To address online harms, Canada must commit to digital media literacy

For everything that the internet and digital devices offer us, online harms have become a regular occurrence, whether it’s cybersecurity breaches in major corporations, the emergence of AI systems and the still-unknown threats they pose to our privacy and data security, the effects of misinformation on our health and democracy, or cultures of hatred and violence—like those experienced by many women, transgender, and racialized public figures in our country. While governments and industries are taking steps to address online harms, without a national commitment to digital media literacy, they will have limited effect. Legal scholars have attested that legislation and regulation are not silver bullets. Governments and online platforms have important roles to play, but we cannot legislate, moderate, or design our way out of online harassment. While also not a complete solution, the value of an educational approach to online harms cannot be overstated. We need to ensure that all people in Canada have the tools and critical capacities to safely and positively engage as responsible and ethical digital citizens. Digital media literacy is a preventative measure and harm-reduction approach to combatting online harms. For example, digital literacy resources can prepare, engage, and empower youth to push back against hate online by incorporating strategies for safely responding to online prejudice. This approach does not let either platforms or regulators off the hook by laying the burden of these challenges on the shoulders of individual users. Rather, it empowers citizens to hold platforms and governments accountable, both in their role in combatting online harm and in their responsibility to support digital media literacy education. Dr. Kara Brisson-Boivin is the director of research for MediaSmarts. Photograph courtesy of Kara Brisson-Boivin Canada has been a leader in digital media literacy. Ontario was the first jurisdiction in the world to integrate it into the education curriculum, and Media Literacy Week, an event that raises awareness of media literacy and is now held in dozens of countries, originated in Canada in 2006. However, we have since fallen behind other countries. For example, a recent report from the Open Society Institute underlined this decline, ranking Canada seventh on their media literacy index. In Canadian schools, digital media literacy is often introduced late—in upper-level elementary education—relegated to optional subjects or taught as separate topics (such as online safety, misinformation, and film studies) rather than as an integrated discipline. Similarly, adult learners might have access to only a patchwork of mostly local programs primarily aimed at teaching basic digital skills. MediaSmarts has advocated for a national digital media literacy strategy for more than 15 years, a recommendation consistently endorsed by key stakeholders and community partners eager to move forward with, and contribute to, developing, implementing, and evaluating a national strategy in Canada. However, this collaborative and community-driven approach to strengthening digital citizenship and addressing the social determinants of digital well-being requires long-term federal government support. Online harms, and the challenges we face in virtual environments, aren’t going anywhere. Canada must make a national investment in and commitment to digital media literacy to provide experts, advocates, and service providers with a unified but flexible approach for preventing and addressing online harms through lifelong education and critical skills development. This investment in digital media literacy will empower people living in Canada to use, understand, create, and engage with digital technology and digital media, which is at the heart of responsible and engaged digital citizenship. Canada’s annual Media Literacy Week will take place Oct. 23-27, 2023, and is hosted by MediaSmarts, Canada’s charitable centre for digital media literacy. Dr. Kara Brisson-Boivin is the director of research for MediaSmarts and is responsible for the planning, methodology, implementation, and dissemination of key findings from original MediaSmarts research studies, as well as evaluations of MediaSmarts’ educational resources. She also holds an appointment as an adjunct research professor with Carleton University's Department of Sociology. She works with several partners on tri-agency funded projects, private and public sector organizations, and federal departments on online issues including digital well-being, digital citizenship, digital equity and inclusion, privacy, hate, technology facilitated violence, and algorithms and artificial intelligence. The Hill Times