A version of this piece originally appeared in The Hamilton Spectator on May 2, 2022. 

It’s shocking. Two years into a pandemic that forced nearly everything online, most rural and First Nations households still don’t have access to the “basic” internet speed target set by the government.  Where there is decent connectivity, many lack the skills they need to thrive online. 

CIRA is a proud leader in the digital funding space through our annual Community Investment Program  Grants – but even in 2022, millions of Canadians still lack the needed skills, resources and connectivity required to participate in our increasingly digital society. 

A new report from CIRA suggests that while Canadian philanthropy is feeling urgency to help tackle the  country’s digital inequities, the majority have yet to step up with funding and leadership. Until they do, Canada’s digital divides will continue to slow our progress towards social, racial, and economic justice. 

The report, titled Getting Connected: Funders and Digital Equity in Canada, features insights from 20  trailblazers in Canadian philanthropy—some who are new to digital funding, and some who are emerging leaders. 

Funders were asked how they prioritized digital equity, understood as the condition in which everyone  has the technological capacity for meaningful participation in our society, democracy, and economy. The  report reveals that while funders have not historically prioritized digital equity, the pandemic has forced  them to confront the issue.  

Throughout the pandemic, funders report being inundated with requests related to hardware, software, and access, and now agree that dismantling digital inequities is essential to improving their work and  achieving social impact.  

Despite this lack of funding support, community groups across Canada have been working hard to achieve digital equity. For example, for years residents of the Samson Cree First Nation outside  Edmonton struggled with poor internet connectivity.  

Then, one day, tired of being overlooked by the country’s telecommunications giants, members of the  community decided to build a do-it-yourself broadband network to deliver free, high-speed Wi-Fi to the  entire community. 

By scraping together funding and volunteers, a small community group was able to address access  challenges in their own community. 

Of course, digital equity is about a lot more than connecting the unconnected. Limited funding for this  work has contributed to a stark stakeholder imbalance where well-funded corporate interests dominate  the public policy agenda while the needs of internet users are often ignored. 

To counter this, there are groups like ACORN Canada that have leveraged the limited digital equity  funding available to research connectivity barriers for low-income residents and advocate for more  affordable internet services.

Digital development projects like this take place every single day. But Canadian philanthropists admit  they’ve been slow to support them. Many funders say they have been reluctant to jump in, balking at  the multi-million-dollar price tags that come with large broadband expansion projects. 

Of course, funders who don’t wish to tackle large-scale projects can still support bite-sized connectivity  efforts like the Samson Cree Nation project, or research and advocacy initiatives designed to champion  the needs of vulnerable communities. 

Where previous research has shown funding for these projects to be piecemeal, ad hoc and  unorganized, Getting Connected shows an emerging consensus that this needs to change. While the  report offers multiple recommendations for how to increase funding for digital equity in Canada, here  are the two most important ones: 

First, to help bring new funders into the fold, organizations with expertise in digital equity need to  educate newcomers about the opportunities to plug in. This could take the form of a network, or  community of practice, where funders can learn how to address the skills, connectivity, and policy  challenges facing Canadians. 

Second, funders need to dedicate resources to digital equity. They could develop their own funding  streams, or, as part of the community of practice, they could contribute to a shared, pooled fund where  money is distributed as grants for digital equity projects. 

No matter what your number one funding priority is—whether it’s climate change or LGBTQ2IA+  rights—progress on your issue will be frustrated by digital inequity. If you can’t reach your target  audiences about your number one issue online, you’re going to struggle to have an impact. And right  now, a lot of people in this country can’t be reached—whether it’s because of where they live, their  digital skills, or the costs of connectivity.  

Funders who don’t make digital equity a priority risk irrelevance. Progress towards all of our social  justice objectives hinge on developing resources for digital development – especially when addressing inequity and amplifying voices from marginalized communities across Canada. 

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