open media,

open democracy

Annual Report, 2009

 Table of Contents

OpenMedia.ca
Table of Contents

From the National Coordinator. . . . . . . . 3

Organizational Development . . . . . . . . . 4

Emerging Media Reform Movement . . . . 5

OpenMedia.ca Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

OpenMedia.ca Campaigns & Projects . . . . . 7

SaveOurNet.ca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Fresh Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Media Democracy Day. . . . . . . . . . . 12

More Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Looking Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Network Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2
 From the National Coordinator

Dear friend,
2009 has been an incredibly exciting year! Over this past year, we have worked diligently on
numerous exciting initiatives such as Fresh Media, SaveOurNet.ca, and Media Democracy Day.
There were packed Open Internet Town Hall events in four cities, over 12,000 comments were
sent to the CRTC in support of Net Neutrality, and both the Liberal and NDP parties came onside
and aggressively showed their support for Internet openness.
We also re-branded our organization from Campaign for Democratic Media to OpenMedia.ca, a name that better
reflects our image, values, and principles of “openness” – ensuring that everyone has open and accessible connec-
tions to each other and to a wide diversity of opinions and expression through our media institutions, structures, and
policies.
This year, transformative change will come through what I like to call the open media movement. This burgeoning
movement is really a constellation of interconnected yet distinct communities that are advancing and defending
open communication rights and values around open source software, open data, open Internet, open web, open
content, open education, open government, and all things open.
At first glance, open media is simply about the above issues that have intrinsic values such as accessibility, choice,
diversity, and openness. While these values intersect to create an essential nucleus for media innovation, they are
only starting points. For example, access and choice, in addition to putting value in real choice for online content and
Internet Service Providers, also touch on the need for media literacy, production programs, and knowledge.
Likewise, a media system that supports diversity and ground-up innovation includes support mechanisms for differ-
ent ownership models -- independent, non-profit, campus, community, and public media. The best way to support
cultural creators, media workers, citizen producers, and consumers, is by developing an underpinning of diversity
that we can tap into.
The open media movement has become increasingly vibrant and is well positioned to take advantage of the declin-
ing power of Big Media. We know that journalism and media production in general are sustainable; it’s the big media
model that is unsustainable. The crisis in the traditional media industry, combined with the proliferation of the most
open medium in history, the Internet, has produced a historic opportunity for media and journalism to serve our
communities again. However, this crisis alone does not guarantee a permanent positive transformation of our media
system.
Canada is facing a big battle with respect to digital strategy policy. As you read this, Canada still has a wireless market
that is among the most concentrated and expensive in the world. Canada is also falling behind other OECD countries
concerning key Internet measurements, and unlike many other countries, Canada lacks a national broadband plan.
If we get digital public policy right, we can turn this around and become a leader in Internet and mobile communica-
tions, which will lead to empowerment, job creation, and new forms of entrepreneurialism, expression, and social
change. But this requires bold action from policy makers and politicians and it’s our job to create pressure for
decisive action.
As we continue to build momentum and create awareness, it looks promising that 2010 will be the year that the open
media movement fully blossoms. I hope you’ll join us in creating a media and news ecology that is responsive,
participatory, and open – a fresh media system for the 21st century.

Steve Anderson
3
 Annual Report 2010
Organizational Development

OPEN Media,
OPEN Democracy
A New Brand for A Growing Movement
This year we took a bold leap forward toward building a brighter, lasting
future for the open media movement and the initiatives of Campaign for
Democratic Media. We seized the opportunity to rebrand the organization
in a way that is more reflective of the direction that will best position us to
tackle and take on critically important issues as they arise.

OpenMedia.ca, the official new name, reflects our commitment to pursuing

and creating a media system in Canada that is open and accessible. As online communications and web
based tools gain in popularity, our new brand reflects this shift while still encompassing other, more
traditional forms of media.

OpenMedia.ca is stronger and more memorable, and effectively communicates what we are all about. We
have finalized the new logo and over the coming weeks, our website will be redeveloped to a more open,
navigatable, and accessible resource for Canadians. We have become the go-to resource for Canadians on
media, culture, and telecommunication issues and now with a more recognizable and reflective brand, we
can reach out to more people than ever.

