Microsoft Canada Programs
Looking for a particular program? Here you'll find a complete alphabetical list of all Microsoft Canada Programs.

Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada create powerful opportunities for their members. That’s why Microsoft has made a multi-year commitment to the Clubs to create technology-based learning centres across the country. Now young Canadians receive computer training, online safety mentoring, technical guidance and most importantly, the chance to express themselves with new and exciting technologies.

Learn more about Microsoft Canada’s involvement with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Child Life Interactive Computers for Kids (CLICK)

Microsoft Canada and the Children's Miracle Network work together to give children who experience lengthy periods of hospitalization the technology they need to live as normal a life as possible. While in the hospital, CLICK provides children with bedside connectivity, access to Tablet PCs, Xbox games and software to help them maintain communication with friends, family and school.

The CLICK program is established at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Centre mère-enfant of CHUQ in Quebec City and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax with plans to expand to other children’s hospitals.

Maureen Jones is a Child Life Speciast at CHEO working with CLICK and youth patients every day. Read her story here.

CNIB

No Canadian should be denied access to the online world. Under the leadership of President and CEO, Jim Sanders The Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Microsoft Canada developed the Digitial Library System and Children’s Discovery Portal. Together, these groundbreaking technologies provide wider access to books, magazines and newspapers for the three million blind and visually impaired Canadians.

Click here to learn more about Microsoft’s work with the CNIB or read the launch press release here.

I Volunteer

Microsoft Canada’s 'I Volunteer' program empowers employees to spend up to 40 hours a year during regular work hours to contribute their talents and time to make a difference in their communities.  Since 2003, Microsoft employees have contributed over 20,000 hours to the community in Canada.

Improving Public Policy

The online exploitation of children is a 21st century crime that is often governed by 20th century laws and policies. Microsoft Canada works closely with the University of Toronto’s Centre for Innovation, Law and Policy (CILP) to research the legal and policy issues related to online child exploitation. Together, they produced a whitepaper with recommended changes for the Attorney General of Ontario.

JobStart

Microsoft Canada and JobStart, a Toronto-based not-for-profit community employment services agency, offer free technology skills development workshops to JobStart’s low income clients. The workshops help build the technical and software skills required by Canadians to compete in today's job market.

Heather Sant, the Executive Director at JobStart, is one of  Microsoft Canada’s Everyday Heroes.

Manitoba E-Association

The Manitoba E-Association is a coalition of community-serving organizations that supports youth employment and technology training programs across the province. Together with Microsoft Canada they have trained over 100 youth in community-focused technology skills like creating newsletters, basic HTML, photoshop, online safety and more. The youth who have been trained then serve as resources for other staff and the public in local community organizations.

ProTech Media Centre

ProTech Media Centres are Toronto area projects that introduce youth from underserved communities to the world of digital art and technical learning it through multi-media based software and curricula. The Centres allow Microsoft Canada and the City of Toronto to use digital arts to capture the creative interests of youth in the Rexdale and Eglinton East-Kennedy Park neighbourhoods and introduce them to potential careers in technology related fields.

Take Back the Net

As part of our commitment to helping children stay safe online, we created Take Back the Net – an online safety program dedicated to raising awareness and educating Canadian families.

Technological innovation

Microsoft is building technologies designed to provide safeguards for consumers and enterprises. These technologies help protect against viruses, worms, and other malicious software, and offer peace of mind to parents who are concerned about online safety for their children.

The Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS)

In 2003, Microsoft Canada, the Toronto Police and the RCMP embarked on a revolutionary project to create an intelligence database to help law enforcement around the globe store, share and analyze large amounts of information relating to online child exploitation. Simple idea. Revolutionary impact.

The Microsoft Language Interface Pack

At Microsoft Canada, we’re commited to preserving local language and culture wherever possible through the Microsoft Local Language Program and our Language Interface Pack (LIP). Thanks to the LIP program, community leaders like Leena Evik and her team of supporters who are dedicated to preserving the Inuit language and culture, have translated over 700,000 English words and phrases. Because of their efforts, applications like e-mail, databases and menus in Microsoft Office are now available with Inuktitut commands.

Unlimited Potential - Community Technology Skills

At Microsoft Canada, we strive to provide young Canadians with access to the technology that inspires them. Programs including the Software Donation Program, the Charity Open License Program and Microsoft’s Authorized Refurbisher Donation Program, help us achieve those goals.

You can learn more about these programs at Microsoft Unlimited Potential.

CAN>WIN: Competing to Win in the Global Economy

CAN>WIN brings together influential Canadian business leaders, politicians and academics, as well as leading global thought leaders to discuss Canadian competitiveness, innovation and productivity.

Click hereto read the CAN>WIN 2007 news release or here to read Bill Gates' keynote.

Possibilities

Possibilities is a publication dedicated to celebrating the innovative achievements of the Canadian public sector, and it is our opportunity to highlight the amazing work being done by governments across the country.

Interoperability

The complex task of getting people, systems and IT to work smoothly together in mixed IT environments is increasingly critical. Microsoft is committed to helping organizations save IT infrastructure costs by solving the real-world interoperability challenges of our customers, developers, partners, and independent software providers.