Telecommunities Canada

President's report
2025

Activities with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

June 2025: ICANN public mtg - Seattle - virtual attendance
October 2025: ICANN public mtg. - Dublin – virtual attendance

Participation in the weekly Operations, Finance and Working Group Calls
Participation in the monthly NARALO (North American Regional At Large Organzation) calls.

I try to keep up with what is happening generally but have become more selective about activities I will actually get involved in. I contribute to  discussions toward policy and operations comments but have stepped back from taking on much responsibility as, in my experience, the time commitments in every case are extensive. I am trying to focus more time and energy on national issues. In this unstable socio-economic situation, there will be more opportunities than usual to influence national policy as it adjusts to new circumstances. 

Activities with Innovation, Science and Economic Development/ Global Affairs Canada ( ISED/GAC)  re: Canadian response to the World Summit on the Information Society +20 (WSIS+20) discussions

I attended monthly working group calls with other stakeholders to discuss various aspects of the potential Canadian position. A main theme was the preservation of multistakeholder governance of the internet and the continuance of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).  This resulted in The Canadian Stakeholders' Vision for WSIS+20 and Beyond posted on the tc.ca website. Although we contributed to discussions on all points, we can take particular credit for a late amendment under the Indigenous Community and Community Networks that now reads:  (Amendment wording bolded)
 
 Emphasize the importance of community internet infrastructure and community decisionmaking processes in creating an enabling environment to connect the unconnected (directly related to WSIS Action Line 6) .

All of this activity eventually led to the Canadian/Australian Governments' suggested amendments to the proposed initial bargaining position on WSIS+20 known as the zero-draft:
Canada and Australia_inputs to Zero Draft.pdf . Of particular interest to our community are the following paragraphs: (proposed deletions in red; additions/amendments in italics)

68. We recognise the importance of digital skills and lifelong access to digital learning opportunities, taking into account the specific social, cultural and linguistic needs of each society and persons of all ages and backgrounds, and the work of communities, institutions and individuals in developing digital skills aligned to local needs.

76. We recognise that development partners, including regional development banks, and public funding have also played an important role in financing information and communications networks and services, particularly supporting their deployment in areas that have been considered commercially unviable. Innovative mechanisms, including universal access funds and community networks, have contributed to extending connectivity in remoter areas underserved, remote and rural areas.

If any of this wording holds through the difficult negotiations ahead, we can take partial credit.  
                          
Other WSIS+20 activities

There has been lots of activity in this area this year, with an IGF  in Norway dedicated to the subject, and current discussions going on in Geneva. But I have stepped back from it all since the completion of the consultations with the coalition organized by GAC and ISED. I felt our participation at the Canadian Government level was our best shot at any influence. The rest is up to the people on the ground. We did, however, sign on to various stakeholder coalition letters where it seemed appropriate:

In April 2025, we endorsed a statement by an international group of WSIS stakeholders from civil society, technical community, and the private sector.  There were 111 organizations signed on to this 5 point plan to provide  to support an inclusive WSIS+20 review process. It is intended for key stakeholders responsible for operationalizing the WSIS+20 recommendations, including the , who serve as the acting secretariat. 

Five-Point Plan for an Inclusive WSIS+20 Review   – Global Partners Digital 

In July 2025, we signed on to a statement circulated by the German Youth IGF alongside other supporting National and Regional Internet Governance groups and civil society organizations. This statement addressed issues in the “Elements” paper, an early paper released as part of the review process. Groups were concerned that multistakeholder approaches, the role of the IGF, the role of NRIs (National and Regional Initiatives), and the principle of technology neutrality - were either missing or insufficiently represented in this paper. ISOC Winnipeg also signed on. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K7km90ZWqc-EqDN14ULR4roM_NqXruhePz6R0IOPaX0/edit?usp=sharing

Participation in two Canadian internet history podcasts organized by Joel Templeton (ISOC Manitoba)

The Freenet Dream

This 1:23 min. podcast documents some of the history of the early internet in Canada, Freenets in general, the development of TC and particularly the story of the Blue Sky network in Manitoba. Participants included Bill Reid, Garth Graham, Marita Moll, Michael Gillespie, Stephen Rice, and Ron Dallmeier. 
The Past – The Freenet Dream – Internet Society Manitoba Chapter 

Connecting Canadians: CRACIN Podcast

CRACIN (Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking) was a collaborative partnership between academic researchers, international researchers, government departments and community networking practitioners most of whom were part of the TC network. This SSHRC funded research (2001-2007) was an important recognition of the importance of community networks. It resulted in numerous papers (see canadacommons.ca/orgs/canadian-research-alliance-for-community-innovation-and-networking)  and a final publication of collected findings (Connecting Canadians; Investigations into Community Informatics). 
Andrew Clement, Leslie Regan Shade, Allison Powell and Marita Moll contributed to the podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/se/podcast/cracin/id1735385505?i=1000727234251

Digital Sovereignty/ Digital Resilience
This subject has always been around but has taken on new urgency since the destabilization of the U.S.- Canada trade relationship earlier this year. In August, TC joined 60 other organizations and individuals who signed an open letter to Mark Carney re: digital sovereignty. This letter and other resources on digital sovereignty are available at: canadians4digitalsovereignty.ca 

CIRA election - Sept. 2025

In September CIRA hold an election for new board members. This year I was one of the community candidates in that election. Although not strictly a TC activity (I was running on my general experience in the internet governance area), I am grateful to have had plenty of support from TC members. I did not win the seat, but did use the platform to urge CIRA to use its considerable influence to support digital sovereignty and lobby for more member input to CIRA affairs. 

Canadian Internet Governance Forum - November 2025

I am still a member of the steering group for the Canadian Internet Governance Forum which was held in Ottawa on November 13th. Another of our directors, Kathryn Carruthers also attended in person. Garth Graham was on-line. One of the themes was digital sovereignty.

Seniors and Fraud on-line course zoom consultation - December 2025.

A few TC members attended a zoom consultation organized by members of the recently established Ontario ISOC chapter. ISOC Ontario is attempting to establish an on-line course on Seniors and Fraud. TC members provided feedback on some initial slides. Hopefully, we will be able to continue to cooperate with ISOC Ontario on this project. The goal would be to create something that might be a useful tool for TC members within their communities.

Improvements to web site

For any occasional visitors, our website has been showing a lot more activity than usual with our responses to WSIS+20 questionnaires. Now, under the TC activity menu, in addition to the one newsletter we did during the pandemic, we have added the President's Reports for the last three years. Anyone interested will see that we are actually pretty active in various fora. https://www.tc.ca/tcactivity/ 

Unfortunately, we still need to use both advisors@tc.ca and the tcadvisors@lists.ncf.ca.  At the moment, there are still issues with advisors@tc.ca which is not accepting all addresses. 

End of report for 2025
Marita Moll