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.
Read a short framing paper 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—and do—to recover equitably and reimagine our systems to confront the intersecting crises of inequality, systemic racism and climate change?
Towards Equity, SFU Public Square’s 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, Teach For Canada
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, Kids Code Jeunesse
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’s #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’s 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, Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough
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.
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’s 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’s 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, Wikimedia Foundation
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, six per cent of 15-year-old students across Canada 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’s Overcoming Digital Divides workshop series 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.
Digital Divides: Youth and Digital Skills explores technological barriers — 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.
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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.
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Overcoming Digital Divides: People with Disabilities and Accessibility
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Older Adults and Digital Literacy
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Low-Income Communities
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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.
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Public Internet Access
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Overcoming Digital Divides: People with Disabilities and Accessibility
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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.
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Overcoming Digital Divides: Low-Income Communities
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