Helping Citizens Critically Assess and Become Resilient Against Harmful Online Disinformation Français
More than 20 projects are being launched to strengthen citizens' critical thinking about disinformation and enhance their ability to get involved in democratic processes
GATINEAU, QC, July 2, 2019 /CNW/ - A strong democracy relies on Canadians having access to diverse and reliable sources of news and information so that they can form opinions, hold governments and individuals to account, and participate in public conversations.
The Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Democratic Institutions, today announced several citizen-focused activities that will build citizens' critical thinking and preparedness against online disinformation, and other online harms. She made this announcement on behalf of the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism. This announcement is part of the Government of Canada's plan to safeguard our democratic processes from threats of interference as we approach the 2019 General Election.
On January 30, Minister Gould announced funding of $7 million for citizen-focused activities under Canadian Heritage's Digital Citizen Initiative to support eligible organizations using four existing programs: the Canada History Fund, Youth Take Charge, Exchanges Canada and the Canada Periodical Fund. The Initiative promotes civic, news and digital media literacy through third-party educational activities and programming to help citizens become resilient against online harms.
Activities range from awareness sessions and workshops to the development of learning materials from experienced and expert organizations who work with Canadians of all ages and backgrounds, in both official languages, to foster digital media and civic awareness across the country.
Investing in these projects will help Canadians critically assess online information; understand how algorithms work and when they might impact a user's online experience; recognize how and when malicious actors exploit online platforms; acquire skills to avoid being susceptible to online manipulation; and effectively engage in public debate and online discussions.
A list of the funded activities, including recipients, funding amounts and project descriptions, is available in the attached backgrounder.
Strengthening Canadians' resilience to online disinformation
Canadian Heritage will also invest $19.4 million over four years in a new Digital Citizen Research Program to help Canadians understand online disinformation and its impact on Canadian society, and to build the evidence base that will be used to identify possible actions and future policy-making in this space. This investment will also enable Canada to take part in international multi-stakeholder engagement aimed at building consensus and developing guiding principles on diversity of content online to strengthen citizen resilience to online disinformation.
Quotes
"Access to accurate, diverse and relevant news is crucial to our democracy. In response to the increase in disinformation published online and through social media, our government has made it a priority to help equip citizens with the tools and skills needed to critically assess online information."
—The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism
"Canada's best defence against threats to democracy remains an engaged and informed public. By building their skills, Canadians can better understand online deceptive practices, recognize disinformation and be less susceptible to online manipulation. An informed and critical approach to online information by all Canadians will help safeguard our upcoming elections from those who would seek to interfere in our democracy."
—The Honourable Karina Gould, Minister Democratic Institutions
Quick Facts
The Canada History Fund encourages Canadians to improve their knowledge about Canada's history, civics and public policy.
The Collective Initiatives component of the Canada Periodical Fund provides funding to organizations for projects designed to increase the overall sustainability of the Canadian print magazine and non-daily newspaper industries.
Youth Take Charge supports youth-led projects for youth, ages 7 to 30, that exemplify the ability to strengthen youth attachment to Canada through engagement.
The Exchanges Canada Program helps youth enhance their knowledge and understanding of Canada, while connecting with other young Canadians.
As proposed in Budget 2019, the Government of Canada will also invest $19.4 million (starting in 2019–2020) to expand Canadian Heritage's Digital Citizen Initiative to create a new research program that will support stronger evidence-based policy making in the countering of disinformation and other online harms in a Canadian context. Research will be implemented through three main activities:
- a new Digital Citizen Contribution Program
- a joint initiative with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
- support to the Public Policy Forum's Digital Democracy Project
The new program will also support multi-stakeholder engagement and digital media literacy.
Further details will be available in due time.
Related Products
Government of Canada unveils plan to safeguard Canada's 2019 election
Enhancing citizen preparedness – Democratic Institutions
Backgrounder
Organization, Project, Website, Twitter Account |
Funding, Fiscal Year, |
Agence Science-Presse
The rumour detector is in election mode! Agence Science-Presse (ASP) will develop teaching guides for schools and short videos, as well as a newsletter to encourage networking among key Canadian media education and information education stakeholders. ASP will also organize and deliver presentations and workshops for a variety of audiences.
Website: www.sciencepresse.qc.ca/detecteur-rumeurs (French only)
Twitter: @SciencePresse |
$129,345 (2019–2020) Canada History Fund |
Apathy is Boring
The Creative Citizen Project The organization will form a partnership to produce high-quality civic education, democratic participation, algorithm awareness and anti-disinformation messaging.
