CAP

(Community Access Program)

The Community Access Program (CAP) is a joint effort of the Government of Canada and Industry Canada aimed at providing all Canadians with affordable public access to the Internet, and all the benefits thereof. With the combined strengths of the federal, provincial and territorial governments, community groups, social agencies, libraries, schools, volunteer groups and the business community, CAP is able to achieve it's goal of helping Canadians, regardless of where they live, to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the new global knowledge-based economy.

CAP is the fundamental component of the Government of Canada's Connecting Canadians initiative, whose goal is to make Canada the most connected nation in the world. Initially, CAP was launched in rural communities with populations up to 50,000. Following the success of the pilot program in urban communities, CAP was introduced to population centres of over 50,000 in December 1999. Industry Canada is both hopeful and optimistic that by March 2001, public Internet access sites in 10,000 rural, remote and urban communities across Canada will be established. It's hoped that individual CAP sites will join together in networking opportunities enabling them to pool their resources and form networks in a glorious union allowing even greater service to their respective communities.

If you would like to learn more about CAP please follow this link: http://cap.ic.gc.ca