Support Canadian Communities

At Microsoft Canada, we are committed to strengthening the communities in which we live and work. Through I CAN Community Programs, we reach out to communities to inspire, support and assist children and youth.

Boys and Girls Clubs Holiday Party

On December 5th, 2004, the Toronto Congress Centre was filled with fun and excitement as Microsoft Canada's I Can Community Programs hosted the third annual holiday party for children from Boys and Girls Clubs across Ontario. There were lots of smiling faces that day as the kids filled up on some great food and enjoyed jousting, face painting, pinball, train rides, and running through inflatable obstacle courses! Each child was also given a wonderful surprise gift to open as they traveled home from the party and recounted all of their adventures that day.

United Way Campaign

Each year, Microsoft Canada runs a United Way Campaign that gives employees the opportunity to pledge their support through donations and special events. This year, Microsoft Canada employees raised $68,500 throughout the campaign! Microsoft Canada matched this donation with software worth over $342,000.

Microsoft Canada Partners with Kids Help Phone

All children should have someone they can turn to when they need to talk. Microsoft Canada is proud to be an Official Sponsor of Kids Help Phone!

Did you know that in 2003, Kids Help Phone received over 1,000 inquiries a day from kids all over Canada? Kids from over 3,000 different communities across the country have contacted Kids Help Phone this past year. It is the only toll-free, national telephone counselling, referral and Internet service for children and youth.

To jump-start the three-year relationship, Sunday, May 2, Microsoft Canada participated in the 2004 Bell Walk for Kids, an annual event to raise funds for Kids Help Phone.

Media Awareness Network, Bell Canada and Microsoft Canada launch 'Be Web Aware' Internet Safety Campaign

Helping Canadian parents protect their children from the potential Internet risks is the focus of a new public awareness campaign called Be Web Aware, launched on January 13 by a coalition of leading corporate and non-profit organizations led by Media Awareness Network (MNet) and national partners Microsoft Canada and Bell Canada.

Canadian youth are among the world's most active Internet users with 80 per cent having regular access at home, according to MNet. Almost half of those children are using it with little or no adult supervision, guidance or rules. Yet 25 per cent of young Canadian Internet users have been asked by someone they've only met on the Internet to meet face-to-face; 15 % have met Internet acquaintances in person; and of those who went to these meetings, almost 2 in 10 went alone.*

"Few parents understand their kids' Internet culture and the more complex issues of safety, privacy, online predators and cyber-bullying," said Jan D'Arcy, Executive Director, Media Awareness Network. "It's essential parents are involved in their children's online activities and help them develop good judgment and critical thinking skills to deal with situations, information and people they encounter online. This initiative is unique in that it's the first time organizations have rallied together to develop a comprehensive, educational campaign for parents."

"As a company whose focus is largely on the great opportunities associated with the Internet, we've learned about its dangerous dark corners from our experience working with organizations like Media Awareness Network and the Toronto Police," said Frank Clegg, president of Microsoft Canada. "Microsoft has a basic responsibility to do whatever we can to help parents protect their children on the Internet, and awareness is the first step."

Some of the recommendations being offered to parents include:

• Teach your kids the value of their personal information and to protect their privacy on the Internet by not sharing personal details when using chat rooms, bulletin boards, instant messaging or visiting web sites. This includes name, gender, age, home address, e-mail address, phone number, picture, credit card information or passwords.
  
  • Most youth have their own e-mail account (71 percent). Of these, 81 percent have a free Web-based account. When registering for these accounts, 86 percent indicate their gender, 68 percent provide their real name, 29 percent their address and 20 percent their phone number.*
• Set clear rules about what kind of sites your kids are not allowed to visit.
  
  • Almost half use the Internet from home for at least an hour every day and many of them do so with little or no adult supervision, guidance or rules. 50 percent of kids say they are alone online most of the time, and only 16 percent say they talk to their parents a lot about what they do online.*
• Talk with your kids about predators and potential online dangers. If your children participate in chat rooms, make it your business to know what chat rooms they visit and who they talk to. Monitor the chat areas yourself to see what kind of conversations are going on.
  
  • More than four in ten youth say they have met someone new on the Internet who asked for information such as their photo, phone number, street address or name of the school that they attend.*

Teach your children to recognize the risks to help them stay safe online. To find out how, please visit http://www.bewebaware.ca/english

The television and radio PSAs will start January 13, 2004 and run through to February 23, 2004. Print PSAs will run until the end of March 2004. All creative for the public service announcements and the web site were designed and donated by MacLaren McCann and Corus Entertainment (Interactive division).

* Young Canadians in a Wired World: the Student's View, Media Awareness Network, 2001.

TV PSA | Radio PSA

Children's Aid Society (CAS) - Windows of Opportunity

The Windows of Opportunity initiative allows children and youth to gain an increased understanding of the environment in which they navigate, improve their academic achievement, obtain future employment skills and build relationships with community volunteers. The program goes a long way to assist us in defining "information age equality" for those children who are less fortunate.

Microsoft Canada provides operating systems and software for every computer that the CAS places in a needy home.

Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (CCP) - Imagine, A Caring Company

Imagine was launched in 1988 as an initiative of the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy, a national charitable organization dedicated to advancing the role and interests of the charitable sector for the benefit of Canadian communities. The program promotes public and corporate giving, volunteering and support for the community.

In order to be recognized as A Caring Company by Imagine, companies must donate at least 1% of average domestic pre-tax profit to charitable and other non-profit organizations. Microsoft Canada has been a member since May 2002.