The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inequality of digital access in Canada's north, but a Manitoba group is working to close that gap.
Tech Manitoba is working to deliver computers to the people who need them most across Manitoba - including 15 for Flin Flon in their latest delivery.
Margaux Miller is the program director for Tech Manitoba’s DigitALL.
“What COVID-19 did was bring to the surface the digital divide that really does exist in our province and in our country,” she said.
Before the outbreak, DigitALL focused on teaching computer skills to beginners. With the pandemic hitting, Tech Manitoba realized many of their clients lacked access to computers outside of libraries and schools.
The program’s goals shifted from just instruction to providing the technology. An initial batch of nearly 250 computers was sent out and new computers are being sent out every month.
“We have 25 computers every month, moving forward,” Miller said.
“We have to figure out with our different partners who are helping us identify these individuals in need. We really appreciate that they're doing that with us, but we’re all going to have to work together.”
Miller said she relied on local partners in Flin Flon to determine who is in most need of computers.
“In the last year, we've formed some really amazing partnerships when it comes to the computer classes in the first place and one of those really wonderful partnerships was with University College of the North,” she said.
“The recipients of our most recent batch of computers that went in the mail this week were families within the [Flin Flon School Division] who had been receiving food hampers and school material during the school closure.”
It’s not just a normal computer families receive in the mail from Tech Manitoba. The computers come with an instruction booklet and preloaded videos showing how to set up the computers and get the most out of them.
“When COVID-19 hit, of course, we could no longer run in-person classes, unlike other training where you could just pivot to Zoom or YouTube videos and things like that,” said Miller.
“We were dealing with people that had really no comfort level with computers at all. We couldn't all of a sudden force them to figure out how to get to an online video chat.”
Computers were also delivered to other northern communities, including Thompson, Swan River and Marcel Colomb First Nation.
