Overcoming Digital Divides: Low-Income Communities
Low-income communities continue to report lower rates for internet access, affordability, and quality. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, people living in Canada are at an all-time need for increased access to internet, computer, and tablet devices for e-learning and remote work.
What can be done to ensure low-income households can secure needed digital resources and reliable internet connectivity to excel during this trying time? What policy solutions can help enhance low-income communities’ access to quality internet?
We heard directly from community representatives and experts about what is impeding internet access in low-income communities. We looked to answer these important questions and how Canada can further ongoing private and public programming to bridge these divides.
The discussion focused on workshopping policy solutions with all participants to improve internet access and speed across Canada.
Online event
About the Overcoming Digital Divides workshop series
The digital divide is about more than the lack of internet infrastructure in rural parts of Canada. It includes gaps in every corner of Canada in internet and device affordability, quality and digital literacy. These divides are tied to socioeconomic factors leaving some communities in Canada more disconnected than others.
How can federal, provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous governments advance policy solutions for full digital inclusion? What community and industry programs and policies can help to close these divides?
We explored these challenges and looked to advance concrete solutions in the Overcoming Digital Divides workshop series with the Ryerson Leadership Lab, Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, and the First Nations Technology Council.
Read a short framing paper put together by our partners that lays out the context, evidence and importance of these discussions.
Part of Towards Equity
The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified inequities and exposed the deficiencies of our institutions. It has confirmed we must enact change and signaled that transformation is possible. What must we understand—and do—to recover equitably and reimagine our systems to confront the intersecting crises of inequality, systemic racism and climate change?
Towards Equity, SFU Public Square’s 2021 Community Summit Series, takes place online throughout the year and brings the university into conversation with local and global communities. Join us to learn and take action together towards a more just, equitable and sustainable future.
Toby Harper-Merrett
Executive Director, Computers for Success Canada
Toby is a public-good professional with expertise in information and communication technology for development. A graduate of the University of Manchester's School of Environment, Education and Development, and Stanford University, Toby has contributed to research, policy and programs internationally and across Canada. Toby is especially interested in addressing the challenges of under-served and at-risk communities. Since 2015 he has been Executive Director of CFSC-OPEC, a not-for-profit organization supporting Government of Canada digital equity and economic development programs.
Erin Knight
Access Campaigns Lead and Digital Rights Campaigner, OpenMedia
Erin (she/her) is a Digital Rights Campaigner at OpenMedia where she works to help make the Internet affordable and accessible to all. Born and raised in rural Manitoba, Treaty 2 territory, Erin is Métis with family roots in the San Clara, Turtle Mountain, and St. François Xavier areas. Erin studied as a Loran Scholar at the University of Calgary; she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies and a Certificate in Sustainability Studies. Apart from her work on the Digital Divide, Erin is also the founder and co-chair of the Foundation for Rural Youth Empowerment (FRYE), an organization that aims to ensure equitable access to post-secondary education for rural youth across Canada.
Dionne Pelan
Computer and Drop-In Programs Coordinator, UBC Learning Exchange
Dionne is a non-traditional educator with over 15 years’ experience teaching and leading community based digital literacy activities using effective adult education approaches. She takes an asset based approach to help cultivate relationships and build capacity between a diverse ranges of stakeholders. She is constantly inspired by the resiliency and strength of the communities in which she lives and works.
We need a national strategy to make home internet affordable for all
By Nour Abdelaal and Sam Andrey, Ryerson Leadership Lab
As several provinces enter stricter lockdowns, and their residents face increased isolation, access to high-speed internet at home has become even more essential. Low-income individuals are less likely to have a high-speed home internet connection, yet they are also disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and in most need of staying connected. Making the internet more affordable requires policy solutions that transform our market-driven telecommunications system to expand internet access to those at the lowest income level. Canada has taken a piecemeal approach to expanding internet access and adoption, rather than a national, strategic vision. The second part of the Overcoming Digital Divides workshop series explored what is needed during and coming out of the pandemic to enable affordable home internet connections for every Canadian.
Overcoming Digital Divides: What We Heard and Recommendations
This final report on the Overcoming Digital Divides workshop series summarizes the main themes shared at the workshops and offers five main policy recommendations to address Canada's digital divides moving forward.
Sponsor
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Youth and Digital Skills
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Public Internet Access
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Overcoming Digital Divides: People with Disabilities and Accessibility
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Older Adults and Digital Literacy
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Low-Income Communities
Low-income communities continue to experience lower internet access, affordability, and quality. Canadians are at an all-time need for increased access to internet, computer, and tablet devices for e-learning and remote work.
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Indigenous, Rural and Remote Communities
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Property, Home and Precarity: From Street Sweeps to Housing Justice
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Hope in Resistance: Stories of Climate Justice
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Equity in Practice: More Stories of Community Capacity Building
SFU’s Community Capacity Building Certificate supports learners as they engage community by sharing lived experiences and adopting new tools for building projects and movements. Learners deepen their relationships with themselves, their communities and the land to create a project and move forward a change they’d like to see in the world.
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Should a Just Recovery Include a Basic Income for B.C.?
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Youth and Digital Skills
Join us to discuss how Canada can better support our public internet infrastructure for the marginalized communities who rely on them and for everyone.
Read More →
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Equity in Practice: Community Capacity Building
Join us to hear inspiring stories from the most recent cohort of SFU’s Community Capacity Building Certificate learners and their growth as emerging leaders working towards equity in their communities.
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Public Internet Access
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Researching for Climate Justice
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Overcoming Digital Divides: People with Disabilities and Accessibility
The federal and provincial governments have taken some steps to improve internet accessibility and adoption among Canadians with disabilities, but there still remain substantial gaps with many facing barriers in accessing digital services.
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Rosemary Brown Memorial Symposium
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Older Adults and Digital Literacy
Older adults are less likely to use the internet than younger people in Canada, and many report that information technologies do not improve their quality of life or save time. The issue is more pertinent than ever under the pandemic.
Read More →
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The 2021 Spry Memorial Lecture
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Decolonizing Scottish Studies
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Innovations in Research
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Low-Income Communities
Low-income communities continue to experience lower internet access, affordability, and quality. Canadians are at an all-time need for increased access to internet, computer, and tablet devices for e-learning and remote work.
Read More →
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Zooming In: Education in 2021
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Indigenous, Rural and Remote Communities
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Read More →