Why does media literacy matter?

You’ve probably noticed the increase in divisive online content - scams, disinformation, and hate messages. Online media is now the primary medium for news, political and civic information, and the landscape will only get worse as hostile actors use trolls, bots and AI to manipulate our thinking. We've seen how this creates mistrust and discrimination in society.

Most troubling of all is the impact on our younger generations.

Media literacy education promotes skills essential for safeguarding mental health, engaging in civic discourse, and making well-informed life decisions. Media literacy is an investment in Canada's future. The situation has never been more urgent. Teaching children how to discern and deal with disinformation now is cheaper and more effective than trying to reverse the harm later.

There’s little we can do to control the sources of disinformation, but we can do more to ensure that disinformation lands on a discerning audience. 

What's the goal of this campaign?

Canadians for Media Literacy is a campaign whose goal is to convince our provincial and federal governments to make digital media literacy required learning in K - 12 schools. This isn't breaking new ground. There are already successful models from Scandinavia which we can adapt to Canadian needs. [See the Resources page for information about what other countries are doing] 

There are two components to this campaign:

(1)  A letter-writing campaign to provincial education ministries; we urge all Canadian residents to take part in this grassroots effort.

(2) An open letter to the federal government signed by the Canadian literary community, asking the government for leadership and funding to help provincial education ministries with digital media literacy. 

The good news is that there are solutions for media literacy education - strategies and practical steps - that we can emulate, thanks to other countries that are have been doing it for decades.  The Scandinavian countries are now the most media-literate, with school children at every level being taught skills for identifying fake news and resisting online manipulation. 

Let's push our federal and provincial governments to make digital media literacy a required component of K – 12 school curriculums. What's needed is enough pressure from enough Canadians to get our governments to take action. Let's start now and begin educating generations of young Canadians who are equipped to resist online manipulation.

But I thought the Federal government has no jurisdiction over provincial education

Absolutely true. The most important decision-makers are Provincial governments. We need our Education ministries to be on board. But Provincial education ministries also need leadership, guidance, and funding from the federal government - not in the form of direct funding to schools but in resources for teaching digital media literacy. Examples include: 

• Development and delivery of workshops/courses for current and future K - 12 teachers in how to teach media literacy
• Research, development, and updating of age-appropriate media literacy courses that provinces can adapt/adopt
• Ongoing assessment of media literacy programs to determine their effectiveness and areas for improvement/update 

There are already (non-profit) organizations that do this work but their funding is erratic. That's why this campaign aims at both federal and provincial governments.

[See Resources for examples of some of these organizations]

What we are asking from provincial governments

School programs are set by the provinces and not the Federal government. And yes, schools already offer media literacy courses. However these courses are not required nor are they always offered in a cohesive stream that maximizes learning in media literacy skills. In some schools a student can go from K to Grade 12 without taking a single class in digital media literacy. 

Social media bans are unenforceable. Parents are concerned about risks and consequences related to AI, social media, and online disinformation. Students themselves have questions.  Teachers and school administrators recognize the issues. 

How you can help

Write to your provincial ministers of education. Select your province from the main menu for: a one-click link to compose a pre-formatted email as well as key contact information, sample text for letters if you want to do more. Our ministries of education need to know this matters to their constituents. 

What members of Canada's literary community are asking from the federal government

We need the Federal government to provide leadership, sustained funding, and a cohesive national strategy. Media literacy doesn't actually have a home in Ottawa - there isn't an MP or ministry responsible for such a portfolio. Therefore, this issue lacks visibility,  consistent funding, monitoring, research, and outreach to the provinces. I'm asking Canadian authors, poets, festival organizers, and members of the literary community to get behind this campaign. 

How we are doing this  

Canadian authors, poets, and other members of the literary community are raising visibility for this issue by signing an Open Letter from Authors addressed to the federal government. 

Why an open letter, why the literary community?

Many years ago, an activist friend told me that for some reason, authors have outsize influence with Canadian politicians. Also, after speaking with people who have lobbied the government on media literacy in schools, their opinion is that for this particular issue an Open Letter signed by hundreds of Canadian authors would have more impact than a Petition to Parliament.

Also, I'm an author and this is my community, the people I can reach. And ... if nothing else, it makes for a good headline. Right?

Once the Open Letter collects 200 signatures, we will publicize the letter more widely through the news media, and send it via direct emails to the relevant federal and provincial ministers. 

Who's behind this campaign? 

Hello! I’m Janie Chang, just an author from BC who is worried about the way trolls, bots, and AI are being used maliciously to manipulate our thoughts, opinions, and emotions. I'm especially concerned about how this is affecting younger generations. There are a lot of other problems in the world to worry about, but I've decided to act on one issue - media literacy in our schools - rather than spin endlessly worrying about everything.

Also, because I believe this is ultimately as important to our national security as  fighter jets. And probably cheaper. 

Also, because the world is a total sh** show and doing something makes me feel better than doing nothing. I hope that supporting this campaign makes you feel better too.