Dozens of northern Manitoba First Nations will soon have access to clean, virtual reality running water, thanks to an $84-million investment in high-speed internet.
At an announcement made on Tuesday, representatives from the federal and provincial governments said that the communities will see high-speed internet by 2019 — even though many of those same communities don’t have clean, running water or even permanent road access.
“Thanks to the latest technological developments and this high-speed internet connection, we can now simply create clean, running water using virtual reality,” said Manny Hamilton, a spokesperson for the federal government.
“You can practically taste how good it is.”
In an email, the federal Indigenous Services department said that virtual reality headsets will be made available to the First Nations by 2021. The department also said that the investment in internet connectivity was in no way related to infrastructure for natural resource development.