Connected to the Community

The Honourable Rob Moore, Regional Minister for New Brunswick, and Member of Parliament for Fundy-Royal; Jessica Bradford, Communications Coordinator at the Nature Trust of New Brunswick.

The ExploreEcoNB mobile app is designed to connect people with all of the amazing opportunities to explore the natural beauty of New Brunswick.

The bilingual app provides an innovative way for residents and visitors alike to explore the province. The user-friendly application provides explorers with a convenient and versatile way to learn more about areas such as nature preserves and reserves, protected natural areas, important bird areas, national and provincial parks, trail systems, public entry points for paddling the Saint John River, and more.

The application was created from a collaborative of 10 partner organizations with the same goal – to make beautiful, natural areas more accessible to the general public. These organizations are the Nature Trust of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Provincial Parks, Sentier NB Trail, Parks Canada, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Nature NB, Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Meduxnekeag River Association, and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

The ExploreEcoNB app is absolutely free, thanks to the contributions of participating partner organizations as well as grants from Mountain Equipment Co-Op, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, and the Government of New Brunswick’s Environmental Trust Fund.

The Honourable Francine Landry, New Brunswick’s Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour; Dr. William McIver, Industrial Research Chair of NBCC’s Mobile First Technology initiative.

As a distributed college offering diploma and certificate programs across six campuses, New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) understands the importance of being connected – to each other and to their communities.

Building on NBCC’s existing capacity in ICT programs, and following consultation with industry, NBCC officially launched the Mobile First Technology Initiative in May of 2013. The initiative is dedicated to enhancing teaching, learning and innovation at NBCC in the area of mobile information and communications technology.

Three elements helped get this initiative off the virtual ground: a grant from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council; the creation of six key industry partnerships; and the recruitment of Dr. William McIver as its first Industrial Research Chair.

In order to connect NBCC students and staff across the College to industry and community partners across the province – and around the world – NBCC Mobile Ideaspaces have been created to support collaborations in applied research and early-stage innovation. Through these collaborations, NBCC and its partners are tackling the critical challenges in ICT. This is helping to change the way the College conducts applied research and innovation and, ultimately, could transform how New Brunswickers live, work and do business.

New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant; Gail Fellows-Degrace, teacher at Donald Fraser Memorial School.

Each year, Recycle My Cell, Canada’s national recycling program for mobile phones and accessories, holds the Recycle My Cell Student Challenge. In collaboration with Waste Reduction Week in Canada, the Challenge invites students from kindergarten to post-secondary to collect as many old wireless devices as possible to have them properly recycled and not end up in a landfill.

More than 140 Canadian schools from across the country participated in the 2013 edition of the Challenge. The schools collected more than 3,500 wireless devices along with some 200 kilograms of wireless accessories and batteries. The school that collected the most wireless devices in each participating province and territory, based on student population, received a $500 donation to support the school’s green initiatives.

In New Brunswick, more than 20 schools took up the challenge. The winning school was Donald Fraser Memorial School in Plaster Rock. And although Donald Fraser has just over 130 students, the school collected more than 40% of the phones collected by all schools that participated in the New Brunswick challenge.

Rodney Weston, Member of Parliament for Saint John; Dr. Michel Johnson, Professor at the Université de Moncton.

Connected Voices is a health research project in New Brunswick that will examine the use of mobile technology to manage chronic disease and promote smoking cessation.

The project will evaluate how mobile Health, or MHealth, via smartphones and tablets, impacts quitting rates and nicotine dependence for smokers over 12, 24 and 52 weeks. Simultaneously, this assessment will increase the understanding of how interprofessional health teams communicate when using information and communication technologies in a rural province.

The project includes researchers from the Université de Moncton, University of New Brunswick, Dalhousie University, the Horizon Health Network and the Vitalité Health Network.

The Connected Voices research project received $150,000 from Pfizer Canada, and the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation provided another $75,000. The Foundation is also aligning the participation of the private sector, policy-makers and health-care providers along with patient needs.

Robert Goguen, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Member of Parliament for Moncton–Riverview–Dieppe; RCMP Staff Sergeant-Major Gilles Côté.

As the city of Moncton – and indeed all of Canada – began its healing from the unthinkable tragedy that saw the senseless deaths of three RCMP officers on June 4, 2014, the RCMP Foundation partnered with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada to quickly set up a text-to-donate program as way for Canadians to support the families of the fallen officers.

Wireless phone customers from across Canada were invited to make a donation to support the RCMP Foundation by simply texting the keyword MONCTON to the shortcode 45678 to make a $20 donation. The donation would appear on the customer’s monthly wireless bill, and 100% of the donation would go directly to the RCMP Foundation.

Canadians immediately took up the call to action to show how deeply this terrible tragedy had impacted all of us, and as a way to immediately express our desire to help the families, not only in the days following the shooting, but also for the years ahead.

And in the days and weeks following the tragedy, Canadians donated more than $100,000 via text message on their cell phones. Canadians quickly proved how eager we are to support each other during a time of crisis in our communities.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Ron Styles, President & CEO of SaskTel; Ann Gagnon, President of the Regina and District Association for Community Living.

The Regina and District Association for Community Living was founded in 1952 by parents with a vision of inclusion for their children with intellectual disabilities. The Association offers several programs to help cognitively disabled people, but the Let’s Connect program, which SaskTel helps to fund, is one of its most innovative projects.

Let’s Connect helps people with intellectual disabilities gain improved access to telecommunications products and services. As part of this program, the Association launched a series of workshops entitled “Sharing Your Awesome with an iPad”. The workshop is a six-week program that runs once a week for 2 hours. The program provides specialized training and discussion about computers and wireless devices, as well as online safety and etiquette. With more and more social and economic interchange occurring anytime and anywhere, this kind of initiative will ensure that many people with cognitive disabilities will be able to participate.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Laura Markle, Manager of Public Affairs at Huawei Canada; Douglas Rudolph; Indi; physiotherapist JoAnn Nilson; Richard Lomotey, grad student at the University of Saskatchewan.