Where we’re at: Building Relationships

OpenMedia.ca and the SaveOurNet.ca Coalition are
regarded as groups that are cutting edge, pushing the
envelope, and creating innovative strategies throughout
our campaigns. We are a nexus for citizen engagement
in media and communications and we are uniquely
positioned to be a catalyst for reinventing Canada’s
media.
Through various projects and events, we are building
relationships and partnerships with organizations and
institutions like Vancouvers W2 Community Media Arts
Centre, Simon Fraser University (Burnaby campus),
the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, and other
environmental, arts, public policy, technology, and social
change groups.

Community In the Media

To date, the OpenMedia.ca online contacts have grown
to over 10,000 across the country and we expect it to
more than double in 2010 as we gain exposure through
the web, talks, events, and building relationships.
Fresh Space
OpenMedia.ca has acquired a working space at the new
W2 gallery space at 112 West Hastings.
Over the past year, members of OpenMedia.ca,
SaveOurNet.ca, and Fresh Media have been featured in
both local and national media.
Steve Anderson has been interviewed by CBC National,
Global National, and CBC Radio. He has been a guest on
numerous radio stations across the country and a regular
on local talk radio stations like 1410 in Vancouver, and
he has been written about or quoted in print and online
local and national sources such as The Toronto Star,
Rabble.ca, The Tyee, Briarpatch magazine, and more.
4
Organizational Developement

Revitalizing a Media Reform

Movement in Canada
In December, we completed a Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Report entitled “Revitalizing a Media
Reform Movement in Canada”. The report is the result of an in-depth study funded by the Necessary Knowledge
for a Democratic Public Sphere program of SSRC, with support from the Ford Foundation. It was conducted in
partnership with Robert A. Hackett at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), and the World As sociation for Christian
Communication (WACC), an ecumenical NGO concerned with communication rights for all.

The aim of the study was to help identify issues, allies, resources, and frames that could facilitate successful media
reform campaigns, projects, and partnerships. We prepared and distributed an online questionnaire to 224 currently
and potentially allied NGO’s, conducted 18 telephone and in-person interviews with key individuals in Canadian
advocacy groups, and held a workshop of 19 activists, advocates, academics, trade unionists, and independent media
producers, including the OpenMedia.ca national steering committee.

The research shows that there is definitely potential for a much stronger network and movement for change in media
and telecommunications in Canada. Key findings include:

• There is overwhelming recognition of the importance of the Internet in NGO work, and unanimous
endorsement of the principle of Net Neutrality as a regulatory underpinning for equitable and affordable
access to the Internet.
• The data confirm that trade unions and independent media, arts, and culture groups, particularly those
representing media and cultural workers, are core advocates for democratic communications. Other groups,
especially those concerned with human rights, are also supportive.
• More than half of survey respondents rate Canadian mainstream media’s democratic performance as poor or
very poor, although many NGOs report positive relationships with particular media.
• NGOs appear to have a more favorable view of the CBC and independent media.
• An overwhelming majority of NGOs agree that the quality and diversity of Canadian journalism affects their
organization’s work.
• There is an encouraging culture of collaboration amongst NGOs in the sectors we surveyed.
• Values such as openness, accessibility, participation, choice, diversity, and innovation may resonate well with
NGOs in Canada.
• Media reform organizations should consider some kind of expansive institutional structure, such as an
association or network that can facilitate communication and engagement with a broad and diverse array of
organizations.

The study was released in January 2010 and is available online at www.openmedia.ca /revitalize. Building from this
study, OpenMedia.ca will be inviting citizens to provide input concerning our work through an online survey.

