right political decisions and right investments: by 2035, the 4 or 5 most populated Nunavik villages — Kuujjuaq, Puvirnituq, Inukjuak, Salluit, Kangiqsualujjuaq — will have a hybrid partial fibre + LEO connection offering reliable symmetric 100 Mbps for under $80/month for a residential household, including subsidy. The remaining 9 villages will have access to quality LEO (Telesat Lightspeed or equivalent) at affordable rates — $60 to $100/month — through a strengthened universal service programme. Tamaani will still be present as a community operator, but reconfigured as a LEO services aggregator rather than a geostationary satellite operator. And Tarqavik will manage local data centres in the main villages, reducing dependence on southern servers for critical applications.
Claire Beaumont: To close — five misconceptions about Far North connectivity you’d like to correct.
Marc-Antoine Desjardins: Happy to.
“Nunavik has no internet.” — False. All 14 villages have internet in 2026. The question isn’t existence but quality and cost.
“Starlink has solved northern connectivity.” — Partially true. Starlink spectacularly improves the situation for those who can afford it. For lower-income households, the cost remains a real barrier.
“Fibre in Nunavik is impossible.” — False. It’s difficult and expensive, not impossible. Submarine cables exist in far more complex conditions. It’s a question of political will and funding.
“Nunavik’s connectivity problems are purely technical.” — False. The hardest obstacles are economic (service costs), political (regulatory governance), and cultural (local appropriation of digital tools). The technical part is the easiest.
“If Inuit really wanted internet, they’d move to the city.” — Unacceptable. This reasoning would imply that the right to a universal public service depends on one’s choice of residence. The Canadian Constitution and Indigenous treaties guarantee Inuit the right to live on their territory. Connectivity must follow people, not the other way around.
For a deeper look at the current situation village by village, see our complete Nunavik connectivity guide.
For detailed costs and subsidy programmes available in 2026, see our Nunavik internet costs guide.
For a field perspective from an engineer deploying networks in the tundra, our interview with a northern telecom engineer provides an essential practical complement.
For resources on investments and projects in Canada’s remote regions, Voyage Canada regularly publishes a guide to investments and projects in Canada’s remote regions.
Frequently asked questions
When will fibre optic reach Nunavik?
There is no firm schedule for a fibre optic deployment across the whole of Nunavik in 2026. Feasibility studies are underway for a submarine link along the Hudson Bay coast, but the estimated costs (several hundred million dollars) and logistical challenges (permafrost, Arctic logistics) push a realistic deployment to the 2030-2035 horizon at best, and only initially for the best-connected villages such as Kuujjuaq and Inukjuak.
Will Telesat Lightspeed replace Starlink in Nunavik?
Telesat Lightspeed (Canadian LEO constellation) is designed specifically for northern uses — its orbits cover higher latitudes better than Starlink. It won't replace Starlink but will complement it, providing redundancy and a Canadian sovereignty option. Commercial deployment is expected in 2027-2028. For Nunavik, the key question is whether Telesat Lightspeed will be accessible at rates comparable to or lower than Starlink.
What does digital sovereignty mean concretely for Nunavik Inuit?
Digital sovereignty for Nunavik Inuit means controlling the data about them, deciding which operators can access their territory, training local technicians and managers capable of maintaining infrastructure, and not depending entirely on foreign operators (SpaceX/Starlink is American). Concretely, this means strengthening Tamaani Internet as a sovereign community operator, developing Tarqavik Communications, and building local technical training capacity.
Is climate change already affecting Nunavik's telecom infrastructure?
Yes. Permafrost degradation due to climate warming is weakening the foundations of towers and antennas installed on frozen ground. Infrastructure designed for a 20-year lifespan is beginning to show early signs of deformation in some villages. The CRTC and operators need to integrate climate projections into their infrastructure plans — an additional challenge on top of an already costly investment.
What can the CRTC concretely do for Nunavik?
The CRTC has several levers: setting universal service objectives (minimum 50/10 Mbps, currently under-achieved in several villages), funding projects via the Broadband Fund, regulating rates to avoid abusive monopoly situations, and requiring operators receiving public subsidies to make measurable service quality commitments. The challenge is that federal regulation collides with the specific realities of northern territories and the logistical realities that CRTC commissioners based in Ottawa don't see in the same way as residents of Ivujivik.
Illustrative characters created for this article — editorial portrait.