After helping young men with mild hemophilia recover from thigh injuries which kept them off work for close to a year, JoAnn Nilson and Kathy Mulder, physiotherapists with the Saskatchewan and Manitoba Bleeding Disorders Programs respectively, wanted to find a way to help similar clients easily access important information about their condition.

A multidisciplinary team from the Saskatoon Health Region, the Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, the University of Saskatchewan and Mitacs developed an app called HIRT? – the Hemophilia Injury Recognition Tool. The app provides assistance in identifying an injury needing medical attention. The app also describes symptoms of bleeding, explains first aid management, and provides an alarm to remind the person to reassess their symptoms until the risk of re-bleeding is over.

HIRT? also instructs the user when to seek medical care and contains the contact information for the closest Hemophilia Treatment Centre.

The app is available in French and English, and it can be downloaded for free from the Google and Apple stores.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Anne Robillard, Board Chair of Athabasca Basin Development; Rob Clarke, Member of Parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River.

The Athabasca Basin Development investment company is owned by the seven Aboriginal communities in Northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca region. In late 2013, the company partnered with SaskTel and Huawei to bring SaskTel cellular service to the communities of Wollaston Lake, Stony Rapids, Fond du Lac First Nation and Black Lake First Nation. The partnership was based on SaskTel’s Community Participation Model, which encourages communities to raise funds to cover the shortfall when it is not economically feasible for SaskTel to finance a new cellular site alone.

Thanks to significant contributions from Athabasca Basin Development and Huawei, the project extended SaskTel’s 4G network to communities which have never had access to cellular service before. There is incredible potential for business and economic development in the Athabasca region, but one of the most significant challenges for the remote area is accessibility. The new network will greatly increase connectivity, which will lead to many benefits for the people and business climate in the region.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; The Honourable Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan’s Minister Responsible for Immigration, Jobs, Skills and Training – Tourism Saskatchewan – Innovation – and Trade, and MLA for Meadow Lake; Tim Johnson, Annual and Appeals Manager of Philanthropy, Canadian Red Cross in Saskatchewan.

In April of 2014, the Canadian Red Cross partnered with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and SaskTel to present the “Imagine No Bullying” School Tour with presentations featuring several current and former Roughrider players.

The tour was conducted as part of SaskTel’s “I am Stronger” initiative, a call to action to stop bullying and cyberbullying in Saskatchewan communities. Young people are often inseparable from their smartphones and computers, but when the devices are used irresponsibly, can perpetuate the act of bullying and in particular cyber bullying.

The Imagine No Bullying school presentations delivered a powerful message about bullying prevention and empowered youth to become involved and engaged in changing bullying behavior throughout their communities.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Kelly Block, Member of Parliament for Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar; Ray Unrau, Director of Emergency Planning for the City of Saskatoon.

“notifynow”, an innovative alerting system that allows the City to send alerts to residents by text message, voice mail or email in the event of an emergency.

The system allows the City to reach tens of thousands of people within seconds. Whether it be an extreme weather warning or a man-made situation, the Notify Now system can be directed at residents city-wide, or targeted to a specific area, to let them know what to do, where to go, and what to expect during the emergency.

To receive notifynow alerts, residents simply sign up for the service on line. Users can customize how they would prefer to receive alerts, whether by text message, voice call to a landline or cell phone, or e-mail.

Rob Clouston; Forest; Joyce Bateman, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South Centre; Christine Boult, Director of Development and Acting CEO of the Winnipeg Humane Society; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

The Winnipeg Humane Society has been helping members of the community that can’t speak for themselves since 1894. The Society is one of the oldest community service organizations in Winnipeg and the oldest and largest animal shelter and welfare organization in Manitoba.The Society operates one of the most successful and proactive adoption centres in Canada and is responsible for finding homes for more than 4,200 animals and reuniting more than 700 dogs and cats with their owners each year.

Over 95% of the Society’s funding is generated through individual donations and fundraising events. In the spring of 2013, the Society partnered with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada to enable Manitobans to donate to the Society by simply texting the keyword RESCUE to the shortcode 41010 to make a $10 donation. The donation appears on the customer’s monthly wireless bill, and 100% of the donation goes directly to the Winnipeg Humane Society.

In 2014, the Society became one of the first Canadian charitable organizations to implement multiple donation options through text message. Current options now include donors being able to donate $10, $20 or $25 via text message. Over the past two years, the Society has raised thousands of dollars through text message donations.

Left to right: Laura Markle, Manager of Public Affairs at Huawei Canada; Kindoma co-founder Carly Schuler; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

In 2013, Winnipeg-based Carly Shuler and her California-based business partner Rafael Ballagas founded Kindoma, a company dedicated to developing mobile apps for kids. The company’s flagship product, called Storytime, is a video-chat app that allows users to read an e-book together – in real time.With the app installed, the chosen e-book appears on both the child’s and parent’s, or grandparent’s, screens. Page turning is synchronized and when one reader points to the text or image on the screen, a duplicate shadow hand appears on the other user’s screen. So, a young child getting tucked into bed in Winnipeg can still see, talk and read a book with Mom, who may be on a business trip in Tokyo.

The length of stories varies and so does the amount of time that it takes to get through one, because children stop and talk about the story and other related topics as they go.

The app is free and includes access to 10 books. Additional titles are available for purchase a la carte or with a subscription plan. Currently, the app offers access to more than 250 books.

