DigitalWorks
Growing Canada’s northern digital economy and digitally skilled workforce.
Project Overview
Updated January 28, 2025.
The Problem
Across Canada, growing digital economies and a digitally skilled workforce presents unique challenges and opportunities. This is especially true for rural, remote, northern and Indigenous communities. In Nunavut, there are major labour shortages in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, with hundreds of unfilled positions that sometimes remain unfilled for decades. For those interested in working in the sector, accessing culturally relevant digital skills training, including foundational skills and digital literacy, is also challenging and contributes to the growing digital divide.
Further, communities in Inuit Nunangat (made up of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the territory Nunavut, Nunavik in northern Québec, and Nunatsiavut of Newfoundland and Labrador) must contend with limited waste infrastructure. Many landfills in Nunavut are built near the ocean, posing a significant marine pollution risk as e-waste (discarded electrical or electronic devices) in landfills can leach harmful chemicals into the environment.
How We Are Solving It
The Pinnguaq Association, which rebranded as Ampere in late 2024, delivers its DigitalWorks program to help build the digital workforce in the North and across Canada, contributing to a more sustainable digital economy by providing culturally relevant digital skills training, paid internships and microcredential accreditations to residents of rural, remote, Indigenous and northern communities.
The digital skills training component of DigitalWorks provides accessible, low-cost, and short-cycle digital literacy, skilling, microcredential and hybrid training opportunities to underserved jobseekers. Functional training includes paid internship opportunities in community-relevant, emerging and high-demand sectors including cybersecurity; big data and artificial intelligence (AI); programming, robotics and animation; and virtual reality (VR) and gaming/app development. Microcredential offerings are both comprehensive and culturally relevant by incorporating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit principles.
To help address the e-waste management challenges present in Nunavut, Ampere also provides upskilling, reskilling and work placements for Iqaluit residents in Nunavut’s digital technology and e-recycling sectors. The training bridges the gap between labour market shortages and underemployed groups while addressing the lack of recycling and disposal initiatives in Nunavut, diverting hundreds of computers from the landfill.
DigitalWorks participants additionally benefit and have access to opportunities through Ampere’s national partnership network with communities and employers in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Result
In 2023, DIGITAL initial co-investment in DigitalWorks supported Ampere (at that time, the Pinnguaq Association) in bringing together employers, knowledge keepers, elders, employees and other stakeholders to design and inform their delivery experiences and micro-credentials. By providing wrap-around support including meals, transportation, childcare and honorariums, they were able to lower the barriers to access for learners across over 4 communities to achieve a 96% graduation rate across the various programs.
Ampere provided foundational digital literacy, functional digital skills, microcredentials and internships for 980 participants. Their 6-week basic digital literacy microcredential course was co-developed alongside Inuit communities across Nunavut, including Kugaaruk, Kimmirut, Kugluktuk, Arviat, Gjoa Haven, Chesterfield Inlet and Iqualuit. In each community with participants receiving training, wrap-around support such as laptops, transportation subsidies and nutrition were provided during and after programming. Ampere further completed Train-the-Trainer lessons for just under 20 trainers in 5 communities to extend the microcredential adaptation for other Indigenous communities and equity-deserving groups.
To help address e-waste management challenges in Nunuvat, their computer refurbishment and e-recycling program reached over 155 underserved participants throughout Nunavut, including Iqaluit. This included the refurbishment and supply of over 310 laptops to overall program participants.
In 2025, we announced our continued co-investment in DigitalWorks to continue providing foundational and functional digital skills training for another 860 underserved jobseekers and workers in rural, remote, northern and Indigenous regions across Canada. Programming will include the provision of foundational digital literacy training, as well as functional digital skills training and paid internships in emerging and high demand sectors e.g. coding, app development, e-commerce, project management and computer refurbishment.
