It’s no small task. The goal of the District of Squamish’s new Digital Strategy is ensuring every Squamish person and business has access to technology and the Internet and knows how to use them.
Squamish council adopted the strategy last week after the Digital Strategy committee spent more than a year drafting the document.
“This is a starting point,” said Mayor Patricia Heintzman, adding that it is a high-level document that is meant to guide the district and to evolve over time. Part of the strategy is addressing the “digital divide” in Squamish.
“Speaking from my experience in the library, I think there’s an easy assumption that everybody has technology, everybody has access to technology and everybody can afford technology,” said Hilary Bloom of the Squamish Public Library, a member of the digital strategy committee. “[But] that divide does still exist in our community.”
Bloom said at any given day and time, many people access the computers at the library that have free access to the Internet, proof that not everyone can easily and personally access technology and the web in Squamish.
The committee’s youth representative, Ryder French, said some of the action plans in the strategy are really exciting and will help some Squamish youth find a sense of belonging. He is most excited about a plan to partner with Quest University students and the Sea to Sky School District to create and maintain a community portal.
“A hub for all community events to make it easier for students or youth to find things to do,” he said.
He is also looking forward to a plan to work with the library and the district to host digital-based skills events.
“There are quite a few ‘techy’ people, myself included, who would love to do stuff like that, but there hasn’t really been an option for us in town,” he said.
The $3-million, long-overdue District of Squamish Technology Transformation Plan will go hand-in-hand with the strategy, said Conrad Kordel, district IT manager.
The plan, which phases in technology updates at municipal hall over four years, will make it easier for residents to do business with the district online and allow more access to information through open data on its website, Kordel said.
Other action plans in the strategy include improving both access to free Wi-Fi in Squamish and access to affordable digital infrastructure. The digital committee will continue to meet for at least one more year to fine tune the strategy, though the future economic development officer will lead implementation of the strategy. Heintzman said the new district economic development officer will be in place early in 2017.
“I really like the digital literacy piece,” said Coun. Peter Kent, chair of the digital strategy committee. One idea to encourage digital literacy is having youth involved in coding, he added. “I think that was a really foundational piece for me.”
Another important aspect of the strategy for Kent was living up to the “hardwired for adventure” tag line in Squamish’s brand.
“Having a document like this, it shows that we are forward thinking. It shows people who are coming to town… we are quite prepared, we are working towards these goals and this is what we are aspiring to and this is the methodology we are going to use to get there.”
