Telecommunities Canada

President's Report
Activities 2024

This year was marked by technical problems with the server that was running the TC software in BC and we are still unable to use the advisors list which we had been using to communicate. This did not affect the website as it is managed by Ian Allen in Ottawa. I occasionally sent out a mailing to directors, so there was a bit of communication activity but, admittedly, very little. In addition to this I was plagued with health issues, specifically vision issues, for most of the year, which made online work very challenging and sometimes impossible. That also restricted my ability to travel so had to cancel plans to attend ICANN meetings in February in Puerto Rico where I was involved in several panels at the North American School of Internet Governance. I am happy to report that things have improved, both on the health and the communications side. 

Despite these challenges, there are a number of important things to report which were outcomes of activities already started in 2023. The world of internet policy moves very slowly. 

INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Global Digital Compact

In April 2023, we drafted a response for input to the Global Digital Compact (GDC) -- a UN initiative seeking to outline “shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all.” Our statement highlighted the importance of the digital commons as a public good (see TC website). This year, as a representative of the end user stakeholder group (At Large) in the ICANN community, I participated in monitoring the progress of the GDC which was an addendum to the Pact for the Future. Thanks to lots of lobbying by the international multistakeholder community the sections recognizing the importance of multistakeholder participation in internet governance was retained although not strengthened.

You can look at the resulting document here: https://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-future/pact-for-the-future.

WSIS+20

In Tunis in 2005, the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) recognized that the internet should be governed through a multistakeholder model. This was a revolutionary idea that led to the establishment of the Internet Governance Forum and the governance model used at ICANN to manage critical internet infrastructure such as the DNS and root zone registries. The 2025 WSIS+20 review is a critical opportunity to reaffirm support for multistakeholder internet governance. This governance model is still in its evolutionary phase and its survival depends on strong input from stakeholders outside government. 

In February 2024, a number of TC members got together as a focus group to draft a response to the questionnaire for the 20 year review of decisions developed at the original World Summit for the Information Society. As far as I know, responses from Canadian civil society/enduser groups were rare. 

As WSIS+20 is a UN process in which only member states are able to speak, other than preliminary activities such as the questionnaire, the only way citizens can engage is through their national governments. TC was very active in a consultation in 2005 where 200 people were convened to present their positions on the future of the Internet. Our statement called “Beyond the Information Society” which we presented to that meeting is posted here: TCWSIS_flyer.indd . As I have been engaging in this file at ICANN, both at public meetings and within the At Large community, I was invited to the ICANN-CIRA stakeholder roundtable on the Future of Internet Governance (Oct. 24) and the Canadian Internet Governance Forum (Nov. 27) which was focussed on international developments.  This has led to an invitation to join an informal working group organized through ISED and Global Affairs Canada which will hopefully lead to a process whereby a Canadian multistakeholder position can be developed for the Canadian delegation to the WSIS+20 sessions in Geneva in June 2025. 

 Netmundial +10

Netmundial+10 was held in Brazil on April 29-30. Civil society groups, business actors, the technical community and governments convened in São Paulo, Brazil and virtually for a ten year follow up to the landmark NETmundial process in 2014, which set out principles for multistakeholder approaches to Internet governance. Garth Graham and I attended virtually and both took advantage of opportunities to push for strong support for multistakeholder approach to internet governance. We were particularly pushing for endusers to be explicitly recognized as a stakeholder group. 

Wikipedia

It has been a dream of mine for many years to have TC entry on Wikipedia. Now, finally, thanks to the intervention of Chris Cope who introduced us to Adam Hunt, an experienced Wikipedia editor, this dream is finally realized. There is still lots to do if 35 years of public interest advocacy on internet policy in Canada is to be officially recognized on this platform, but it is a start. Adam also produced an excellent entry for the National Capital Freenet.  

ICANN 

I am currently acting as co-chair of the Operations, Finance and Budget working group (OFB-WG) which meets once per week and develops comments concerning budget, strategic plan, process and procedures. 

CIGF

Member of the Steering committee of the Canadian IGF

North American School of Internet Governance (NASIG)

Was a member of the faculty and helped organize the NASIG which was held in Puerto Rico in February 2024 but, because of health issues, was unable to attend. 

Next steps

Continued participation in ICANN At Large constituency and NARALO

Continue working on WSIS+20 intervention opportunities – national and international. 

THANKS

There are many people whose skills we depend upon and I am grateful for their assistance at all times:

Ian Allen -- webmaster
Kevin Battersby -- hosting, server maintenance, domain name registration 
Garth Graham -- listserver maintenance and general backup/support, zoom master
Adrian Schmidt and Mildred Weiss -- youtube and large file storage, occasional zoom master