5
 Annual Report 2010
OpenMedia.ca Online

Reaching out
to more people across the country
than ever before...
OpenMedia.ca, SaveOurNet.ca, Media Democracy
Day, and Fresh Media have effectively used the web
to gain a vital online presence. Through Facebook
fan pages and groups, twitter, blog posts, weekly
alerts, and mail-outs, we have the ability to reach
more people than ever.
Twitter conversations and online live discussions
continue to build momentum around various
issues including a recent discussion hosted by the
Financial Post on the Traffic Management Hearings
in July 2009.
Through live streaming of events like our Toronto
and Vancouver Internet Town Halls, Vancouver Inter-
net Dance Party, and Fresh Media Festival, we were
able to reach national audiences and allow them to
participate and contribute to panels, roundtables,
and other conversations.

YouTube Highlights

VIRAL VIDEO
In February 2009,
Steve Anderson appeared
in a video entitled “Saving
Canada’s Internet”. The
video went viral on
YouTube in 2 days with
over 20,000 views.

Also in February 2009, Holiday Card to Tony Clement

OpenMedia.ca launched
an online campaign for
Valentines Day. The “Make
the Internet Your Valentine”
video made its YouTube
debut to raise awareness
about Net Neutrality and build momentum for the
SaveOurNet.ca campaign. The video saw over 1000 hits in
it’s first week.
OpenMedia.ca has been innovative and creative with
our online campaigns. In December, we launched our
SaveOurNet.ca holiday card campaign, encouraging
Canadians to sign a twitter card to Industry Minister
Tony Clement asking him to stand up for “Internet
Freedom”. We also encouraged them to send a
letter from our site calling on Minister Clement
to ask the CRTC to conduct regular compliance
audits of ISP traffic management practices.
6
OpenMedia.ca
Campaigns & Projects

7

Talking to Canadians,
Across the Country
Town Halls
In June, the SaveOurNet.ca
coalition hosted town hall
discussions in Toronto, Vancouver,
and Ottawa to engage the public
in open discussions on what the
future of the Internet should look
like.
Some of the speakers included
Jacob Glick - Canada Policy
Counsel, Google Canada; Rocky
Gaudrault - CEO Teksavvy
Solutions Inc; Charlie Angus,
NDP; Mark Surman - Executive
Director, Mozilla Foundation;
Derek Blackadder - National Rep
with CUPE; Raymi the Minx; and
numerous other special guests.
Each town hall was packed with
participants and we realized
just how engaged people are
concerning Internet governance
issues.
Discussions propelled the open
Toronto Open Internet Town Hall
Annual Report 2010
SaveOurNet.ca
Internet movement through the
final stretch of our campaign to
push the CRTC to take action
concerning traffic management.
Toronto’s town hall was live
streamed with unprecedented
partnerships with several print
and online media outlets and
alternative weekly’s including
Now Magazine, The Georgia
Straight, The Real News, The
Tyee, Rabble.ca, Straight Goods, Toronto Town Hall Panel - Rocky Gaudrault,
and numerous popular, leading Derek Blackadder, Sass & RaymitheMinx
blogs such as michaelgeist. (Photo by Andrew Louis / hyfen.net)
ca, beyondrobson.com, and
hummingbird604.com. Citizen input from these and
other SaveOurNet.ca events will
We also live streamed Vancouver’s provide a solid foundation for the
town hall event on our website creation of our 2010 SaveOurNet.
and were therefore able to reach ca “Canada’s Internet” report.
thousands of people across the
country who wouldn’t have For more info, visit:
otherwise known about the www.SaveOurNet.ca/townhalls
town halls and the issue of Net
Neutrality.
(Photo by Andrew Louis / hyfen.net) Ottawa Open Internet Town Hall 8
Steve Anderson
 SaveOurNet.ca

Internet Evangelist Toolkit

In order to extend our reach to more people, we created an Open Internet
Evangelist Toolkit. From our site, citizens can download this guide and host
town hall meetings in various formats.

The Toolkit is accompanied by a Net Ambassador video presentation that

we put together with Matt Thompson. The video has already been viewed
online over 10,000 times and is used regularly at talks. People can show the
video and or use the accompanying slides and transcript.

