[Advisors] Affordable Internet Day of Action - March 16

[Garth Graham]

I attended.  OpenMedia has done an impressive job of coalition building with this event.  The participants were a checklist of affordable Access advocacy agencies in Canada.  Michael Geist’s presentation title was a good summary of what was covered overall - Regulatory Capture / Government Inattention.

Out of four hours and many presentations and panels, here’s an idiosyncratic list of links to organizations/activities that seem to me to overlap with TC interests:

Bridging the digital divide is now a key principle of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. Report for Action: Affordable Internet Connectivity for All - ConnectTO - January 13, 2021, To: Executive Committee From: Chief Technology Officer
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-159927.pdf

The Canadian Media Concentration Research (CMCR) project.  Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, 1984–2019
http://www.cmcrp.org/media-and-internet-concentration-in-canada-1984-2019/

Overcoming Digital Divides: Workshop Series
https://www.ryersonleadlab.com/overcoming-digital-divides

 	Indigenous, Rural and Remote Communities, Thursday, March 25, 2021

	Low-Income Communities, Wednesday, April 7, 2021
 
	Older Adults and Digital Literacy, Wednesday, April 28, 2021

 	People with Disabilities and Accessibility, Wednesday, May 19, 2021
 
	Public Internet Access, Wednesday, June 9, 2021

 	Youth and Digital Skill, Wednesday, June 23, 2021

GG 

> On Mar 15, 2021, at 4:32 PM, Marita Moll <mmoll at ca.inter.net> wrote:
> 
> Hello advisors. March 16 is the Affordable Internet Day of Action. Openmedia is holding many activities as part of this activity. TC has signed on along with many (if indeed most) other Canadian Internet advocacy groups. There is an online conference going on starting at 1pm. EST. 
> 
> You can register for it here -- https://affordable-internet.ca/
> 
> There are lots of interesting speakers. Unfortunately, I am already committed for almost the entire time, so probably won't manage to get to any of it. Anyone who does manage to find the time to participate, I hope you might share some of your thoughts on this at our next meeting (last week of March).
> 
> In the next e-mail I will forward a message I received from OpenMedia about the various other activities they have been organizing around this effort. It is a rather timely event, given today's announcement that Rogers is planning to take over Calgary based Shaw Cable, a move that would make Rogers Cable the second largest media company in Canada, next to Bell. This kind of corporate concentration in an essential industry like communications does not usually bode will for prices.
> 
> Marita
> 
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