Citizenship in a Connected Canada

The Connected Canada edited collection

a hand holding a cellphone taking a picture of buildings, with the logo Connected Canada overlay on the image
What does it mean to be a citizen in Canada in a digital context? What are the implications of this digital setting for citizens and policy making?

Citizenship in a Connected Canada: A Research and Policy Agenda

Edited by

Elizabeth Dubois and Florian Martin-Bariteau

with contributions from

Kent Aitken, Jane Bailey, Megan Beretta, Jacquie Burkell, Amanda Clarke, Alexander Dirksen, Michael Geist, Alfred Hermida, Mike Morden, Marina Pavlovic, Jonathan W. Penney, Adelina Petit-Vouriot, Priscilla Regan, Teresa Scassa, Leslie Regan Shade, Valerie Steeves, and Mary-Lynn Young.

 

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Book cover

This interdisciplinary edited collection brings together scholars, activists, and policy makers to build consensus around what a connected society means for Canada. The collection offers insight on the state of citizenship in a digital context in Canada and proposes a research and policy agenda for the way forward.

This collection continues a unique conversation started as part of the Connected Canada initiative, launched in 2017, and extends the research agenda previously outlined in the Canadians in a Digital Context report. The chapters also summarize and synthesize existing work for a Canadian policy audience.

Part I examines the current landscape of digital civic participation and highlights some of the missing voices required to ensure an inclusive digital society. Part II explores the relationship between citizens and their political and democratic institutions, from government service delivery to academic and citizen engagement in policy making. Part III addresses key legal frameworks that need to be discussed and redesigned to allow for the building and strengthening of an inclusive society and democratic institutions.

This is a foundational resource for policy makers, students, and researchers interested in understanding the specific Canadian context of citizenship in a digital context. 

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Contributions

Citizenship in a Connected Canada

Introduction by Dr. Elizabeth Dubois and Dr. Florian Martin-Bariteau

Read the introduction

Part I. Building an Inclusive Society in a Digital Context

Decolonizing Digital Spaces

Alexander Dirksen

Power without purpose. Aspiration without intention. Ubiquity without diversity. For too long, we have been enraptured by the promise of the digital age, failing to critically examine the roots, intentions and impact of an increasingly small number of for-profit firms. In a world in which digital spaces play such an integral role in all aspects of our lives, this accumulation of reach, power, and influence is something that poses critical questions and concerns relating to citizenship in a digital context, particularly within the context of Canada as a colonial state articulating a commitment to reconciliation. In this chapter, I will provide a brief overview of the history of digital spaces through a decolonized lens, a critical step towards grounding ourselves in the current realities and complexities around citizenship in a digital context. Focus will then shift with an eye to the future, identifying potential next steps for researchers and policymakers as to ways in which the private and public sectors can begin to mobilize around a more robust definition of citizenship in a digital context in Canada that will serve and support the emergence of decolonized digital spaces.

Read chapter 1

Part II. Building Democratic Institutions in a Digital Context

Government in the Connected Era

Kent Aitken

Digital government is not about putting things online, but rather a public sector that understands and exists fully in a digital world, which includes understanding the reasonable limits of digital approaches and the relative merits of the analog world. The digital era has created unprecedented speed and reach for citizens accessing government services to voice their opinion about the policies behind those services. It’s created ways for citizens to directly change or circumvent government programs. And, perhaps most importantly, the digital age has revealed many previously invisible voices and perspectives. This chapter will explore how Canadian governments are evolving, what digital government means for citizens, and what questions remain unanswered.

Read chapter 4

PART III. Rethinking Legal Frameworks for the Digital Context

Consumers First, Digital Citizenry Second 
Through the Gateway of Standard-form Contracts

Marina Pavlović

The digital technology and the globalized networked information economy have fundamentally changed the very concept of a consumer, the consumer’s place in the digital society, and the relationship between consumers and other actors, such as governments. By using goods and services, consumers still play the role of passive actors in the market economy. However, in today’s society, not only does our consumption behaviour make us consumers, but virtually all aspects of our daily lives and social interactions are made possible by, and conditional on, being consumers first. To be producers, creators, learners, critical thinkers and citizens, we must be consumers first and click on or sign lengthy standard-form contracts before getting access to goods and services (including government services). Standard-form contracts have become the dominant regulatory mechanism of consumer relationships, and by extension, digital civic participation. This article frames the relationship between consumers and citizens within the growing dependency on standard-form contracts. It identifies the ineffectiveness in the current legal rules governing standard-form contracts and provides a related policy research agenda needed to limit the expansive private ordering of standard-form contracts.  

Read chapter 8

Next Steps for a Connected Canada

Conclusion by Dr. Elizabeth Dubois and Dr. Florian Martin-Bariteau

Read the conclusion 

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This edited collection was supported by a Canada 150 Connection Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.