Digital inequality doesn’t happen in isolation. A person may face barriers because they are disabled, but those barriers compound if they are also low-income, racialized, Indigenous, rural, or a newcomer. Intersectionality reminds us that digital exclusion is layered, not linear.
What Intersectionality Looks Like Online
Access gaps: A rural Indigenous elder may lack both affordable internet and culturally relevant digital tools.
Bias in algorithms: Facial recognition and AI systems often perform worst for women of colour.
Language barriers: Immigrants who speak neither English nor French face exclusion in public digital services.
Economic pressure: Families already struggling with housing or food insecurity may not afford devices or data plans.
Canadian Context
Northern communities: Connectivity remains poor, making digital services unreliable.
Newcomers: Many arrive with strong digital skills but face systemic credential and language barriers.
Youth in care: Disproportionately Indigenous or racialized, often excluded from the same digital opportunities as peers.
Policy lens: Federal programs often treat digital access as a technical problem, not a social justice issue.
The Challenges
One-size-fits-all solutions: Programs that assume everyone starts from the same baseline.
Policy silos: Internet access, education, healthcare, and equity policies rarely align.
Invisible voices: Those most marginalized are least likely to be consulted in digital planning.
Data gaps: Many surveys don’t even ask the right demographic questions to reveal overlapping barriers.
The Opportunities
Targeted programs: Subsidies and training that consider multiple identities at once.
Community-led solutions: Indigenous, newcomer, and disability organizations designing their own digital programs.
Inclusive design: Build tech that works for multiple accessibility needs simultaneously.
Better data: Collect information that actually reflects Canada’s diversity.
The Bigger Picture
Digital tools are now gateways to civic life, education, and economic opportunity. If we don’t account for intersectionality, we risk reinforcing inequality instead of dismantling it.
The Question
How can Canada design digital policies and technologies that see the whole person — acknowledging overlapping identities instead of treating barriers one at a time?
Intersectionality and Digital Marginalization
The Overlapping Barriers
Digital inequality doesn’t happen in isolation. A person may face barriers because they are disabled, but those barriers compound if they are also low-income, racialized, Indigenous, rural, or a newcomer. Intersectionality reminds us that digital exclusion is layered, not linear.
What Intersectionality Looks Like Online
Canadian Context
The Challenges
The Opportunities
The Bigger Picture
Digital tools are now gateways to civic life, education, and economic opportunity. If we don’t account for intersectionality, we risk reinforcing inequality instead of dismantling it.
The Question
How can Canada design digital policies and technologies that see the whole person — acknowledging overlapping identities instead of treating barriers one at a time?