The Next Frontier in Canada’s Digital Divide

Bill Murdoch is executive director of Clear Sky Connections, a not-for-profit corporation mandated by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to connect First Nation communities with fibre. Chair of the First Mile Connectivity Consortium, Bill also volunteers with organizations to advance connectivity for Indigenous communities, including the Indigenous Connectivity Institute (ICI), IEEE Connecting the Unconnected, First Nations, Inuit and Métis (FNIM) Data and Technology Circle with the City of Toronto, and the Internet Society Manitoba Chapter. 

Elisha Ram was appointed Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada’s Income Security and Social Development Branch and Policy Horizons Canada in 2023. Elisha has been working in the Public Service of Canada for over 25 years. He joined ESDC in 2018 where he served as Associate Assistant Deputy Minister of the Skills and Employment Branch and then as AADM of the Strategic and Service Policy Branch.

Ian Scott has over 25 years of policy and regulatory experience in broadcasting and telecommunications both in the public and private sectors. 

Most recently, he served as the chairperson and chief executive officer of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Scott was appointed to the position on July 14, 2017 and led the organization from September 2017 to January 2023. 

Earlier in his career, he worked at the Competition Bureau in the Regulated Industries Branch and the Mergers Branch. Afterwards, he joined the CRTC from 1990 to 1994, where he collaborated on the development of a framework for long-distance telephone service competition in Canada. Between 2007 and 2008, as part of the executive interchange program, he was senior policy adviser to the chairman of the CRTC. 

Before rejoining the CRTC in 2017, Scott held various executive positions in the communications industry, including at Telesat Canada, Telus and Call-Net Enterprises, one of the first companies to offer competition in the Canadian long-distance market. He also provided leadership on broadcasting policy and regulatory issues as an executive at the Canadian Cable Television Association. 

Scott has served on various boards, including Women in Communications and Technology, the International Institute of Communications, the Canadian Aerospace Association and Ski Quebec Alpin. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from McGill University. 

Jennifer Ditchburn is the President and CEO of the IRPP. She is a not-for-profit sector executive and seasoned communicator with 25 years of experience working to make complex public policy issues and politics better understood by Canadians. From 2016 to 2021, she was the Editor-in-Chief of the IRPP’s influential digital magazine, Policy Options. Prior to joining the IRPP, Jennifer spent two decades covering national and parliamentary affairs for The Canadian Press and for CBC Television.