IQALUIT — Through the Healing Wings Foundation, which was founded during the pandemic in 2020 and aims to help bridge the digital divide between Canada’s North and South, Huawei Canada and Iristel’s Ice Wireless are donating tablets and laptops powered by free Internet access to clients at four emergency shelters in the far north, the companies announced today.
The 25 Huawei tablets and laptops will be divided up for communal use at: Kaushee’s Place, a women’s transition home in Whitehorse; Side Door, an emergency shelter in Yellowknife; YWCA Agvik Nunavut Society in Iqaluit; and Isuarsivik Regional Recovery Centre in Kuujjuaq, Northern Quebec. Ice Wireless is providing the free, unlimited Internet access for the shelters.
“Often women do not have access to a phone, or it is shared with their abusers,” says Ice Wireless president and CEO Samer Bishay, who is also vice-president of Healing Wings, in a press release. “Communications is important for their safety and security, as well as their ability to search for long-term accommodation, social services and support for their children.”
“Many residents in these communities do not have access to the technology that many of us take for granted,” says Healing Wings president Mireille Dahab. “Equipment such as computers, mobile devices and tablets are needed to help facilitate connections with family and friends and enable access to important information for housing, job search, research and education.”
Healing Wings vice-president Dr. Ashraf Salib points out technology is vital for youth at these shelters especially when it comes to online learning.
“These laptops and tablets from Huawei — with connectivity from Ice Wireless — enable homework and research for these at-risk youths who are supposed to keep up with studies during such troubling times,” Salib says. “And with schools open only half days or not at all, the laptops and tablets help reduce the sense of isolation and helplessness.”
“We at Huawei Canada, together with Healing Wings and Ice Wireless, believe in the power of connectivity. We also believe that every Canadian deserves access to a fast and reliable network, no matter which part or where in Canada they call home,” added Tom Wang, president of Huawei Canada. “We are proud to help our partners connect those living in rural and remote communities, bringing people together from coast to coast to coast.”
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