Eastlink remains only Canadian telecom not offering a low-income internet product. President claims to not have enough money.
ACORN to launch mock Food Drive to help large corporation bridge digital divide.
This Saturday at 12 noon ACORN members and allies will launch a mock food drive to support EastLink’s Bragg family, who last month claimed to be too small a company to provide low-cost internet to low-income Nova Scotians. The patriarch of the Bragg family, John Bragg, has reported wealth of 1.3 Billion dollars.
When: Saturday December 1st at 12pm
Where: Halifax Eastlink Store (5690 Spring Garden Road)
What: ACORN’s Food Drive for Eastlink and $10 Internet
Sarah Byrne, the chairperson of Dartmouth ACORN states that “Eastlink rakes in over $300 million in revenues for the Bragg Family, who owns Eastlink. If that is not enough money for them, they could also use the money they make from owning the largest fruit farm in the world, over at Oxford Frozen Foods. In the meantime we are going to do what we can to help this poor Bragg family make ends meet.”
ACORN’s Internet for All campaign was launched in 2013, pushing telecoms companies to lower the cost of internet for low income families to $10 to help bridge the Digital Divide. More can be read in our report Internet for All – Internet Use and Associability for Low Income Canadians. https://www.acorncanada.org/resource/internet-all\
Since launching the campaign, major companies like Rogers and Bell have come out with $10 internet products and the CRTC ruled that basic internet was a basic service objective that all licensed telecom companies need to provide to Canadians.
The only company in Canada holding out is Eastlink. At a recent meeting with Eastlink executives, Dartmouth ACORN chair was told that Eastlink didn’t have enough money to stay competitive and give internet away for $10 a month.
Contact Noreen Mabiza halifax1@acorncanada.org
ACORN Canada is a national member based community organization with 21 chapters in seven cities across the country. We have over 102,000 members fighting for social and economic justice. ACORN Canada has a unique approach to community organizing that has led to many important victories over the last ten years.
Let’s be very, very clear about exactly who is going to be getting high-speed Internet for only $10/month: Bell offers it only to low-income families because of a federal government program. Rogers offers it in certain regions for those living in housing projects. Telus is offering it to single-parent households. NOBODY is offering Internet for $10/month for low-income single persons with health problems and/or mobility issues that prevent them from accessing free public Internet at a library, for example. ACORN knows that the majority of people on ESIA are childless single people with medical/physical issues so why are we being completely left out?