Citizens Initiative: Keep it Real Youth will be engaged in an educational youth-led civic literacy campaign that raises awareness about disinformation, provides in-person opportunities to connect with their peers, and encourages informed action in the 2019 Federal Election.
Website: www.apathyisboring.com
Twitter: @apathyisboring |
$100,000 (2018–2019) Youth Take Charge
$340,000 (2019–2020) Youth Take Charge |
Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Let's Talk Digital This project will engage youth in workshops and online educational tools to prepare them to be critical information consumers, as well as provide an opportunity for youth to participate in a Youth Leaders Town Hall conference.
Website: www.bgccan.com
Twitter: @BGCCAN |
Youth Take Charge |
Canadian News Media Association
News Media Canada will design, develop and promote a public awareness program entitled "SPOT Fake News Online". The project will provide Canadians of all ages with straightforward tools to encourage them to critically assess digital media and identify misleading or defamatory disinformation. S – Is this a credible Source? P – Is the Perspective biased? O – Are Other sources reporting the same story? T – Is the story Timely?
Website: newsmediacanada.ca
Twitter: @newsmediacanada |
$484,300 (2019–2020) Canada Periodical Fund – Collective Initiative |
CIVIX
A proposal to protect Canadian Democracy: Building the skills of informed citizenship among youth CIVIX will undertake a series of Democracy Bootcamps for educators supported by learning materials and a research project assessing the impact of civic and media literacy tools in the classroom.
Student Vote Through new literacy tools and access to an e-learning platform, students will get to understand the tactics behind disinformation campaign, how to avoid being susceptible to media manipulation, and the importance of news consumption and being an informed citizen.
Website: www.civix.ca
Twitter: @CIVIX_Canada |
$100,000 (2018–2019) $540,000 (2019–2020) Canada History Fund
$175,000 (2018–2019) $400,000 (2019–2020) Youth Take Charge |
Encounters with Canada
Module on digital democracy An educational module on Digital Democracy will be developed to help sensitize Canadian youth to the perils of fake news, and how to be a responsible digital citizen. This module will be made available to youth participating in week-long events through 2019–2020 and 2020–2021.
Website: www.ewc-rdc.ca/pub/en
Twitter: @EWC_RDC |
$100,000 (2018–2019) Exchanges Canada Program |
Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec
Press Week – Schools Presentation of the "#30sec to check it out" workshop in Quebec high schools. Development of a partnership with high school librarians. Creation of a magazine about journalism for female students
Press Week – General public A public awareness campaign on the importance of obtaining and seeking out reliable, quality information and on restoring the public's confidence in the information media.
#30sec to check it out The FPJQ will give workshops designed to raise awareness among cégep and university students and the general public about the dangers of fake news and explain how to identify it and fight back. The FPJQ also wants to create a new module on how fake news spreads. This will involve developing a few different versions of the workshop and assembling a team of journalists who will be trained to present the various versions of the "#30sec to check it out" workshop.
Websites: fpjq.org (French only), 30secondes.org
Twitter: @FPJQ |
$32,005 (2019–2020)
$116,205 (2019–2020)
$54,360 (2019–2020) Canada Periodical Fund – Collective Initiative |
Global Vision
Junior Team Canada Digital Citizenship Ambassador Program Through a four-day summit, online forums and a video challenge, youth will be engaged in a hands-on leadership and entrepreneurship program that will provide them with the opportunity to gain skills and knowledge, and to engage in society, politics and government on digital platforms.
Website: www.globalvision.ca
Twitter: @myglobalvision |
$260,000 (2019–2020) Youth Take Charge |
Historica Canada
Critical Digital Literacy The Critical Digital Literacy Project will produce a series of three bilingual videos and a bilingual education guide to give Canadians a foundation in critical digital literacy for assessing historical narratives and current events.
Website: www.historicacanada.ca
Twitter: @HistoricaCanada |
$250,000 (2019–2020) Canada History Fund |
Institute for Canadian Citizenship
Defending Citizenship: Building resilience, strengthening democracy The Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) will create a multi-faceted digital engagement project that leverages their national network of new Canadian citizens and the ICC's experience and knowledge of the foundations of civil society.
