3:40 p.m.
What Could We Do Together With ISOC Funding?
Hi everyone,
Hope you’re all getting some well-earned rest this season.
I wanted to put something on your collective radar for the new year — a potential
opportunity for TC to collaborate with ISOC Manitoba on a project funded by the Internet
Society Foundation.
As an ISOC Chapter, I have access to a variety of funding programs designed to support:
* Local and national digital inclusion initiatives
* Community Internet infrastructure
* Internet policy engagement
* Digital skills training
* Technical community building
* Research, resilience, governance, and more
You can check out the full list of ISOC Foundation funding areas here:
🔗 https://www.isocfoundation.org/funding-areas/
This isn’t a call for proposals (yet), but more of a crowdsourcing exercise. TC is rich in
ideas, experience, and people. What we sometimes lack is money — and this could be a way
to fund something meaningful and leave a few “administrative dollars” in the bank accounts
of both TC and ISOC Manitoba to help keep the lights on.
So, I’m asking:
📣 What could we do with this kind of support?
Are there projects we’ve dreamed of but never pursued due to a lack of resources? Are
there local issues or national initiatives that could use a funding boost?
If there’s interest, I’d be happy to host a quick Zoom session in January/February to get
the conversation rolling.
Wishing you all a great end of year — and looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Warm regards,
Joel Templeman, CD, MPA, MEd
Executive Director
Internet Society Manitoba Chapter
431-999-3953
joel.templeman(a)internetsocietymanitoba.ca
On Dec 29, 2025, at 11:25 AM, Marita Moll <mmoll(a)ca.inter.net> wrote:
Hello advisors. This is a note wishing you all the very best in the New Year. As we have
since 1993, we will be looking for useful activities that support our mission statement:
* To ensure that all Canadians are able to participate in community-based
communications and electronic information services by promoting and supporting local
community network initiatives.
* To represent and promote the Canadian community networking movement at the national
and international level.
In 2025, TC was very active in the international discussions around the World Summit for
the Information Society +20. This is now completed and I will share some final results. In
this message I thought I would copy you on this excerpt from the year end greetings from
the National Capital Freenet which itemizes their activities and achievements over 2025.
In the spirit of learning from each other, please feel free to share any similiar year-end
roundups you feel are appropriate.
Marita
____________________________________________________________________________________
..... excerpt......
2. Some of what we accomplished in 2025
NCF’s mission to advance digital equity centres around ensuring everyone in our community
has access to internet that’s affordable, reliable and that they can understand how to
use, while feeling safe online.
We’re proud of all we’ve been able to accomplish, from when we first launched our dial-up
services on February 1, 1993 to this past year!
In 2025 that included:
* moving our data centre, adding additional network resilience;
* beta-testing and launching Fibre-to-the-Home internet
services<https://www.ncf.ca/en/high-speed-internet/home-internet/>;
* recruiting and training a bunch of new HelpDesk volunteers thanks to the support of
the Ontario Trillium Foundation<https://otf.ca/>;
* updating our bylaws<https://www.ncf.ca/en/who-we-are/governance/bylaws/>,
official purpose<https://www.ncf.ca/en/who-we-are/governance/> and implementing a
new Strategic
Plan<https://www.ncf.ca/en/documents/141/NCF-StratPlan2528-Overview-20250625-v5.pdf>;
* winning a Community Service
Award<https://rcwo.org/Stories/our-2025-award-winners> from the Rotary Club of West
Ottawa<https://rcwo.org/>;; and
* advocating to the CRTC and government, including a recent submission related to
network resilience and
reliability.<https://www.ncf.ca/en/high-speed-internet/advocacy/>
The biggest thing we did in 2025 was launch CommuniFi, our free-to-use community WiFi
network pilot project, starting in Vanier-Overbrook. Over the past year, CommuniFi has:
* connected more than 3800 unique devices for those living on low incomes in and
around 251 Donald Street, including a new health clinic and a free tax-filing clinic;
* offered speeds tested up to 830Mbps; and
* blocked more than 100,000 malware attempts and 20,000 phishing attempts using
CIRA's DNS Firewall.
Check out our latest update on CommuniFi
here<https://www.ncf.ca/en/high-speed-internet/community-wifi/>.
Check out a video about the project
here<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Y8cHRaCkc>;.
The CommuniFi pilot was funded by CIRA (the Canadian Internet Registration
Authority)<https://www.cira.ca/en/resources/news/net-good/cira-and-national-capital-freenet-team-up-to-bring-free-and-secure-internet-to-low-income-communities-in-ottawa/>
and built in partnership with Ottawa Community
Housing<https://www.och-lco.ca/free-wi-fi-pilot-project-launches-in-two-ottawa-community-housing-buildings/>
and Hiboo
Networks<https://www.hiboonetworks.com/news/free-community-wi-fi-pilot...;,
a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa. We’re particularly proud of this unique model that brings
together not-for-profits and municipally owned organizations to build local community
digital infrastructure.
In many ways CommuniFi takes NCF back to our
roots<https://www.ncf.ca/en/who-we-are/our-history/> as a community network offering
dial-up, just with upgraded technology.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marita
_______________________________________________
Advisors mailing list -- advisors(a)tc.ca
To unsubscribe send an email to advisors-leave(a)tc.ca