The digital divide has reached emergency status, experts say

A year ago, Canada’s digital divide lingered well below the radar of many charitable organizations and funders. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought it into sharp relief. Communities with little to no reliable internet or broadband access are effectively cut off from many of Canada’s workarounds to physical gatherings: essential services, online learning, and telehealth systems.

Much of this digital divide is between rural and remote communities and affluent urban neighbourhoods. Sometimes, conventional internet services are unaffordable for low-income residents. And in other cases, especially with Indigenous communities, there simply is no internet access to be had at any price. The effects of disconnection cascade. A lack of internet or high-speed access can cut off job applicants from searching for opportunities. It can make keeping in touch with distant friends or family difficult. When the pandemic struck, it put many of the workarounds to physical distancing, especially digital education, out of reach. And without funding aimed at creating digital equity, solutions are limited.

As part of Future of Good’s #BuildBackBetter digital conversation series, four speakers came together to discuss the impact of Canada’s growing digital divide – and suggest ways of moving forward during an unprecedented crisis. Here are their takeaways:

 

Bridge the digital divide to close social and economic divides

During Maureen James’ last two years at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) – as well as extensive research CIRA has carried out recently  – one message has come through loud and clear: “Funding digital initiatives, or digital philanthropy, is the most important funding area you’ve never heard of,” she said. Bringing disconnected communities online will have huge implications for their socio-economic wellbeing – improving job opportunities and educational access, allowing for remote learning, and linking a community to the world. James says we need a huge amount of funding for this to happen and a culture of philanthropy focused on the digital divide must be nurtured – similar to the funding ecosystem surrounding causes such as environmental conservation. CIRA is doing what we can, and we need more funders to step up.

Internet connectivity is essential, and its unaffordability for some Canadians is only heightening existing social inequities. Judy Duncan with ACORN Canada said a study roughly 18 months ago found that a third of respondents were taking money out of their food budget to pay for internet costs. “There was a huge tension between people’s standard of living – choosing between accessing the internet versus accessing healthy food,” she said. And this tension existed well before COVID-19 began creeping across the world. 

A third of respondents were taking money out of their food budget to pay for internet costs.

All of a sudden, going to school or heading to the office required a stable internet connection. Health appointments pivoted to videoconferencing. In an isolated town or impoverished inner-city community before the pandemic, visiting a social worker might be an arduous trip. Doing so during a pandemic might be impossible. 

 

Make internet access a utility 

Everyone on the panel agreed that high quality internet access is an absolute necessity for modern life. Applying for a job, studying in school, and participating in digital communities like social media platforms all require some sort of connection. The panelists agreed internet access should be treated as a utility, similar to water or electricity in most provinces. That isn’t a reality in Canada, where a handful of massive telecommunications companies control broadband access, or under the U.S.’s lax regulatory system. Denise Williams, CEO of the First Nations Technology Council argued that Canada’s current approach to internet access cannot bridge the divide. “A market-driven model will never create equity. It won’t,” she said.

Internet access should be treated as a utility, similar to water or electricity in most provinces.

Chancellar Williams, Technology and Society program officer with the Ford Foundation said in the U.S., telecommunications companies spend plenty of money lobbying government officials about internet infrastructure policy. “They promote policies that put their interests before those of folks who are struggling to get connected,” he said. In response, the Ford Foundation is working with other philanthropic organizations to fund public interest advocacy in defence of community access.

North of the border, Judy Duncan, founder of ACORN Canada said the Canadian government hasn’t exactly shown a lot of leadership when it comes to improving internet access for everyone. There are programs through major telcos aimed at supporting basic access to the internet for low-income Canadians, but they are voluntary, and many require applicants to be a family receiving the maximum allowable grant from the National Childcare Benefit. This qualifier isn’t exactly universal – not everyone who is low income receives it – and, as Denise Williams pointed out, there isn’t a lot of information available on the people and communities lacking internet access. “We simply don’t have the data or the means to reach people,” she said. 

Duncan proposed the idea of a $10/month flat fee for anyone living below the Canadian poverty line to purchase broadband internet. And with the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, the case for broadband internet access as a basic utility is pretty solid. “The sales pitch is done, but that doesn’t seem to be how governments are acting on this at the federal level,” she said.

 

Fund digital equity 

Denise Williams also said the social impact world needs to realize that funding programs alone won’t bridge the digital divide or create a more equitable society. Instead, she proposed reconsidering the ways funding is  distributed to communities across Canada – getting at the root issues behind inequities in the first place. She pointed to the complicated and competitive procedures grantmaking organizations use to award funds. The most successful organizations at fundraising, Williams says, often hire good proposal writers to draft their requests. “I’m a bit critical of that because the best ideas don’t always come from the organizations with the most resources,” she said. For instance, many Indigenous people and organizations involved in helping their communities, she said, don’t qualify for the grants these organizations deliver.

Meanwhile, Chancellar Williams touched on the issue of trust. Grantmakers often look for extensive documentation to prove their grants actually contributed to change in a particular community. At the Ford Foundation, he said, this isn’t the case. “The best way to operate as funders is with a significant amount of trust in our grantees,” he said, “and so that means the lion’s share of funding for our digital equity program – and across the foundation – is general support and core support.” In other words, the foundation trusts its grantees know what their communities need and how to fulfill those needs. It also encourages grantees to work with each other, rather than fighting each other for grants. “The solution is not going to be held by one single organization,” he said. “All the great things that happen in life come from working together.”

 

Decolonize digital infrastructure 

While the digital divide is a uniquely 21st century problem, the disparities it creates are all too familiar for Indigenous communities from coast to coast to coast. Williams said less than 10 percent of First Nations homes on reserves in B.C. have access to the internet – a modern continuation of 150 years of Indigenous exclusion through the process of colonialism. “I don’t think I can understate that,” she said.

A lack of internet access on-reserve exacerbates other existing inequities in Indigenous communities. Williams pointed out that many Canadian schoolchildren have spent the past few months learning online – but not the 90 percent of First Nations households without at-home connections. “We have a whole bunch of kids who are at home missing out on their education,” she said. This could translate into a lack of employment skills down the road and aggravate other historical inequities for Indigenous peoples in Canada – higher unemployment rates, lower literacy, and reduced incomes compared to settler Canadians.

However, Williams said the pandemic has forced everyone – Indigenous and settlers – to recognize the importance of internet access for all. For the last eight years at FNTC, she has warned that digital equity is a major issue for Indigenous people in Canada. “I feel like my sales job is done,” she said of the pandemic. “I think everyone knows now. And I think the silver lining of these COVID-19 clouds [is that] we’re all on the same page now.”

The Indigenous right to self-determination is not a new concept, but it carries particular urgency when thinking about how to bridge the digital divide. Williams said that Indigenous communities should be involved in co-creation on any digital innovation project within their communities. But she also pointed to the idea of including Indigenous wisdom and innovation into these projects, too. “Every Indigenous person you meet is a direct descendent of the most resilient, resourceful, and innovative people that ever walked this land,” she says. “What would it look like to not only close this digital divide but to have these hands,” Indigenous hands specifically, “actually code and support the design of our digital future and spaces?” 

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