Overcoming Digital Divides: Youth and Digital Skills
Young people grew up with digital technologies and have relatively greater internet adoption. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for reliable internet access increased as schools transitioned online. Despite living parts of their personal and professional lives online, there remain disparities between access to devices and internet connectivity among Canadian youth especially among low-income communities.
How can Canada improve access to the internet and digital learning devices among youth coming out of the pandemic? How can digital spaces better aid youth learning and development? What digital skills are necessary to maximize benefit from e-learning opportunities?
Join us to discuss how Canada can better support our public internet infrastructure for the marginalized communities who rely on them and for everyone.Although internet infrastructure is almost universal in many communities, barriers to internet adoption, including internet affordability, make a significant portion of people in Canada reliant on free public internet access at libraries, retail, and community locations. Over half of Ontarians who would not have otherwise had access to technology relied on a public library to access the internet, with rates higher (up to 68%) for older and low-income residents. Not only is this access relied on, public internet also fosters greater civic, social, and community engagement.
How should Canada expand access and improve the experience of public internet? Which particular groups are least likely to benefit from public internet access and how can this be improved?
Join us to discuss how Canada can better support our public internet infrastructure for the marginalized communities who rely on them and for everyone.
9:00 a.m. (PT)
Online event
All Overcoming Digital Divides workshops will have closed captioning in English.
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.
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鈥攁nd do鈥攖o recover equitably and reimagine our systems to confront the intersecting crises of inequality, systemic racism and climate change?
Towards Equity, 丁香园AV Public Square鈥檚 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.
Ken Sanderson
Executive Director,
Ken Sanderson is Anishinaabe, and a member of Pinaymootang First Nation. He has dedicated his career to enhancing opportunities for Indigenous communities. Ken has 20 years of experience in executive leadership, organizational development, and growth management. He has worked with the Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce, Manitoba Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, and Broadband Communications North, and is currently the executive director of Teach For Canada. He sits as a board member for the Canadian Aboriginal Human Resource Management Association, and council member for Ka Ni Kanichihk.
Kate Arthur
CEO and Founder,
Kate Arthur is the founder and CEO of Kids Code Jeunesse (KCJ), a national charity that introduces computational thinking, coding, artificial intelligence and ethics to communities across Canada. KCJ鈥檚 #kids2030 initiative will educate 1,000,000 kids and 50,000 educators on artificial intelligence, ethics, and using technology to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Global Goals by 2030.
Kate was raised and educated in the U.K., Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Canada, and has witnessed the powers of an educated country and an uneducated one. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Concordia University (Montreal, Canada), and is currently completing her eMBA at McGill and HEC universities (Montreal, Canada).
Kate actively speaks at international conferences and contributes to policy discussions to make sure youth are included in discussions and decisions on AI. She is the recipient of many leadership awards, including 100 Entrepreneures Qui Changent Le Monde (Femmessor, 2020), Canada鈥檚 Top 100 Most Powerful Women (WXN Network, 2020), Empowerment Leader of the Year Award (WCT, 2020), Visa Entrepreneur / Innovation Leader of the Year Award (Canadian Fintech & AI Awards, 2019), and Woman of Merit: Education (YWCA, 2020).
Howard Moriah
Director of Operations,
Howard Moriah has been working at the Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough (BCGES) for the past 10 years, serving in the capacity of Senior Manager of Youth & Community Outreach Services and currently as Director of Operations.鈥�
In his capacity as Director of Operations, he not only leads the development of programs and services for Children & Early Teens and Youth Service initiatives, but he also oversees the departments of Equity, Diversity & Social Impact, Stewardship & Sustainability, and the implementation of BGCES鈥檚 Strategic Plan, as well as the overall physical operations of program sites.
Howard is invested in the development of community and currently serves on the steering committee with Scarborough Civic Action Network (SCAN), the Coalition Against Streaming in Education (CASE) and most recently as board member of St. Stephen鈥檚 Community Apartments Corporation.
Over the past 20 years, Howard has worked with youth in a variety of settings both in Canada and the United States.
