Telecommunications restored across the N.W.T., Yukon, and Nunavut
There is still some damage to N.W.T. fibre lines; internet traffic may be congested as a result
Internet, cell phone and landline calling have been restored across the Yukon, and Nunavut, and Northern B.C., says telecommunications provider Northwestel.
Service has also been restored in parts of the Northwest Territories that were left without service Saturday, but there is still damage to fibre optic lines in the territory caused by a wildfire burning between Kakisa and Jean Marie River.
"If you are in the South Slave, Yellowknife area, things are great. You've got your long distance back. Everything should be working perfectly for you," said Tammy April, vice president of customer experience with Northwestel.
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"When you're continuing up the Mackenzie Valley into the Beaufort Delta, you will have long distance and landline service, you'll have mobility service, but you'll be finding that your internet is a bit congested."
April said the company hopes to have full service restored by midday Sunday.
In the Yukon, April said crews were able to repair a kilometres-long stretch of fibre optic line near Fort Nelson, B.C.
"By midnight we had all Yukon communities up and that also led to service, albeit congested service, for the McKenzie Valley and Delta," she said.
A wildfire near Fort Nelson, seen here in northeastern B.C., and another blaze near Fort Liard, N.W.T., had caused major telecommunications outages in Yukon and parts of N.W.T. (Submitted by Tony Capot-Blanc)
The outage also hamstrung emergency officials. Julia Duchesne, a spokesperson with Yukon Protective Services said officials had to rely on "old-fashioned" ways of communicating with the public.
"Within about half an hour of the telecoms going down, we had ham radio operators across Whitehorse and a little further afield activated," she said.
"So we were able to have radio operators stationed with Yukon Emergency Medical Services and with our local radio stations as the radio stations were trying to get information on air and that really allowed us to start passing information around more quickly."
Thumbnail image credit to NorthwesTel via CBC News.
This article was originally written by Chris Windeyer and published for CBC News on Sunday, May 12.