Left to right: Dr. Kristy Wittmeier, Director of Knowledge Translation at the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation; physiotherapist Kathy Mulder; The Honourable Sharon Blady, Manitoba’s Minister of Health and MLA for Kirkfield Park; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

After helping young men with mild hemophilia recover from thigh injuries which kept them off work for close to a year, physiotherapists with the Saskatchewan and Manitoba Bleeding Disorders Programs, JoAnn Nilson and Kathy Mulder, wanted to find a way to help similar clients easily access important information about their condition.A multidisciplinary team from the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation located at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba, the Saskatoon Health Region, the University of Saskatchewan and Mitacs developed an app called HIRT – the Hemophilia Injury Recognition Tool. The app provides assistance in identifying an injury needing medical attention. The app also describes symptoms of bleeding, explains first aid management, and provides an alarm to remind the person to reassess their symptoms until the risk of re-bleeding is over.

HIRT also instructs the user when to seek medical care and contains the contact information for the closest Hemophilia Treatment Centre.

The app is available in French and English, and can be downloaded for free from the Google and Apple stores.

Left to right: The Honourable Candice Bergen, Member of Parliament for Portage-Lisgar, and Minister of State for Social Development; Janelle Braun, Executive Director of Manitoba Justice Victim Services; Vedrana Mlinarevic-Filteau, Manager of Domestic Violence Support Services; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

Cell phones can truly be a lifeline to those in need. Manitoba Justice Victims Services’ Cellphone Emergency Limited Link-up Program – known as the CELL program – is designed to assist victims of domestic violence and stalking.The CELL Program provides an added level of protection to people who are at a high risk of domestic violence and stalking. The program lends victims free MTS cell phones at times of extreme risk. Victims who have their own cell phones may also register for the program using their personal cell phone numbers.

The CELL Program, a co-operative effort between MTS, social services agencies, police services and Manitoba Justice Victim Services, is available throughout Manitoba.

Left to right: Signy Arnason, Associate Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and Director of Cybertip.ca; Joyce Bateman, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South Centre; Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of the CCCP; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

For the last 30 years, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection has had a strong history of incorporating innovative strategies and the latest technology to provide programs and services to Canadians. The Centre coordinates national efforts in the area of child protection through collaboration with non-profit agencies, government, industry, law enforcement, educators and families.Through a variety of programs such as Cybertip.ca, MissingKids.ca, Kids in the Know and Commit to Kids, the Centre’s primary goal is to increase the personal safety of children and reduce their risk of sexual exploitation. The Centre also receives and addresses reports of child pornography, online luring, child sex tourism, child prostitution and child trafficking, and maintains comprehensive data on the latest trends in child victimization and develops training and programs to address the risks.

The Centre also provides countless resources and tools for children, parents and educators on topics ranging from online security and sexting, to smartphone safety, cyber bullying and sexual abuse. The CWTA and its members have long been partnering with the Centre on a variety of projects to help keep Canada’s children safe in our ever-evolving society.

Left to right: James Rajotte, Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Leduc; Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Hamid Moghadas, University of Alberta Faculty of Engineering; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

A new industrial research chair program at the University of Alberta Faculty of Engineering is helping to both diversify the economy and improve industrial productivity. In February 2015, mechanical engineering professor Pedram Mousavi was appointed the NSERC-AITF Associate Industrial Research Chair in Intelligent Integrated Sensors and Antennas, although the program had been underway for the past 18 months.

By helping the oil and gas industry operate more efficiently through the use of new intelligent wireless sensors and antennas, Professor Mousavi and his team are also helping to expand the province’s information and communications technology industry. The team has already licensed three new technologies to one of its industrial partners and is in the process of signing two more technologies to another. An antenna coupling developed by the research team is being sold by yet another partner to clients around the world, and a spinoff company based on the team’s work is being created by Professor Mousavi’s graduate students.

The research program has been funded for five years with a possibility of renewal. Funding for the program totals $2.8 million, including $925,000 each from NSERC, Alberta Innovates–Technology Futures and industry partners. The remainder of the funding comes from the University of Alberta.

Left to right: Senator Betty E. Unger; TeachMe CTO Rhys Jones and CEO Bill Karamouzis; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

Based in Edmonton, TeachMe has created Math Games, a suite of games and apps that combine play with learning. CEO Bill Karamouzis, along with CTO Rhys Jones, created Math Games as an interactive way to keep students engaged and practice math longer than they ever have. The games are designed to give teachers and parents the tools they need to keep students focused on math both inside and outside the classroom.

Math Games offers multi-platform compatibility across computers, smartphones and tablets. Covering math concepts in pre-kindergarten to Grade 8 and powered by actual math curriculum, Math Games also offers progress reports and dashboards for parents and teachers to track individual student performance. Currently, the games test math skills in over 1,200 different ways, with more than 1.5 million questions. Students currently answer more than 250,000 questions per day on Math Games.

In March 2015, Math Games was named the number one most popular free math tool by EdSurge.

Left to right: Brent Rathgeber, Member of Parliament for Edmonton-St. Albert; Anita Klassen, Vice President of Finance, Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

The Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation is committed to funding excellence at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Funding supports specialized equipment and education to train the brightest medical minds, as well as research to pave the way to the discovery of new treatments and cures. Funding by the Foundation also supports specialized pediatric programs that enhance family-centred care.

In 2010, the Foundation partnered with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada to enable Albertans and cell phone users across Canada to donate by simply texting the keyword STOLLERY to the shortcode 45678 to make a $10 donation. The donation appears on the customer’s monthly wireless bill, and 100% of the donation goes directly to the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Stollery’s mobile giving program also includes an option for donors to opt in to a recurring monthly donation of $10. To date, the Foundation has raised more than $85,000 through text message donations.

