City, tech company team up to provide free wifi for low income residents
Posted September 10, 2020 9:03 am.
The City of Toronto has teamed up with tech company Cisco to provide free wi-fi to thousands of low income residents.
The residents, who live in two high-rise apartment buildings in the city’s Rockcliffe-Smythe community are the first two locations to get free wi-fi as part of the program called ‘Digital Canopy.’
Additional sites to be included in the Digital Canopy are Thorncliffe Park, Scarborough, and West Hill.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the digital divide across the country, and the city’s chief technology officer says this partnership will help provide accessible internet to the city’s most vulnerable.
This is a $1 million investment and by the end of this year, the city says there will be up to 25 wi-fi hotspots, connecting approximately 13,000 Torontonians living in low-income housing to free internet for up to one year.
