How do you physically distance without the internet?

As COVID-19 case counts skyrocket, Canadians turned inward once again. Medical professionals called for virtual Thanksgiving celebrations. In Ontario, the provincial government tightened public gathering restrictions on the Toronto and Ottawa regions after a slew of fresh cases in recent days. Online shopping — even for necessities — is as popular as ever. 

Without the internet, physical distancing becomes simple isolation. And while middle-class Canadians in urban centres are able to access broadband internet connections — defined by the CRTC as 50 megabit download speed and 10 megabit upload speed — the same is not true for many rural dwellers. For remote or impoverished communities, the inability to access a decent internet connection means telecommuting, remote learning, and virtual doctor’s appointments aren’t possible. 

Canada’s digital divide flew largely under the radar before the COVID-19 pandemic. With widespread physical distancing measures in place, Canadians are relying on the internet more than ever before. Yet the federal government’s response has been a maintenance of the status quo. Digital equity organizations say Ottawa’s plan to pump $2 billion into expanding broadband access is welcome, but ultimately designed to benefit major telecom providers, not community-led initiatives or non-profits focused on digital equity. The non-profit sector could pitch in, but a lack of awareness by philanthropic organizations is keeping it out of the loop. 

As part of its recent Throne Speech, the Liberal government offered what may seem like a massive investment into broadband infrastructure: $2 billion by the end of 2020. The plan is to connect 750,000 Canadian homes and businesses in historically underserved areas. However, the government has offered few details. Laura Tribe, executive director of OpenMedia, says the Canadian government already promised an additional $1 billion during their last Throne Speech. “It was also unclear if they have added another $1 billion or if they’ve actually added $2 billion,” she says. 

How much will it cost to actually connect all Canadians to high speed broadband internet? As much as $6 billion, according to Maureen James, community investment program manager at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. Between the federal government’s own Universal Broadband Fund, another $2 billion that’s been raised by private investors, the CRTC’s Broadband Fund, and other sources — including provincial investments —  the money to connect those underserved Canadian internet users is already there. “Whether they’ll get the $6 billion anytime soon is the open question,” James says. 

Many Indigenous communities in Canada are awaiting the answer. Denise Williams, CEO of the First Nations Technology Council, says 75 percent of First Nations communities in B.C. alone lack broadband access. “It’s something we’ve been talking about for over a decade,” she says. Some of these communities are quite remote, while others find the cost of subpar internet access to be too much. In Canada’s Far North, monthly “data caps” — hard maximum limits for internet use — can cut off isolated users from access to work, healthcare, and other basic essentials. Williams also says urban Indigenous users can find costs prohibitive, too. The answer, she believes, isn’t in propping up Canada’s market based telecom system. “There’s no way that a market driven model is going to achieve digital equity,” she says. 

Tribe believes the federal government should be responsible for building major digital infrastructure — the informational highways connecting remote communities to the wider internet. The government is not bound by the profit motives of major telecom providers, she says, and also has an obligation to ensure no Canadian is left unconnected. Non-profits and social enterprises of all stripes also have a role in connecting Canadians. The B.C. towns of Kaslo and Olds both rely on non-profit internet service providers (ISPs). Alberta’s Samson Cree Nation also has a community-run ISP. These services aren’t always faster than the major telecoms, Tribe says, but they do offer more affordability and responsive service. “It is designed, built, managed by people who live within that community,” she says. “And so there’s a real investment in ensuring that it serves that community really well.”

However, it isn’t easy for these non-profits working on digital equity to access government or philanthropic support. According to a recent report from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), government funding is mostly inaccessible to non-profits aimed at bridging the digital divide because many of these organizations advocate for political solutions. Meanwhile, the report says, Canadian philanthropic funders are largely unaware of this gap in support because digital inequity “is not well defined in comparison to other issues that are traditionally well-funded, such as health, environment, poverty, and others.” Government support isn’t much better. James is pleased at seeing a $2 billion investment, but is doubtful it will help community internet initiatives CIRA supports. In 2020, these included upgrades for Siksika Health Services in Alberta and laying fibre-optic cable for Ontario’s Couchiching First Nation. “This new infrastructure fund is for private business, so it doesn’t even apply to the people we work with,” James says. 

Ottawa’s plan to pump $2 billion into expanding broadband access is welcome, but ultimately designed to benefit major telecom providers, not community-led initiatives or non-profits focused on digital equity.

The CIRA report describes the state of funding for digital equity non-profits as ad-hoc and fragmented compared to the United States or the European Union. While programs such as the federal government’s Digital Literacy Exchange program and the Canadian Council for the Arts’ Digital Strategy Fund do provide financial support — as does CIRA itself — the report finds most funding for digital equity from the philanthropic sector is project-based. In order to create a lasting impact, the report says, grantmakers need to consider longer term funding. 

The report ultimately finds many regions of Canada are unserved by reliable high speed internet. Even within major cities, internet service can be prohibitively expensive. “The result is a gap where many Canadians remain actually or effectively unconnected and therefore increasingly left behind by the digital economy,” the report says. “An imbalance in which government and regulators make policy decisions based largely, or even solely, on input from industry also exists. In the COVID-19 era, these problems stand to worsen.”

One of the most crucial ways non-profits can help bridge the digital divide is through education and advocacy. Tribe says her organization studies complicated CRTC decisions to inform Canadians about telecom policy. The First Nations Technology Institute helps Indigenous communities establish internet access informed by local leaders. Both of these organizations are important for Canadians to make sense of the digital divide. “A lot of the work is around making sure that the public’s voices are represented in the conversations that make those decisions,” Tribe says. 

Another key area is digital literacy. Out of 65 organizations surveyed in the CIRA report, 43 percent found it to be the most important issue to tackle right now. They called for help funding digital skills curriculums in school, fighting misinformation online, and improving the public’s understanding of privacy. Thirty-two percent of organizations surveyed said they were looking for help building digital infrastructure itself. But James also says the rankings themselves aren’t as important on their own. When CIRA actually had a conversation with survey respondents about the importance of these issues, the importance of all of them — especially policy advocacy — rose to the top. 

Williams says the First Nations Technology Council is trying to build a framework for connecting Indigenous communities to talk about technology as it relates to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the recommendations set out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It means considering the introduction of broadband access from a community-led perspective, meaning local officials, not major telecoms or the Canadian government, decide how a community implements access. Incorporating this access into existing Indigenous modes of thought, such as considering a major decision’s impact on seven generations of descendants, is also critical. “We understand how we would like to guide technology to be something that advances our interests as Indigenous people and doesn’t detract in any way,” she says. 

At CIRA, James says the organization is trying to help smaller non-profits and community initiatives get access to an increasingly scarce pool of cash, especially through private funding. She says this is often more accessible than government grants. CIRA is also looking for more foundations and wealthy individuals to step up and help support digital equity. “We’re really trying to scare up resources and multiply what’s available now to non-profit organizations and community level organizations, so that they can actually build the community internet resources that they need,” she says. 

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