Left to right: Senator Betty E. Unger; Claire Buffone-Blair, Vice President of Accounts, AppColony; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

AppColony, a Calgary-based company focused on combining technology, strategy and design to solve real-world business problems, has developed OneTap, a new app supported by The Co-operators Group, designed to stop distracted driving in its tracks.

The AppColony team created OneTap to allow Canadians to drive without distractions while, through the power of technology, allowing them to stay connected to their friends, families, co-workers and clients. OneTap is a free app which intelligently manages calls, texts and alerts so you can drive free from distractions.

Acting as your ‘personal assistant’ on the go, OneTap uses the built-in GPS on your phone to know when you’re in a vehicle and driving. Once you get going, OneTap is automatically enabled, blocking notifications that pull your attention away the road.

When a text or call comes in, OneTap doesn’t just block the alert. Instead, its Auto-Reply function replies to calls and texts immediately, letting people know that you’re driving and when you expect to be finished. Once you’ve reached your destination, the app gives you a quick summary of all the incoming calls and messages you’ve missed so you can respond quickly.

Left to right: James Rajotte, Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Leduc; Trudy Iwanyshyn, Alberta Transportation’s Director of Dangerous Goods, Rail Safety and 511 Alberta; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

In February of 2013, the Government of Alberta’s Transportation Department launched 511 Alberta, a free traveller information service that provides Albertans with access to more than 100 highway cameras, as well as interactive maps linking to real-time traffic information. For example, users have access to highway conditions; weather information; construction updates; incident reports such as detours and closures; ferry crossing times; national/provincial park information; and border-crossing wait times. The service is available by calling 5-1-1 or visiting 511.Alberta.ca.

And after its first year in operation, the service saw more than 1.2 million Web visitors looking to make safe travel decisions.

In celebration of the 511 Alberta first anniversary in 2014, the Government launched 511 Alberta Mobile – a greatly enhanced version of 511 Alberta designed for viewing on most mobile devices. Travellers seeking road reports on their mobile devices now have access to 511 Alberta’s more than 100 highway cameras.

511 Alberta Mobile also offers Albertans a GPS function that, when activated, can provide a user’s location on the 511 Alberta map. This feature allows users to locate themselves in reference to the provincial highway network, should they need to call for help or report an incident or collision.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Ian Roe, Content Strategist, BC Centre for Disease Control; Vancouver City Councillor Raymond Louie.

Launched in November of 2012, ImmunizeBC’s automated text message immunization reminder service helps parents stay up to date with their child’s vaccinations.

Text messaging has become an essential mode of communication for many Canadians, especially young parents. Additionally, research has shown that text message reminder systems are an effective way of maintaining and even increasing vaccine uptake in a population.

Parents who sign up for the service will get automated text message reminders to make appointments with their health care provider for their child’s 2, 4, 6, 12 and 18 month immunizations.

People of any age can also sign up to get reminders for other scheduled immunization appointments. The reminders are especially helpful for any vaccination that requires multiple doses.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Vince Lum, President, LionsGate Technologies; Sean Presley, Vancouver Site Head, Ericsson Canada.

Vancouver-based LionsGate Technologies is a medical device company that created the Kenek O2 pulse oximeter.

The device, which received Health Canada approval in early 2015, enables people to monitor their blood oxygen level and heart rate through their smartphones and other mobile devices.

The Kenek O2 technology consists of an app and a sensor that turns a smartphone or tablet into a clinically accurate medical device so people can spot-check their blood oxygen level and heart rate. The device uses a clinical-grade fingertip sensor that shines a light through tissue to precisely measure the pulse rate and blood oxygen level of a person who, for example, may have a chronic respiratory condition or acute illness such as the flu or pneumonia. The sensor can be connected to any iOS-compatible mobile device through the universal audio jack.

The Kenek O2 sensor is driven entirely by the free app that displays the easy-to-read vital signs data on the smartphone or tablet screen. No batteries, processors or wireless configuration are required. The device itself is available without a prescription.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Dustin Dunsmuir, Software Developer, Pediatric Anesthesia Research Team, BC Children’s Hospital; Dr. Guy Dumont, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia; George Heyman, MLA for Vancouver-Fairview.

The “RRate” mobile app, developed by University of British Columbia researchers in collaboration with the Child and Family Research Institute at BC Children’s Hospital, can measure respiratory rate in children roughly six times faster than the standard manual method.

The app has been shown to reliably measure respiratory rate in an average of only 9.9 seconds. Currently, health care workers typically measure respiratory rate by counting a patient’s breaths for 60 seconds using a stopwatch.

RRate allows workers to measure respiratory rate by tapping the touch screen of the mobile device every time the child inhales. In addition to calculating the rate of inhalations during a given time, the app also provides an animation of a breathing baby allowing for a direct comparison with the breathing patient.

Mobile phones are changing how we administer health care, especially in rural settings and developing countries where access to medical devices is limited. Researchers say the RRate app is a big step towards better diagnoses of pneumonia and other illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, pneumonia is the leading cause of death of children worldwide. With timely and accurate diagnosis, children with pneumonia can often be saved with simple interventions such as antibiotics.

Shield Diagnostics is building the world’s first fully integrated smartphone glucometer. Co-founded by Simon Fraser University grad student Austin Lee, and Waterloo-based engineer Samuel Legge, Shield Diagnostics was born at SFU’s Venture Connection business incubator.

The company has designed a fully integrated glucometer into a protective smartphone case that looks similar to conventional cases available, but with an embedded glucometer on the back side.

A user places a finger prick of blood on a test strip. When the test strip is inserted, The Shield glucometer turns on. In less than 15 seconds, The Shield analyzes the sample and sends the data wirelessly to your smartphone. All data is automatically logged, visualized and enabled for sharing with physicians and/or caregivers.

