Building a National Digital Media Literacy Strategy in Canada
A Coordinated Framework for Democratic Resilience
Canadians are dealing with misinformation, online hate and AI-generated content every day. Yet Canada has no national plan to help people take part in digital life safely, confidently and democratically.
To explore what such a plan should look like, MediaSmarts and Digital Public Square brought together researchers, educators, policymakers and civil society leaders from across Canada for a roundtable on Systematic Approaches to Improving Digital Media Literacy in Canada. This report summarizes this discussion and the recommendations stemming from it.
What we heard
- Efforts are fragmented. Valuable programs and research are scattered across sectors, compete for short-term funding and often duplicate each other.
- Access is uneven. Educators, community workers, and smaller organizations often lack training and resources. Indigenous, Francophone, newcomer and rural communities face gaps
- Canada needs coordination. Participants called for federal leadership: a national coordinating body, sustained funding, a bilingual hub of vetted resources, and digital media literacy embedded in K–12 curricula and lifelong learning.
This report was produced in partnership with Digital Public Square, a Canadian not-for-profit that designs digital experiences and tools to support democratic participation.