Levelling Up with TELUS #1: Helaina Gaspard and Sam Andrey on Canada’s digital divide

Leadership Perspectives

COVID-19 has exacerbated the digital divide—the gap between Canadians who have reliable, fast broadband Internet access and those who don’t. What can we do to close it? In this first episode of our five-part series on the digital divide, Sam Andrey and Helaina Gaspard talk about the complications, challenges, and solutions in increasing digital access and adoption for all Canadians.

Discover more about the digital divide and how TELUS is supporting meaningful change at telus.com/connectingcanada.

About our guests:
Sam Andrey is Director of Policy and Research at the Ryerson Leadership Lab. He has led applied research and public policy development for the past decade, including the design, execution and knowledge mobilization of surveys, focus groups, interviews, randomized controlled trials, and cross-sectional observational studies—including a recent study on the digital divide in the City of Toronto. He also teaches about public policy and leadership at Ryerson University and George Brown College.

Access the Ryerson Leadership Lab’s Overcoming Digital Divides Workshop Series at https://www.ryersonleadlab.com/overcoming-digital-divides.
Helaina Gaspard is a researcher, advisor, teacher and convener, as well as the Director of Governance and Institutions at the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa. Her work focuses on the state institutions that incentivize and govern the behaviour of actors, influencing the performance of organizations and public policy outcomes. Read Helaina's report, co-authored with Sahir Khan, on the efficacy of instruments for rural broadband delivery in Canada here.

This is the first episode of Levelling Up, a mini-series from TELUS and The Conference Board of Canada. Access all our research at conferenceboard.ca.