You are right that this audit does point out that the digital divide in our country persists. You mentioned 1.4 million households. To put that into context for some people, that's like every single person who lives in the city of Montreal doesn't have Internet access. It's a lot of people.
When it comes to data, what we were talking about there was the broadband map. There is a map available online for service providers, anyone who might be interested in launching a project to increase accessibility, or even for the average Canadian to go check it out. We found that a lot of the data was inaccurate. It was often pointed out by service providers during our consultations that they repeatedly asked the departments to update it.
That doesn't speak to the statistics that we found and that we report on. When we talk about four out of 10 households in rural and remote communities not having Internet, growing to six out of 10 in first nations communities, those are accurate numbers. They are validated. We also look at Statistics Canada.
It's that map and that coverage that is used to help fund projects. You don't want service providers to think that an area is serviced and therefore not recommend a project or not try to get a project funded.
It's really about expanding the access, so we do recommend that the departments find better ways to ensure that information is accurate.