Already community groups in Halifax have utilized our toolkit and worked
with us to organize a town hall event in their city. It was a high profile event
with segments broadcast by the local CBC radio station. Groups in Quebec,
Barrie, Ontario and elsewhere are planning to use our toolkit to organize
events in 2010.
See the toolkit here: www.SaveOurNet.ca/toolkit

CRTC Hearings - July 6-10, 2009

Internet Dance Party
Playing with new ways to engage
audiences and extend our network,
we put together a celebratory party
with several musical performances
at Gallery Gachet in downtown
Vancouver. The party put us in touch
with a new constituency who had not
previously known about the threats
posed by ISPs to the open Internet.
SaveOurNet.ca coalition members
and network experts appeared
before the CRTC at the “traffic
management” hearing in Quebec to
make the case for Net Neutrality.
THE TRIFECTA
On July 9, SaveOurNet.ca’s public
interest presentation included
testimony from an all-star team
including one of the original
architects of the Internet, Dr. David
Reed of MIT (one of the engineers
who helped develop the underlying
architecture of the Internet),
and network experts Dr. Andrew
Odlyzko of the Minnesota Internet
Traffic Studies (MINTS) project,
and Bill St. Arnaud, Chief Research
Officer for CANARIE Inc., Canada’s
Advanced Internet Development
Organization, alongside David
Fewer, Acting Director at CIPPIC, and
Steve Anderson.
Steve Anderson brought citizen
voices to the hearing, representing
the over 12,000 comments sent
to the CRTC by Canadians. He
highlighted that the CRTC works for
the Canadian people and that their
decisions impact consumer choice,
innovation, and free speech.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
In a tangible step forward, the
CRTC put forth traffic management
framework on October 21,
defining what is considered unjust
discrimination of Internet traffic.
This provides a platform for public
interest interventions in the future.
Internet throttling continues for
now, but Canadians now have a
point of leverage to put a stop to
this practice.
Political Dimension
As a result of the SaveOurNet.
ca coalition’s strong efforts, Net
Neutrality topped the liberal agenda
on their voice.liberal.ca site in May.
Also that month, New Democrat
Digital Affairs Critic Charlie Angus,
tabled Bill C-398 in favour of Net
Neutrality. By the end of 2009, both
the New Democratic Party and the
Liberals have adopted official party
policies supporting Net Neutrality. 9

Celebrating innovation
&
Re-imagining media and journalism
Fresh Media 2009, Meet a Blogger Corner
On Saturday October 24,
OpenMedia.ca launched our
biggest festival in Vancouver
called Fresh Media Festival.
The one-day forum provided
a positive space to celebrate
innovation and independent
media and re-imagine media and
journalism in Canada.
Fresh Media Festival was a
fantastic day of collaboration,
discussion, sharing of ideas
and skills, and creating on-the-
spot media and art through a
series of workshops, panels,
roundtables, and diverse media
and art showcases. We packed
the W2 Centre with hundreds
of participants representing
students, professionals, media
Fresh Media
makers, artists, and citizens.
The festival was live streamed to a
national audience via NowPublic,
The Tyee, Vancouver Observer,
OpenMedia.ca, SaveOurNet.ca,
and FreshMedia.me, allowing
people across the country to
participate in our main panel and
online TV show. We were also
able to beam in guests such as
Amber Mac, Mark Surman, Judy
Rebick, and Jason Mogus.
We helped create momentum for
a dynamic community that will
change the face of media moving
forward. The Fresh Media Festival
sets the stage for a crowd sourced
national campaign in 2010 to
Annual Report 2010
(Photo by Jacqueline Cusack McDonald)
push for policies in support of
independent, community, and
public media.
Fresh Media received incredible
publicity and press coverage from
both online and print sources
including Yelp.ca, The Tyee, Xtra.
ca, Xtra West, Vancouver Observer,
Rabble.ca, Vancouver Media Coop,
The Vancouver Sun, The Source,
Schema Magazine; and radio and
TV interviews with TALK1410,
CKNW, CJSF, CBC’s The National,
and CBC radio.
For a complete list of all the
talent, workshops, and more,
please visit: www.freshmedia.me
10
 Fresh Media

Clockwise from top: Crowd at What is Media? Panel; Fresh Media Crew - Vivian, Kat & Joey; Yelp.ca in the exhibition; Party
goers creating on the letterpress; fresh hot type poster; live painting in the windows at Fresh Media Festival.
(Photos by Kaitlyn Kat Braybrooke (kaibray.com) & Jacqueline Cusack McDonald)

FRESH HOT TYPE

We partnered with W2 to throw an
amazing Fresh Media afterparty that
featured local dj’s and mc’s and had
party goers typesetting using the
Woodward’s letterpress.