Website: www.icc-icc.ca
Twitter: @ICCICC |
$250,000 (2019–2020) Canada History Fund |
Journalists for Human Rights
Fighting disinformation through strengthened media and citizen preparedness Development and deployment of learning materials, curricula and new media tools through ongoing workshops for journalists and facilitation of public digital and news literacy to combat misinformation
Website: www.jhr.ca
Twitter: @JHRNEWS |
$250,691 (2019–2020) Canada Periodical Fund – Collective Initiative |
Magazines Canada
Magazine strategies in the age of disinformation Magazines Canada will identify successful tools and strategies, both domestic and international, that combat the "fake news" phenomenon, thereby equipping the industry to promote its trustworthiness to audiences including readers and advertisers. The project is a compilation of training sessions, awareness-raising activities and tools to better position Canada's magazine media as trusted sources of news and information. To do so, Magazines Canada will partner with FIPP, the network for global media, to uncover and promote successful strategies and campaigns that have countered misinformation on the international, as well as on the domestic, stage.
Website: magazinescanada.ca
Twitter: @magscanada |
$63,000 (2019–2020) Canada Periodical Fund – Collective Initiative |
McGill University in cooperation with the University of Ottawa
The Digital Ecosystem Research Challenge The Max Bell School of Public Policy will launch and organize the Digital Ecosystem Research Challenge. The national competition will identify and fund research projects, tool development, and citizen-led experiments to better understand the information ecosystem in the lead up to and during the 2019 federal election.
Website:www.mcgill.ca/maxbellschool/
Twitter: @MaxBellSchool |
$1,196,205 (2019–2020) Canada History Fund |
MediaSmarts
Empowering Canadians to critically assess digital media MediaSmarts will create a multi-pronged approach to combat disinformation online, including an extensive social media campaign and online learning materials. The project will culminate in October 2019 with Media Literacy Week, the world's longest-running event focused on raising awareness of media and digital literacy—including the importance of digital citizenship among youth, parents, educators and the general public.
Website: www.mediasmarts.ca
Twitter: @MediaSmarts |
$650,000 (2019–2020) Canada History Fund |
New Canadian Media
Good Digital Citizens: Empowering Immigrant Journalists in their Communities Anti-disinformation training for journalists. Targeted reader survey on journalism credibility. The project will help mitigate the impacts of disinformation within Canada's diverse immigrant communities by providing knowledge, skills and tools for identification, as well as engage these communities in an online discourse.
Website: www.newcanadianmedia.ca
Twitter: @NewCdnMedia |
$66,517 (2019–2020) Canada Periodical Fund – Collective Initiative |
Ryerson University
Democratic Discourse The Democratic Engagement Exchange and the Ryerson Leadership Lab will address the growing challenge of online disinformation and fostering civic literacy. The project will include the research and development of digital and civic literacy online and print materials, training, and distribution of materials to community-based organizations committed to fostering civic engagement.
Website: www.ryerson.ca/arts/research-and-innovation/democratic-engagement-exchange/
Twitter: @RUEngageX |
$290,250 (2019–2020) Canada History Fund |
Samara Centre for Democracy
Field guide to online political conversations The Samara Centre for Democracy will create resources to provide research-based advice to Canadians about the nature of social media platforms and how they shape our online interactions.
Website: www.samaracanada.com
Twitter: @SamaraCDA |
$59,200 (2019–2020) Canada History Fund |
Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association
SPOT Fake News Online – SK SWNA will work with News Media Canada in a public awareness campaign and educational resource development, targeted to audiences in Saskatchewan.
Website: swna.com
Twitter: @swnainfo |
$70,055 (2019–2020) Canada Periodical Fund – Collective Initiative |
Simon Fraser University
Citizens in action: Canadians tackling misinformation in the digital age The Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue will create a citizen-powered anti-disinformation project designed to raise awareness of online disinformation. Reaching all regions of Canada in both official languages, the project will spark discussions about disinformation through a national poll and awareness campaign.
Website: www.sfu.ca\dialogue.html
Twitter: @SFUDialogue |
Canada History Fund |
A few other activities are currently being considered. Details will be available in due time. |
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Associated Links
Link to Democratic Institutions – Safegarding Democracy
Digital Citizen Initiative – Online disinformation
SOURCE Canadian Heritage
(media only), please contact: Simon Ross, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism, 819-997-7788; Media Relations, Canadian Heritage, 819-994-9101, 1-866-569-6155, [email protected]; Meg Jaques, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Democratic Institutions, [email protected], 613-513-4857; Media Relations, Privy Council Office, [email protected], 613-957-5420
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