By combining these two technologies, the company hopes to simplify diabetics’ lifestyles by allowing them to merge their smartphone and glucometer together into one device.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Susan Byrom, Senior Manager, Community Investment at First West Credit Union; Amy Symons, Administrative Assistant, Food Banks BC; Alison Jones, Finance Manager, Food Banks BC; Joyce Murray, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Quadra.

Food Banks BC helps 97,000 people in British Columbia every month, and one third of them are children.

In 2014, through the National Food Sharing System, Food Banks BC distributed more than 800,000 kilograms of food worth close to $4.5 million to the province’s food banks. Additionally, through its BC Share program, community food banks received more than $1 million of fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

In 2014, Food Banks BC partnered with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada to enable British Columbians to donate to the organization by simply texting the keyword FOOD to the shortcode 41010 to donate $5, $10, $20 or $25. The donation appears on the customer’s monthly wireless bill, and 100% of the donation goes directly to Food Banks BC.

The organization’s mobile giving program also includes an option for donors to opt in to a recurring monthly donation of $5 or $10.

Left to right: Manon Brouillette, President & CEO, Videotron; Noah Redler, Campus Director, Notman House; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

Two years ago, Videotron and the OSMO Foundation formed a major partnership to support the Notman House project. As a founding partner, Videotron pledged $2.5 million to back the creation of a hub of technological innovation and enterprise in Montréal located at Notman House, an 1844 mansion on Sherbrooke Street West that was once the home of famed Scottish Canadian photographer William Notman.

With the assistance of dozens of corporate partners and hundreds of private supporters, Notman House has quickly become a cornerstone of Montreal’s high-tech ecosystem as a co-working and skill-sharing office space for early stage technology start-ups, innovative entrepreneurs and technology consultants.

In addition, Notman House hosts dozens of events each month from smaller community and interest group meetings to large networking events and hackathons. The focus is on technology, the Internet, mobile and software development, and the objectives are community building, networking, collaboration and shared learning. The end goal is to build a strong and vibrant ecosystem of successful and inspiring technology entrepreneurs in Montréal.

Left to right: Guy Raymond, Vice President, Network Services, Bell Canada; Yvan Gendron, président-directeur général du Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal; Catherine Briand, Principal Researcher and Director, IUSMM Centre for Studies on Rehabilitation, Recovery and Social Inclusion; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

When the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (IUSMM) and Bell met five years ago to discuss an innovative project in mobile technology, the two organizations were excited about the potential benefits for people with mental health disorders.

A gift of $1 million from Bell enabled IUSMM to develop and validate several mobile applications that are revolutionizing how researchers and clinicians can collect data to use in the treatment of mental health patients. And above all, the applications allow patients to become real players in their treatment and recovery by facilitating, among other things, self-management of their symptoms.

The first mobile applications developed at IUSMM – iSmart, RéadApps and PsyAssistance – enable patients to better manage certain daily activities such as sports and leisure, budgets, stress management, symptom recording and medication schedules, which makes them more confident and increases their independence.

Some of the applications could truly be lifesaving. PsyAssistance, in particular, is designed for people with depression or suicidal thoughts. The app enables centralization of all relevant treatment data which can be consulted from a smartphone. It also includes a call system that allows the patient in distress to contact five individuals simultaneously to participate in an immediate conference call for help.

CWTA President Bernard Lord (second from left); Charmaine Borg, Member of Parliament for Terrebonne-Blainville (far right); and the entire Myko team.

The Myko social score platform is a McGill-centred smartphone and Web app that helps users become more educated about sustainability issues, identify the best solutions, and stick to their goals to create positive and lasting change.

The application is funded by the McGill Sustainability Projects Fund, and was created by a dedicated group out of the McGill Faculty of Law based on the concepts in the Vision 2020 university sustainability strategy.

Myko is all about making things better. Users can access information about topics in eight sustainability categories. For each one, the app provides a list of actions that people can perform to make things better. The app also allows users to set goals for themselves, and every time a user successfully completes a positive action, their Myko score goes up. Users can also compare their progress against others on a leaderboard.

App users also have access to an interactive map that allows them to share their thoughts and learn about events, initiatives and groups all over the McGill campus that are accomplishing amazing things.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Dr. Harley Eisman, Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department at Montreal Children’s Hospital; Jorge Pomalaza Ráez, IT Advisor, McGill University Health Centre; Serge Sasseville, Senior Vice President, Corporate and Institutional Affairs, Quebecor Media.

Last spring, the Montreal Children’s Hospital launched a tech-friendly wait time service for parents – a first of its kind in Quebec. The service lets them “wait” in a virtual waiting room and be notified via text message about the number of patients ahead of them. Having the opportunity to go for a walk or grab a bite to eat, without being confined to a waiting room, can certainly relieve the stress of an emergency room visit.

Patients and families visiting the Hospital’s Emergency Department can sign up via their smartphones or by registering at a kiosk located just outside the triage area.

Parents receive their first text message within a few minutes, detailing a summary of their child’s status in the Emergency Department. Parents continue to receive updates on their child’s position in the waiting room every five minutes to ensure they are kept up to date on any changes. Once there are only five or fewer patients ahead of them, the family will receive a text message notifying them that they will soon be called.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Lisa Clowery, Director of National Corporate Relations, Breakfast Club of Canada; Guy Raymond, Vice President, Network Services, Bell Canada.

For 20 years, the Breakfast Club of Canada has been keeping children connected to their full potential by making sure as many of them as possible have access to a healthy morning meal before school, in an environment that allows their self-esteem to grow and flourish.

Operating from coast to coast, the Breakfast Club of Canada helps feed some 150,000 students every day in more than 1,300 schools. In addition to the breakfast program, the Club is instrumental in driving social change on a larger scale. By providing access to healthy food for children and teenagers, and training youth and volunteers, the Club fosters a broader sense of engagement at the community level.