11
(Photos by Honey Mae - creativetechnology.org)
 Annual Report 2010
Media Democracy Day

Pushing Beyond the Frame...

In its 8th year, Media Democracy Day Vancouver
was well attended with hundreds of participants
engaging in hands-on workshops, panel
discussions, and the Media Democracy Fair.
Audience-panel discussions pushed sessions to
their limits and feedback thus far has been very
positive!

Keynote speakers included: Favianna Rodriguez

- Renowned SF Bay Area digital graphic artist/
community arts centre founder, and Donald
Gutstein - SFU Prof/author of Not a Conspiracy
Theory. Other speakers included: Rafe Mair -
Political Journalist and former BC Cabinet Minister,
Gwen Barlee - Western Canada Wilderness
Committee, Robert Hackett - SFU Professor and
author of Remaking Media, Nick Middleton - co-
writer, director, and editor of Be the Media, and
more!

For more visit: www.mediademocracyday.org/vancouver

Be the Media Panel: Nick Middleton, Linda Solomon, Leela Chinniah, Dawn Paley, and Kim Elliott.
(Photo by Jacqueline Cusack McDonald) 12
 Media Democracy Day

Clockwise from top left: Keynote speaker Donald Gutstein; Community TV 101 Panel - Seonok Lee, Robert Prey, Sid Tan, & Lianne Payne;
Keynote speaker Favianna Rodriguez; We the Media workshop with Colette Gunson.
(All Photos by Jacqueline Cusack McDonald) 13

More Campaigns
The CRTC is reconsidering the role of community
television in Canada and we have a historic
opportunity to create a rejuvenated, FRESH, and
innovative independent media sector in Canada.
In early December, CACTUS and OpenMedia.ca
launched a campaign to create an independent
production fund that would support the
establishment of community media centres to
provide training, resources, and facilities to keep
In support of the Canadian Media Guild,
OpenMedia.ca launched a campaign to save free TV.
11 million people in smaller cities and towns across
Canada are at risk of losing access to free, over-the-
air TV service as TV networks try to cut costs.
We asked Canadians to take action by sending a
message to the Minister of Heritage, James Moore,
copying the President of CBC/Radio-Canada, and
Last May, OpenMedia.ca launched a campaign
urging Canadians to contact the CRTC in support of
Al Jazeera English’s (AJE) application to broadcast in
Canada.
Thanks to leading efforts by Anita Krajnc,
OpenMedia.ca’s Canadians for Al-Jazeera campaign
was successful! More than 2,600 public comments
were submitted to the CRTC in support of AJE.
Annual Report 2010
media fresh, diverse, and independent.
The CRTC is conducting a Public Consultation for
the first review of community television in eight
years. We are encouraging Canadians to voice their
concerns about the current state of community TV.
Hearings will be held in Ottawa/Gatineau starting
on April 26th, 2010.
Visit: www.OpenMedia.ca/community
CEO’s of CTVglobemedia and Canwest (Global TV).
So far, over 2000 comments have been sent to the
CRTC urging them to rethink approval of a plan to
cut free TV.
For more info, please visit:
www.cmg.ca/newsresults.asp?ID=1382&SubjectID=12&Bra
nchID=10
The CRTC approved AJE to broadcast in Canada,
a huge victory for the diversity of Canada’s media
landscape.
The ‘Al Jazeera effect’ has already diversified Arab
media with its forthright and daring journalism
since it was launched in 2006. Now with the ability
to broadcast in Canada, AJE will introduce a much
needed global southern perspective.
14
 Looking Forward

