ICT4D and Broadband in Canada
Around the world, government involvement in ICT4D typically begins by building core infrastructures in urban centres. It then addresses gaps in targeted regions and populations, and ends by filling any remaining holes. In Canada, the federal government’s activities during the 1990s and 2000s - which were led by Industry Canada - followed this general approach.
In the early days of the Internet, federal government established a national strategy to ensure that all Canadians could connect to digital ICTs. The Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC) sought to use new technologies to support social and economic development. This was done by enabling people across Canada to create a variety of applications – from websites and streaming video to e-health records, internet telephone systems, and online education courses.
While IHAC's work was dominated by government and corporate organizations, it included some input from community and nonprofit organizations. Leslie Regan Shade, a professor at the University of Toronto, describes how a number of groups emerged in the mid-1990s to ensure that the public had a voice in this process. In 1996, IHAC released its action plan, called Building the Information Society: Moving Canada into the 21st Century. The plan supported universal, affordable and equitable access to ICTs. However, critics argued that it offered few concrete suggestions on how to overcome social, economic, and cultural barriers.
This early work was followed by a Broadband Task Force formed by Industry Canada. Like IHAC, the Task Force was made up mostly of people who worked in government or business sectors, but included some representatives from non-profit and community groups. Also like IHAC, the Task Force stressed the important role that ICTs play in development initiatives. For example, in its final report the group stated that:
“It is no exaggeration to say that over time, the impact of broadband communications on Canadian life will be at least as great as the impact of railways, highways, airlines, traditional telecommunications and broadcasting” (p.3).
The short video from Industry Canada below shows how the federal government manages different elements of the country’s digital infrastructure.
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Around the world, government involvement in ICT4D typically begins by building core infrastructures in urban centres. It then addresses gaps in targeted regions and populations, and ends by filling any remaining holes. In Canada, the federal government’s activities during the 1990s and 2000s - which were led by Industry Canada - followed this general approach.
In the early days of the Internet, federal government established a national strategy to ensure that all Canadians could connect to digital ICTs. The Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC) sought to use new technologies to support social and economic development. This was done by enabling people across Canada to create a variety of applications – from websites and streaming video to e-health records, internet telephone systems, and online education courses.
While IHAC's work was dominated by government and corporate organizations, it included some input from community and nonprofit organizations. Leslie Regan Shade, a professor at the University of Toronto, describes how a number of groups emerged in the mid-1990s to ensure that the public had a voice in this process. In 1996, IHAC released its action plan, called Building the Information Society: Moving Canada into the 21st Century. The plan supported universal, affordable and equitable access to ICTs. However, critics argued that it offered few concrete suggestions on how to overcome social, economic, and cultural barriers.
This early work was followed by a Broadband Task Force formed by Industry Canada. Like IHAC, the Task Force was made up mostly of people who worked in government or business sectors, but included some representatives from non-profit and community groups. Also like IHAC, the Task Force stressed the important role that ICTs play in development initiatives. For example, in its final report the group stated that:
“It is no exaggeration to say that over time, the impact of broadband communications on Canadian life will be at least as great as the impact of railways, highways, airlines, traditional telecommunications and broadcasting” (p.3).
- Click here to read the final report of the Broadband Task Force
The short video from Industry Canada below shows how the federal government manages different elements of the country’s digital infrastructure.
Video: Industry Canada - Internet, radio and wireless: connecting Canadians
(published Sept. 6, 2013)
(published Sept. 6, 2013)
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