Public Awareness

• The federal government should work with community organizations to increase awareness by non-users of the availability of local access sites, and the services available. A substantial number of those not connected are not aware of local access sites and the range of services that they provide.

Publicly Relevant Content

• There is a need to create more Canadian content, particularly at the local level. Social, cultural and citizenship content needs to be created and made available in ways that meet the different needs and abilities of people. There is no shortage of commercial content, but there continues to be a lack of diverse and relevant information, particularly at the community level.
• Different levels of government should provide funding and other support for individuals and not-for-profit organizations that create social, cultural and citizenship content for general access and use in communities. This support should include the digitalization of components of these resources that are suitable for access and use online. Many groups, artists and others in society create a broad, diverse inventory of content in Canada. People enjoy these resources through a number of venues and means of access (for example, live shows, print, etc.). This inventory can form the basis for on-line content, but needs to be supported in its initial creation, general distribution and access through traditional means, as well as digitalization of on-line access.