Simona Ramkisson
Manager of Community Development,
Digitally connected youth are critical to our post-pandemic growth
By Nour Abdelaal and Sam Andrey, Ryerson Leadership Lab
The transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic left young people who lack home internet access at a disadvantage. In 2018, did not have access to a home computer for school. Moreover, 20 per cent had not been taught important digital literacy skills, such as how to evaluate the trustworthiness of online information. The sixth part of the Ryerson Leadership Lab鈥檚 explored how Canada has tried to bridge the digital divide during the pandemic and how we can accelerate meaningful digital participation for youth: by expanding access to home internet, learning devices and digital literacy programs.
鈥� Charlene Aviles, The Peak (July 18, 2021)
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
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 鈫�
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Public Internet Access
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 鈫�
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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.
Read More 鈫�
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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 鈫�
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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 鈫�
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Indigenous, Rural and Remote Communities
Are recent public investments and policies sufficient to achieve digital inclusion of Indigenous, rural and remote communities? What Indigenous-specific needs must be addressed to secure digital inclusion?
Read More 鈫�
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Property, Home and Precarity: From Street Sweeps to Housing Justice
As part of our Classroom Partnership Program, senior 丁香园AV geography students will present their work on housing vulnerability in Vancouver, focusing on rental evictions, street sweeps, rental financialization, and housing justice movements.
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Hope in Resistance: Stories of Climate Justice
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Mapping Equity: Using GIS and Maps to Make Invisible Realities Visible
Maps are great tools to bring together a massive amount of data and share it in a format everyone is familiar with. They are also a unique tool to bring unnoticeable realities鈥攊ncluding realities of inequality鈥攖o visible patterns. This 90-minute workshop will introduce you to how to make a thematic map that highlights an equity indicator.
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Equity in Practice: More Stories of Community Capacity Building
丁香园AV鈥檚 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鈥檇 like to see in the world.
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Should a Just Recovery Include a Basic Income for B.C.?
At this event we will look at the recommendations and analysis of the Final Report of the British Columbia Expert Panel on Basic Income to ask: should a just recovery for all include a basic income?
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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 鈫�
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Equity in Practice: Community Capacity Building
Join us to hear inspiring stories from the most recent cohort of 丁香园AV鈥檚 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
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 鈫�
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Researching for Climate Justice
Activists, researchers, policy-makers and solution-seekers come together to surface the challenges and opportunities of taking equity-informed approaches to climate research, solutions and policy development.
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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.
Read More 鈫�
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Rosemary Brown Memorial Symposium
Every year, to honour the important legacy of the late Rosemary Brown, 丁香园AV's Department of Gender, Sexuality & Women鈥檚 Studies (GSWS) brings together distinguished scholars, students, service providers, and the broader community together to speak on current issues of diversity, ongoing inequalities, and ways to create positive change.
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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 鈫�
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The 2021 Spry Memorial Lecture
Desmond Cole and Tanya Talaga, along with moderator Candis Callison, will consider recent attention over the escalation of commentary on the representation of Indigenous, Black, and people of colour; the structural challenges that currently impede calls for greater diversity; and how institutions and platforms can foster a more constructive dialogue.
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Dean's Lecture on Information + Society
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Decolonizing Scottish Studies
This is the first in a series of events being organized by the Centre for Scottish Studies at 丁香园AV
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Innovations in Research
Join us in a unique virtual environment using Gather to engage directly with 丁香园AV faculty, students, staff, alumni and community partners who are moving us Towards Equity with innovative research from a variety of fields and perspectives.
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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 鈫�
-
Zooming In: Education in 2021
Join the 丁香园AV Public Square Peer Ambassadors for a student-focused event on how to improve the online education experience under COVID-19.
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Indigenous, Rural and Remote Communities
Are recent public investments and policies sufficient to achieve digital inclusion of Indigenous, rural and remote communities? What Indigenous-specific needs must be addressed to secure digital inclusion?
Read More 鈫