Federal funding to combat disinformation in racialized communities

Author Sharlene Gandhi

Canadian Heritage has opened a call for proposals for organizations and research projects that can “counter online misinformation and other online harms and threats.”

The Digital Citizen Contribution Program, which has been running since 2019, offers projects up to $380,000 in funding. This year’s priorities include research that seeks to understand the spread of disinformation in diasporic, Indigenous and non-official language communities, as well as projects that engage students in fact-checking work. 

Past recipients have included Iqaluit-based Pinnguaq and the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto. 

In Edmonton, the Islamic Family and Social Services Association (IFSSA) previously used funding from the Digital Citizen Contribution Program to translate public health messages into multiple non-official languages, catering to a growing newcomer population.  

Statistics Canada found that 43 per cent of Canadians found it difficult to discern the difference between true and false information. Meanwhile, the estimated cost of pandemic-related misinformation to the health-care system was $300 million. 

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  • Sharlene Gandhi is the Future of Good editorial fellow on digital transformation.

    Sharlene has been reporting on responsible business, environmental sustainability and technology in the UK and Canada since 2018. She has worked with various organizations during this time, including the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University, AIGA Eye on Design, Social Enterprise UK and Nature is a Human Right. Sharlene moved to Toronto in early 2023 to join the Future of Good team, where she has been reporting at the intersections of technology, data and social purpose work. Her reporting has spanned several subject areas, including AI policy, cybersecurity, ethical data collection, and technology partnerships between the private, public and third sectors.

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