Rogers has admitted in court documents that it ran a credit check on a low-income customer – despite advertising that it wouldn’t.

In both ads and statements to the media, including the Star, Rogers said credit checks would not be required for customers to enroll in its “Connected for Success” program, which provides internet service for customers in subsidized housing for just $9.99 a month. Today, around 16,000 households are connected to the internet service.

In a lawsuit now before the courts, the telecommunications giant has acknowledged that it ran a credit check on Abdullahi Hassan anyway – and defends its right to do so.

The internet is integral to society—in 2016, the United Nations classified access to the internet as a human right, and cutting or censoring the internet by states is illegal. Yet, according to the World Economic Forum, 3.9 billion people (52 percent of the world’s population) are denied access to it. #InternetForAll is a movement to provide everyone with home internet.

This is not only a phenomenon that occurs in developing countries; Statistics Canada shows that 42 percent of families in the lowest Canadian income quartile do not have internet at home. In fact, Canada is the only G7 nation without a national broadband plan, making it harder for lower-income Canadians to utilize the full resources of our 21st century society.

Les services Internet à domiciles sont trop coûteux, affirment certains canadiens. L'Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), une association qui milite en faveur des personnes à faibles revenus, décrie l'absence de structures obligeant les fournisseur de services Internet à offrir des forfaits abordables.

A community organization that works to help low-income families is increasingly frustrated with getting internet access for all Nova Scotians.

Members of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) Canada say they're disappointed in the 2017 federal budget unveiled last month, because the $13.2 million over five years cited to support access to broadband relies on big companies to voluntarily create programs.

Lower-income Canadians, fixed income earners and seniors should have access to “basic service” including broadband

OTTAWA, April 5, 2017 – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), ACORN Canada (ACORN) and National Pensioners Federation (NPF) today jointly filed an application to review and vary the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) “Review of basic telecommunications” decision to reconsider a fund to ensure all Canadians, including lower-income Canadians, have equal access to broadband and other telecommunications services.