TELECOM REPORTER
If it weren't for the aging computers at a tiny drop-in centre in downtown Toronto, Joan Commanda wouldn't have completed high school.
The 38-year-old earned her general equivalency diploma in December with help from the equipment, and staff, at St. Christopher House, a bustling community hub that administers adult and youth learning programs and helps people find jobs. Because she can't afford her own, the computers at the centre were key to Ms. Commanda's success.
But the machines she relied on are victims of federal cost cutting. "It would be difficult to do any of the programs without computers," Ms. Commanda said between job-search sessions at the centre. "It all ties in together ... You can't really make a résumé unless you know how to use the Word program."
Last week, the federal government began sending letters to about 3,000 such centres across the country, withdrawing financial support. Many centres say they will have to close, while others will scale back on staff who help teach computer literacy to immigrants, low-income residents and rural Canadians.
The government justified the cuts by citing the wide availability of Internet services, but advocates say the funding is about more than just the Web.
The Community Access Program (CAP) has received about $14-million a year from Industry Canada since 1994, and has assisted an estimated 20 million Canadians over the past 10 years.
A government website says the program "aims to provide Canadians with affordable public access to the Internet and the skills they need to use it effectively" and that this "plays a crucial role in bridging the digital divide."
But that money will dry up on April 1. For centres farther than 25 kilometres from a public library, where some Internet access is usually available, financing will continue for one year. But the CAP money will end for most urban centres, as well as in tiny PEI, where many of the CAP sites are inside libraries.
The letter sent to administrators reads: "These are challenging fiscal times and the government must review its expenditure of public funds." It goes on to note that the program started when Internet access was limited, and that now 94 per cent of Canadians are able to sign up and pay for high-speed Internet access.
But the focus on "access" is misleading, because many people can't afford Internet at home, and CAP facilities offer crucial social support, said Marita Moll, an academic researcher who has studied CAP since it started.
"Access is just a vehicle to bring people into these centres, to get them up to speed on the new technologies, help them use all sorts of government services, said Ms. Moll, who was co-investigator in a University of Toronto study of the program.