We know that big media practices are failing and

finances are unsustainable. The crisis in the tra-
ditional media industry can be the opportunity
for media and journalism to serve our communi-
ties again. The question is: who is going to fill the
vacuum where big media once was?
Also, while the Internet is perhaps the most trans-
formative communications technology in human
history, Canada has fallen behind in terms of Inter-
net access, speed, and cost. We still have a deficit
in Internet openness, as several Internet Service
Providers continue to limit access to content and
services in this country.
The CRTC’s new “traffic management” guidelines are The Future of Media, Fresh Media Exhibition
(Photo by Kaitlyn Kat Braybrooke - kaibray.com)
an important achievement for the open media
movement, but it is still not enough to ensure that
we have access to all the Internet has to offer.
Canada’s digital destiny is dependent upon whether
Canadians are allowed to provide input into policies
and whether our representatives are bold enough
to provide leadership. Better media means better
policies and that requires engaging all Canadians
in the discussion. To be successful in the long run,
we’ll need a homegrown strategy that captures the
imagination, creativity, and ingenuity of people
from across Canada.
(Photo by vanz via Flickr/CreativeCommons)

2010 Core Projects:

Fresh Media
SaveOurNet.ca
Digital Strategy
Outreach Programs

Moving forward, OpenMedia.ca will focus its programs and activites.

efforts in four main areas: Fresh Media, SaveOurNet.
ca, helping to develop and push forward a “made Within each area of focus, we will develop strategies
in Canada” digital strategy, and delving deeper into and tools by which to hold the Canadian govern-
community building, education, and awareness ment accountable. 15
 Annual Report 2010
Looking Forward

FRESH MEDIA:
One thing is clear: to implement the changes we need, our leaders must be emboldened by broad-based
public support. We will require both visionary leadership and old-fashioned organizing to engage the
public on these crucial issues such as re-invigorating public media and support for innovative, independent
media and Canadian culture.
The first goal of this initiative is to spark a broader conversation about the future of media. We lit that spark
with our Fresh Media Festival in the fall of 2009, and now we need to build that successful dialogue into a
larger consensus for media innovation. The initial ideas that came out of our Fresh Media Festival and on-
line interactive TV Show will need to be fine-tuned and put into action.

Work Plan:
• Push the CRTC to direct the $100,000,000 Commu-
nity Media levy (that the cable companies collect)
towards the creation of new-media incubators that
lead to job creation, empowerment, and media
innovation.
• Devise a citizen powered Fresh Media policy
proposal and report, laying out a framework for a
rejuvenated and fiercely independent media system
in Canada.
• Develop a Fresh Media Index – a searchable, partici-
patory, online database of public and independent
media, and independent Internet Service Provid-
ers. This is a crucial resource for citizens wishing to
make a Fresh choices concerning media and Internet Storytelling Through Podcasts Workshop with Dave Olsen
services. (Photo by Jacqueline Cusack McDonald)

OUTREACH:
Community, Education, and Awareness Programs
Working with the Tides Foundation’s Media Democracy Project, and in collaboration with Simon Fraser
University, we are developing a youth-led education initiative that brings our message into high schools
and universities through an interactive workshop entitled “Opening the Internet – Finding and Defending
Democracy Online”.
In this pilot project, students are introduced to some fundamental concepts surrounding the Internet,
including its founding principles, its potential for cultural and artistic innovation, and the current threat to
its democratic basis due to interference from commercial Internet Service Providers.
Students acquire resources around community involvement and support for net neutrality in Canada. They
are directed to a special section of our website with suggested steps for taking action on media issues, key
contacts, and a detailed map of the youth media education and production environment in the Greater
Vancouver Area. 16
 Looking Forward

SaveOurNet.ca:
High-speed Internet, or “broadband,” is one of the most transformative communications technologies
in human history. There is something uniquely powerful about everyday people having access to the
Internet from tiny devices in their pocket. That ubiquitous access to each other creates possibilities that
are worth fighting for and saving. The mobile and wireless accessed Internet is pivotal to our success in
becoming a leader in communications, as well as to the improvement of our economy on the whole.

