Category: Digital Inclusion - digital literacy

I like to go through Settlement-related conference program agendas for conferences I’m not attending to see what might be of interest from a digital perspective. This year’s Metropolis Conference does not disappoint. Hopefully, at least the slides from these presentations, discussion notes, summaries, as well as reports mentioned will make it on the Metropolis conference platform or be shared publicly at some point. Here are some of interest.

At the recent P2P National Conference I participated in the first of 2 panel presentations focused on Immigration, Work and New Technologies. My contribution was a presentation titled How Digital Diversity Shapes Employment Outcomes – Digital Inclusion Is a Settlement Imperative. It was a very interesting panel with some interesting connecting threads I want to share before I forget them.

In 2024 national round‑table discussions on digital inclusion in Canada occurred, forming a Canadian National Digital Inclusion Network (NDIN). These documents lay out a series of goals, challenges, and concrete recommendations aimed at closing the digital divide for marginalized groups across the country.

Canada recently completed an online consultation about our country's AI strategy. There has been much criticism that the AI task force that was created is overly representative of the tech industry and not representative enough of Canadian society. Here are a few interesting and thoughtful submissions you should be aware of that try to address this fatal flaw in our government's strategy.

These recordings are from the Toronto Public Library's October 2025 Digital Expo - Bridging the AI Divide. This event brought together industry leaders and local agencies to discuss responsible technology use, privacy and online safety, digital citizenship and innovation in the age of AI.

This April 2025 DigitalLIFT session provides an immersive experience that sheds light on the profound challenges faced by individuals with limited access to technology. The Digital Divide Simulation, presented by KC Digital Drive, invites participants to step into the shoes of those navigating an analog life in our digital world.

It's true that I often write about the upside of using technology in Settlement work. I do focus heavily on ethical issues and safeguards in my writing. Perhaps I don't spend enough time sharing useful resources to help guide us in these areas. Especially resources that take a deep dive into the underbelly of the tech world to remind us that we need to be creating not just consuming technology in our work. Tactical Tech is an organization whose work you should be aware of and following. This essay is part of their Digitized Divides series, a multi-part series about technology and crisis.

While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a significant aspect of how we look at digital transformation in the sector right now, too much of our focus is on AI. In this piece, I'm offering an AI-generated summary of 30 webinars (yes, 30) conducted over the past 4-5 years. The cover a broad scope of digital transformation within the settlement and immigrant-serving sector.

This Digital Navigator Program Toolkit provides guidance for setting up and managing successful digital navigator programs. The toolkit was created by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) who have experience training, supporting, and learning from hundreds of digital navigators and programs providing digital navigator services across the country.