Young Canadians Speak Out: A Qualitative Research Project on Privacy and Consent

MediaSmarts conducted focus groups with young Canadians ages 13 to 16 in Ottawa, giving them the chance to consider, discuss and design ways of obtaining consent online that are clear and meaningful to them.  As part of the focus groups, youth were asked to share their thoughts on and experiences with current online consent processes. They were then asked to come up with hand-drawn ‘paper prototypes’ of their ideal privacy policies. The findings, highlighted in the report Young Canadians Speak Out: A Qualitative Research Project on Privacy and Consent, offered creative new ideas on how platforms can improve online consent processes – not just for young people, but for everyone – so Canadians can better understand what they’re agreeing to when it comes to their privacy.

Outcome Chart - Atlantic Provinces - English Language Arts 7

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation, English Language Arts curriculum, Grade 7, with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.

Each Atlantic Province follows closely the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation Framework for English Language Arts. In this Framework, media literacy is integrated throughout the English Language Arts curriculum under the general learning outcomes of Speaking and Listening, Reading and Viewing and Writing and Other Ways of Representing.

New findings show digital media literacy training strengthens safety, wellbeing and resilience for survivors of online abuse

OTTAWA — April 7, 2026 — On World Health Day, MediaSmarts is highlighting new results from its Resilience Through DigitalSmarts program, which helps survivors of technology-facilitated violence—also known as online or digital abuse—build the digital media literacy skills needed to safely participate in today’s online world.

Outcome Chart – Nunavut - ELA 7

Strand: Uqausiliriniq

Overall Expectations: 

1. listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to access and explore prior knowledge and experiences of self and others.

Specific Expectations: 

1.1.1 Engage in exploratory communication to discuss and develop diverse ideas, predictions, opinions, conclusions, and understandings about oral, print, and other media texts

1.1.2 Explore a variety of genres, authors, and artists in oral, print, and other media texts, including those recommended by peers

Outcome Chart - Alberta - English Language Arts 11 (ELA 20-2)

This outcome chart contains media-related learning outcomes from the Alberta, Grade 11 English Language Arts curriculum (ELA 20-2), with links to supporting resources on the MediaSmarts site.

Cyber Security: Software Threats

Software threats are malicious pieces of computer code and applications that can damage your computer, as well as steal your personal or financial information. For this reason, these dangerous programs are often called malware (short for “malicious software”). 

Forms of Privilege

Social justice activists and writers have built on Peggy McIntosh’s original essay on privilege in 1988, by adding to and modifing the original list to highlight how privilege is not merely about race or gender, but that it is a series of interrelated hierarchies and power dynamics that touch all facets of social life: race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, education, gender identity, age, physical ability, passing, etc. These categories will be further discussed below.

Book review: Packaging Girlhood

An alien anthropologist, studying North American culture, might wonder why it is that despite the increasing economic and political power of women over the last forty years, appearance and behaviour seem to be more gender-typed than ever. A walk through any department store would give this anthropologist a clear notion of gender roles in children and teens: boys are warriors and superheroes, clad in camouflage (the new blue); girls are princesses, dressed always in pink. Packaging Girlhood, by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, acts as a guide to parents and teachers who – perhaps remembering a time of boys and girls in t-shirts, jeans or unisex overalls – may be as perplexed by all this as our alien would be.

Do It Yourself

This is the first in a series of blogs looking at the history and future of Web 2.0. From Facebook pages to viral Barack Obama speeches, the latest boom to hit the media is the rise of user-created content. Services such as Facebook and YouTube have created a new business model: rather than selling content to consumers, as media companies traditionally have done.