The fact is, broadband is no longer a luxury—it’s a public necessity.

Although the CRTC’s new “traffic management”

guidelines are an important milestone in the fight
for an open Internet, they also put the onus on
consumers to file complaints and prove that ISPs
are throttling our use of the Internet. Allowing big
telecom companies to continue acting like Internet
gatekeepers is bad for free expression, bad for con-
sumer choice, bad for innovation, and the economy.
Building on the many victories already won, the
SaveOurNet.ca coalition and the open Internet com-
munity will focus on pushing for ISP audits. We will
also push for Net Neutrality legislation and ensure
that all future legislation and guidelines apply to the
increasingly important wireless Internet access.
(Photo by codiceinternet via Flickr/CreativeCommons)

Work Plan:
• SaveOurNet.ca is running an online letter writing campaign asking Tony Clement to take action.
Tony Clement has felt the pressure and responded with his own letter confirming his reluctance to
take action on this issue. A dialogue has begun, now we need to show him that there are political
costs associated with his inaction. We will continue our innovative educational and citizen engage-
ment efforts until Clement takes action.
• SaveOurNet.ca will publish an open letter to Tony clement from leading businesses, thought lead-
ers, and cultural groups.
• SaveOurNet.ca will rally citizens, public interest groups, and businesses, behind the first complaint
against an ISP using the CRTC’s traffic management guidelines. Setting a precedent here is crucial,
we must ensure that we do not lose the first complaint.
• SaveOurNet.ca is conducting groundbreaking research on the centrality of Internet openness to
social change, our economy, and free expression. We will publish a report titled “Canada’s Internet:
Open, Competitive, Innovative”. This first of its kind report will be used to sway the few businesses,
NGO’s, and politicians that remain on the fence concerning Net Neutrality. We expect our report
and corresponding campaign to complete the Net Neutrality debate once and for all.
17
 Annual Report 2010
Looking Forward

DIGITAL STRATEGY:
Canada needs a vision. We need a long-term viable investment in policy - a “made in Canada digital strat-
egy” - one that takes the best from what other countries are doing and adds to it the unique characteristics
of Canada. We can once again become a leader in cultural production and communications access, speed,
and innovation, and we can close digital divides that prevent people from expressing themselves and
connecting with each other.
To harness this opportunity, politicians and policy makers will need to develop a digital strategy that focus-
es on mobile communications and Canada’s broadband infrastructure.
Our government needs to engage citizens in this process rather than listen to lobbyists behind closed
doors. This is our future, we’re all stakeholders, and we all need to be invited into the process.
We remain at a communications crossroads in Canada. As
the future of traditional media remains in flux, we need
to make inroads at the policy level in order to guarantee
that every citizen across the country has
access to all the Internet has to offer.
In 2010 and beyond, the policy-making process concern-
ing Canada’s digital strategy promises to be a
crucial and highly contested space, where the decisions
that are made will have a deep and long lasting
impact on Canadian media and communications. Our
digital strategy must contain policies that are bold and
transformative; policies that jumpstart digital innovation
and restore Canada’s global Internet leadership.
(Photo by dalbera via Flickr/CreativeCommons)

Work Plan:
• OpenMedia.ca, it’s partners, and volunteers will launch a pan-Canadian digital strategy consultation
called “MyDigitalStrategy.ca”. We will ask Canadians across the country to tell us what their digital strat-
egy looks like. At the core of this consultation will be a short survey that OpenMedia.ca, our partners,
and volunteers will distribute to Canadians across the country.
• The results from the survey will be used for a crowd-sourced digital policy proposal called: “Digital
Canada”.
• The Consultation will both build consensus around the policy positions we put forth, and build a com-
munity of voters who will hold politicians’ to act on our proposal.
• OpenMedia.ca will host and take part in a series of public forums to elevate discussion on these key
issues, and collect input for our proposal.

18
Network Members

19