OTTAWA – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), announced today it has released its Q4 2021 .CA Insights Report, which highlights equity issues in Canada’s North.
The report provides an analysis of .CA domain data from September to December 2021 and includes a special section on the Northwest Territories.
CIRA’s data and analysis from its non-profit partner DigitalNWT shows “how the gaps in digital connectivity and broadband internet access have profound consequences on local communities and their future,” according to a CIRA press release announcing the report’s publication.
When analyzing domain registrations, CIRA found a gap between Yellowknife and the rest of the Northwest Territories, the organization’s full report explains. Yellowknife had 81 .CA domain registrations per 1,000 people, and the rest of the territory had 25 per 1,000 people.
The report says Kyle Napier, communications coordinator for DigitalNWT, “believes there is a clear correlation between domains registered and the equity issues that still exist in the North.”
“There is a big debilitating gap,” the report quotes him saying. He said this is no surprise, given so many communities in the Northwest Territories have limited access to the Internet.
“The communities with the highest population, that are largely non-Indigenous, are more likely to have the highest internet access. To be clear, even those top-five largest communities are limited by restricted and inequitable internet compared to the south. But that’s why you are seeing more domains registered in these communities,” Napier said.
“They also have higher access to digital literacy because of that. When you talk about the digital divide, it’s not only about access issues, it’s about how people are able to use the Internet.”
Using its Internet Performance Test, CIRA partnered with DigitalNWT “to provide neutral data on the exact access speeds N.W.T. residents are experiencing,” the report says.
DigitalNWT found 28 of 33 communities in the territory are underserved in terms of digital connectivity and broadband Internet access. “It turns out, the distribution of registered .CA domains, as well as Internet Performance Testing (IPT), may provide a view into the landscape of a whole host of issues including internet access, usage, digital literacy and equity in those communities.”
Napier indicated there were some communities that were unable to even take the test because a low bandwidth version was not available and expressed concern about underserved and underrepresented communities being left behind.
“One concern I have is, by the time the community catches up to access, the online environment will be dominated by a hegemonic worldview that doesn’t represent their community, and it will be an uphill battle to create our own digital resources on our own terms,” Napier said.
One way CIRA is currently working to support Canadians in the North is through its Community Investment Program, which will begin accepting applications for grants on March 1.
To download CIRA’s full .CA Insights Report, please click here.