To make this all happen, the Club relies on some 11,000 volunteers, its dedicated staff members, its numerous corporate donation partners and donations from every day Canadians.

In 2010, the Breakfast Club became one of the first organizations to use cell phones as a fundraising tool by partnering with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada. Cell phone users can donate to the Breakfast Club by simply texting the keyword CLUB to the shortcode 45678 to make a $5 donation. The donation appears on the customer’s monthly wireless bill, and 100% of the donation goes directly to the Breakfast Club of Canada.

The Club’s mobile giving program also includes an option for donors to opt in to a recurring monthly donation of $10. To date, the Club has raised some $60,000 through text message donations.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Martha Tuff, Fund Development Coordinator, Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia; The Honourable Leo A. Glavine, Minister of Health and Wellness, and Seniors, and MLA for Kings West.

The Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia is dedicated to improving the lives of Nova Scotians living with mental illness and their loved ones. The Foundation raises funds for vital programs and services to help make that possible across the province.

Since 2006, the Foundation has provided more than $2.6 million in funding through its Community Grants and Capital Health Addictions & Mental Health Program Grants to programs and community organizations with a mental health mandate. The Foundation is also involved in a variety of other initiatives, including PTSD service dog matching and numerous education and awareness programs,

In 2013, the Foundation partnered with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada to launch the Hugs for Mental Health text-to-donate campaign. Nova Scotians can donate by simply texting the keyword HUGS to the shortcode 45678 to make a $5 donation. The donation appears on the customer’s monthly wireless bill, and 100% of the donation goes directly to the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.

The Hugs for Mental Health program also includes an option for donors to opt in to a recurring monthly donation.

The Nova Scotia Travel App, in development for over 18 months, was designed, programmed and funded by LWorld Media, an Internet publishing firm based just outside of Yarmouth.

The app features a comprehensive toolbox of over 5,000 searchable Nova Scotia business and attraction listings, maps, deals and events, as well as a calendar, five-day weather forecasts and a Nova Scotia trivia game. The app also contains useful tools such as bookmarking with user-defined notes and categories, memo pads, a QR Code reader and an integrated Web browser.

The project received coaching and mentorship help in its early stages from the Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre, along with the help of a $5,000 grant from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Eric Stackhouse, Chief Librarian, Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library; The Honourable Leo A. Glavine, Minister of Health and Wellness, and Seniors, and MLA for Kings West.

The Nova Scotia Community Access Program, through its “Connecting Older Adults With Mobile Technology” program, allows older Nova Scotians the opportunity to easily discover and make use of online information and communicate using mobile devices.

The service, offered at many Community Access Program sites in the province through funding from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, provides orientation, training and support in the use of mobile technologies.

The program offers beginner, basic and advanced training options, and includes topics such as training on tablets and smartphones, understanding the technology, connecting to Wi-Fi at home, finding useful applications and accessibility features.

Left to Right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Paul Mason, Director of Emergency Services, Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office; Lorelei Nicoll, Deputy Mayor of the City of Halifax.

In January of this year, Nova Scotia became the first in Canada to offer province-wide Text with 9-1-1 service for the deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or speech impaired community.

T9-1-1 provides 9-1-1 call centres with the ability to converse with a deaf or speech impaired person during an emergency, using text messaging. When a registered user of the service requires 9-1-1 services, they dial 9-1-1 on their cell phone. There is no need for a caller to speak or hear, as the 9-1-1 call taker will automatically receive an indicator that tells them to communicate with the caller via text messaging.

Extending 9-1-1 services through text messaging is an important step in the evolution of using wireless technology to keep all Canadians safe. The service will be implemented by 9-1-1 call centres in different municipalities or regions across Canada at different time periods over the next several years. Nova Scotia’s Emergency Management Office is to be commended for its leadership in bringing this potentially live-saving service throughout the province.

Please visit www.Textwith911.ca or www.textoau911.ca to learn more about the service.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Jill Baxter, Executive Director, Conway Workshop Association; Lorelei Nicoll, Deputy Mayor of the City of Halifax.

The Conway Workshop Association in Digby, which had its beginnings in the early 1970s, has evolved from an activity centre for adults with physical and intellectual disabilities to a sheltered workshop focused on skills development.

Individuals who participate in the organization’s programs, which include lumber production, woodworking, food preparation and small engine repair, serve an important need in the community.

Conway Workshop is also one of 33 drop-off sites in the province for end-of-life electronics. This is a free service to the general public and the commercial and industrial sector. As part of this program, the Workshop partnered with the wireless industry’s Recycle My Cell program in 2011 to become a permanent drop-off site for the national cell phone recycling program. The program accepts old wireless devices, regardless of brand or condition, as well as cell phone accessories and batteries.

The Workshop is now one of the most prolific cell phone recycling drop-off sites in the Recycle My Cell program, having collected some 2,600 cell phones, 25 kilograms of accessories and 60 kilograms of batteries to date. The individuals participating in the workshop are to be commended for their important work in ensuring that e-waste is managed responsibly.

Left to right: CWTA Chair Garry Fitzgerald; Pamela Laite, Director of Industry Relations, Tourism Toronto; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

Tourism Toronto, the official destination marketing organization for Toronto’s tourism industry, and the Toronto Star, Canada’s highest-circulation daily newspaper, teamed up a few years ago to create the See Toronto app. The app draws upon up-to-date comprehensive content from the Toronto Star and Toronto.com, and is supplemented by exclusive information from the membership database of Tourism Toronto.

The free app – available for the Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone platforms – offers visitors the inside scoop and tips on all the exciting things to see and do while they are there.

