A non profit focused on making digital literacy more accessible to underserved communities recently provided free training to residents in Lynn Lake and Mathias Colomb First Nation.

A program director with Tech Manitoba Paula Canas says in the next decade 750 thousand Indigenous youth will move through the education system and into the start of their careers.

However according to a survey commissioned by RBC Indigenous youth are less confident in their digital literacy skills despite frequently using digital devices.

In order to thrive in the workplace Canas explains digital skills are a must for career development. She says we are living in a different world right now as in order to do anything you have to do it online and you have to know where to go and how to do it.  She adds that’s one piece and the other piece is it’s important to be connected with your family, with your loved ones and be ready to have those tools to go to the workforce and have the skills to either further a career or be immersed in the workforce.

Canas hopes to continue to provide the free training closer to home in order to bridge the digital gap.