Dear authors, poets, organizers of literary festivals, publishers of books and literary magazines -- the Canadian writing community. Our tribe.  

Hello, I'm Janie Chang, BC author. I'm responsible for this website and for this campaign to make digital media literacy learning a requirement in Canadian schools. There is a general About information page, which I hope you'll read. There is an Open Letter which I hope you'll read, see which other authors have already signed, then add your name to it.

But I also wanted space here to share some thoughts with the writing community. 

This campaign probably doesn't feel as emotionally stirring as 'Elbows Up'. Long-term investments rarely feel urgent, but this is for the future of Canada's children and long term means we need to start now.

During the 2025 federal elections, there was all sorts of disinformation on the Internet. Author Susan Juby and I posted several times a week about ways to detect false information. While researching for those posts, I came across an article about how the average fifth-grader in Finland probably has a better media literacy skills than you do. The Scandinavian countries teach digital media literacy from K - 12 in a comprehensive stream of education that's required learning. After decades of this, it's harder for malicious foreign influences and false information to take root. Their free press and national broadcasters remain vibrant. Their population is literate and aware, and as a result have largely managed to avoid polarization. 

And it begins with educating children. 

The success of this campaign depends so many people - you, our fellow Canadians, politicians, school boards. Who knows how many people will bother emailing their Minister of Education?  I have no way to track accurate results of anything except your names on the Open Letter. 

But here's the thing: succeed or fail, it makes me feel better to have done something. I hope supporting this campaign makes you feel better too. 

With much gratitude,

Janie Chang