App users can browse selections of attractions, events and sites based on a variety of interests and preferences. The app also offers location-based searching of comprehensive listings for dining, attractions, shopping and events, with bookmarking ability so users can save places and activities for easy access. See Toronto also offers social sharing through Facebook and Twitter so users can let their friends know what they enjoy about Toronto.

Left to right: Mike Sullivan, Member of Parliament for York South-Weston; Diane Armes-Redrupp, Associate Director of Corporate Partnerships, SickKids Foundation; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto – known as SickKids – is Canada’s most research-intensive hospital and the largest centre dedicated to improving children’s health in the country. As innovators in child health, SickKids improves the health of children by integrating care, research and teaching.

Aligning with the SickKids value of innovation, the hospital has developed a series of mobile apps to empower patients, families and health-care professionals.

For example, myIBD, the hospital’s first mobile app, was developed in 2011 by doctors and patients to help people manage their Inflammatory Bowel Disease. It’s packed with features to help those living with diseases like Crohn’s and Colitis better understand their treatment. Pain Squad, another app developed by researchers at SickKids, is an evidence-based pain diary that plays like a game and is recommended for children 8 to 18 years of age with cancer to give them some control over their pain. And LearnAboutBA, a learning and teaching app, helps users understand all aspects of biliary atresia, a chronic liver disease, from anatomy to treatment using beautiful illustrations and animations.

The hospital has also created numerous apps designed specifically for health care providers. These range from an app to assist those who are involved in performing MRI tests in children, and an app to monitor disease progression, to a user friendly tool to quickly compare a child’s laboratory test results to a database of normal values, and a point-of-care app for managing pain medication in children.

Left to right: Mark Henderson, President and CEO, Ericsson Canada; Cedric de Jager, Communications Manager, Recycling Council of Ontario; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

The Recycling Council of Ontario is a not-for-profit organization involved in policy, education and project work around the issues of consumption, waste generation, reduction and diversion, and recycling. The Council is also the national program administrator of the annual Waste Reduction Week in Canada which aims to raise public consciousness about waste and its environmental and social ramifications.

For five years now, the Council has partnered with Recycle My Cell, Canada’s free national cell phone recycling program, to host the annual Recycle My Cell Student Challenge as part of Waste Reduction Week in Canada.

The Challenge sees students from kindergarten to post-secondary across Canada collecting as many old wireless devices as possible, including cell phones, smartphones, pagers, accessories and cell phone batteries. The school that collects the most wireless devices in each participating province and territory, based on student population, receives a $500 donation to support the school’s green initiatives.

In the last five years, more than 600 schools have participated in the Recycle My Cell Student Challenge, collecting some 23,000 wireless devices along with more than 1,200 kilograms of wireless accessories and batteries.

Left to right: Nauby Jacob, Vice President of Services, Products and Content, Bell Mobility; Ted Opitz, Member of Parliament for Etobicoke Centre; Dr. Ivan Silver, Vice-President of Education, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

Portico, brought together by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in partnership with Bell, is a Web network where health care providers, people with an addiction or mental illness and their families and anyone interested in mental health can take part in the discussion. The core of Portico offers clinical tools and evidence-based materials for health care providers, social service workers and others. And while they are designed for professional use, the tools can be of equal interest to those who have experienced mental health and addiction challenges and their families.

Portico’s partner sites are built and run by other groups and networks across the country. They are editorially independent of the main Portico site, with a variety of perspectives on mental health and addiction.

A critical element of Portico is that the network is optimized for mobile use, so that health care providers and other stakeholders can access the resources they need quickly and securely on the go. In fact, site visits from mobile users now account for approximately 25 per cent of site traffic.

The most accessed sections of the site accessed by mobile users include Portico’s forums, the Disorders Quick Reference, the new sections built around Refugee Mental Health and its community of practice, and the Primary Care Addiction Toolkit.

Portico is also in the process of completing a new mobile app and enhanced Web content based on the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s “Psychiatry in Primary Care: A Concise Canadian Pocket Guide”. This will further the vision of providing the necessary tools to primary care in Canada and bring even more traffic to the site.

Left to right: Joel Thorp, Director, Spectrum Policy and Strategy, Rogers Communications; Peggy Austen, Director of Fund Development and Communications, Tim Horton Children’s Foundation; CWTA President Bernard Lord.

The Tim Horton Children’s Foundation raises funds to send kids on an inspiring and unforgettable camp adventure. Often, this camp experience is the first time a child has travelled outside their community.

Children who attend one of the Foundation’s six camps are selected from within the communities where Tim Hortons restaurants are located. Restaurant owners work closely with local youth organizations and schools to the identify children who would benefit most from the experience. The powerful life experiences learned at the camps come at absolutely no cost to the campers or their families.

The first Wednesday in June each year is Camp Day – the Foundation’s biggest fundraiser of the year. It’s the day Tim Hortons restaurant owners donate 100 per cent of their coffee proceeds to the Foundation. Throughout the day, you’ll also find many additional fundraising activities at each restaurant. Last year, the Foundation raised enough money to help send more than 17,000 kids to camp.

In 2011, the Foundation partnered with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada to launch a year-round text-to-donate program to assist with its fundraising activities. Canadians can donate by simply texting the keyword CAMP to the shortcode 45678 to make a $5 donation. The donation appears on the customer’s monthly wireless bill, and 100% of the donation goes directly to the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation. The mobile giving program also includes an option for donors to opt in to a recurring monthly donation.

To date, Canadian cell phone users have donated almost $100,000 to the Foundation through the text-to-donate program.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Candice Bergen, Minister of State for Social Development and Member of Parliament for Portage-Lisgar; Peter Coleridge, National CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association; Barry Chapman, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Bell Canada.

The Canadian Mental Health Association is a partner of the Bell Blue Box Program that provides Canadians with an environmentally responsible way of disposing of their used mobile phones. Canadians can return used wireless devices from all manufacturers and carriers, regardless of age or condition, to any Bell store. The program also accepts cellphone batteries and accessories.

