More than a year after a consortium of Indigenous companies from the Yukon, NWT and Nunavut announced a $1-billion plan to buy Northwestel, the status of the deal is unclear.
A group named Sixty North Unity – led by Yukon First Nations Telco in Yukon, Denendeh Investments Incorporated in the Northwest Territories and Kitikmeot Corporation in Nunavut, announced the move in June 2024.
If it goes ahead, it will transform the North’s dominant telecoms provider from a subsidiary of Bell Canada into an Indigenous-owned firm.
However, all of the parties involved have said virtually nothing about the deal since their initial announcement. No timeline for its completion has been provided.
Approached for comment, Bell Canada provided essentially the same answer representatives gave in January this year and in June.
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“The parties continue to work in partnership to complete the transaction,” said Bell Canada spokesperson Ellen Murphy in a one-line email.
Northwestel spokesperson Catherine Newsome confirmed the transaction “isn’t yet finalized” but said Northwestel, as “the asset in this transaction,” could not provide further comment. She directed questions to Sixty North Unity and Bell.
Sixty North Unity did not respond to a request for comment.
The only other recent insights on the deal have come from Bell chief executive officer Mirko Bibic.
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Bibic told The Globe and Mail earlier this month that Sixty North Unity had not raised the $1 billion required to purchase Northwestel as of June this year.
According to Bibic, Sixty North Unity was still seeking extra funding sources to complete the deal, including what The Globe and Mail termed “the possibility of loan guarantees from the federal government.”
The newspaper quoted Bibic as saying Bell’s “plan A” was to help Sixty North Unity secure the funding, but he had no update this month on the status of the consortium’s arrangements.
Correction: October 22, 2025 – 12:32 MT. This article initially referred to Bell Media but that’s one division within the conglomerate, which should have been referred to as Bell Canada.