Bell then donates net proceeds from the program to the Canadian Mental Health Association as part of the national Bell Let’s Talk mental health initiative. Since the partnership began in April 2013, 24,600 phones have been collected, and Bell has donated more than $24,000 to the Association.

The Bell Blue Box Program is also part of CWTA’s Recycle My Cell program, Canada’s free national cell phone recycling program that aims to minimize the amount of e-waste entering Canada’s landfills.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Rob Clarke, Member of Parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River; Lydia Lee, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at the University Health Network; Jacob Glick, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Rogers Communications.

The University Health Network is Canada’s leading research academic hospital. Building on the strengths and reputation of each of its programs, UHN brings together the talent and resources needed to achieve global impact and provide exemplary patient care, research and education.

The Network’s four Toronto hospital sites – Princess Margaret, Toronto General, Toronto Western and Toronto Rehab – care for patients, conduct leading-edge research and train the next generation of health professionals.

UHN’s extensive wireless network, developed in partnership with Rogers, is accessible in most areas at each of the four sites and provides Internet access to patients and visitors. The wireless network also allows staff to use such technologies as mobile workstations and tablets for clinical use. Clinical staff also use wireless phones to communicate with each other, allowing them to respond quickly to patients and emergencies.

The Terry Fox Foundation maintains the vision and principles of Terry Fox while raising money for cancer research through the annual Terry Fox Run, Terry’s CAUSE on Campus, National School Run Day and other fundraising initiatives. To date, over $650 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry Fox’s name. The first Terry Fox Run was held in 1981, with The Terry Fox Foundation being created in 1988. Its national headquarters are located in Chilliwack, BC and it has offices in nine provinces.

In 2011, the Foundation partnered with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada to launch a year-round text-to-donate program to assist with its fundraising activities. Canadians can donate by simply texting the keyword TERRYFOX to the shortcode 45678 to make a $5 donation. The donation appears on the customer’s monthly wireless bill, and 100% of the donation goes directly to the Terry Fox Foundation. The mobile giving program also includes an option for donors to opt in to a recurring monthly donation.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Ericsson Response team members: Ahmed ElShazly, Fei Wang, Graham Nicoll, Mark Armstrong and Gilles-Philippe Grégoire; Patricia MacLean, Director of Communications, Ericsson Canada; Rob Clarke, Member of Parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River.

The Ericsson Response program, founded in April 2000 when the company’s employees expressed a wish to volunteer in disaster relief situations, is a global initiative that provides communications expertise, equipment and resources in times of need.

Today, about 140 Ericsson volunteers are active. The aim is to assist humanitarian relief organizations with communications technology and competence to contribute to a better and faster response to human suffering when disaster strikes.

Within the program, Canada has the highest number of volunteers outside of Sweden, the headquarters for Ericsson. Over the past decade, Ericsson Response has supported more than 40 relief efforts in more than 30 countries.

Most recently, the Canadian volunteers have travelled to places like Nepal following the recent earthquakes, and Sierra Leone in West Africa to work on the Ebola crisis. Their missions have also taken them to Vanuatu, the Philippines, South Sudan and Iraq.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; James Rajotte, Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Leduc; Ben Abdesselam, Assistant Director, Technology, Information Resources and Biomedical Engineering, CHU Sainte-Justine; Serge Sasseville, Senior Vice President, Corporate and Institutional Affairs, Quebecor Media.

To promote patient-centred care, the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine partnered with Videotron to help connect young patients and their families to the Internet through Wi-Fi, in collaboration with Québec-based Intello Technologies.

As part of the project, 100 tablet computers were also made available to Sainte-Justine patients in cooperation with Samsung Canada’s Hope for Children program, which supports health and education initiatives for children. The tablets are preloaded with the illico.tv app, which can be used to access a multitude of live channels and archived content, including a large selection of content for children.

Free Internet access at the hospital lets patients and their families stay in touch, work or do school assignments remotely, and enjoy online entertainment, making a real difference in helping to reduce the stress and anxiety associated with a hospital stay.

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais; Robyn MacEachern, Commander of the OPP’s Community Safety Services; Mike Brown, President, Olson Canada.

In May 2010, Canada’s wireless industry partnered with law enforcement and AMBER Alert agencies across the country to introduce Wireless AMBER Alerts. The initiative, hosted and powered in-kind by Olson Canada, allows cell phone customers to opt-in to receive free AMBER Alerts as text messages on their cell phones.

The Ontario Provincial Police was instrumental in the creation of the program, and continue to be one of the leading agencies involved in the program.

The completely free Wireless AMBER Alerts program is available to cell phone users in all 10 provinces and three territories. Subscribing is easy to do, either by texting the keyword AMBER to 26237, or signing up online at www.WirelessAMBER.ca or www.AmberSansFil.ca

Left to right: CWTA President Bernard Lord; Candice Bergen, Minister of State for Social Development and Member of Parliament for Portage-Lisgar; Lucie Marisa Bucci, Senior Manager, Immunize Canada, Canadian Public Health Association; Dr. Kumanan Wilson, Senior Scientist, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

In 2014, the Canadian Public Health Association, Immunize Canada and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute launched ImmunizeCA, a free, bilingual mobile app created to help Canadians and their families keep track of their immunizations. The app was developed with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

ImmunizeCA helps parents store and manage their families’ vaccination records, easily access their provincial or territorial vaccination schedule, as well as find timely and accurate information on the benefits of vaccination. The mobile app also provides local outbreak alert notifications, vaccination resources, as well as schedules and tools regarding children, adults and travellers.

ImmunizeCA is available for BlackBerry, Android and iPhone operating systems.