Canadian stakeholders from across all sectors are actively engaged in Internet governance's most pressing issues. Representatives from business, civil society, government, academia, and technical organizations are taking their seats at the table to inform discussions on a broad set of topics.
ICANN's Global Stakeholder Engagement (GSE) Team for North America spent all of last week in Canada connecting with people from these different communities.
In Ottawa, GSE Vice President for North America Chris Mondini joined Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) President & CEO Byron Holland for a roundtable discussion on global Internet governance. ICANN, and hot topics such as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Stewardship Transition and upcoming review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10) were talked about. The multistakeholder dialogue was convened by Canada's Digital Policy Forum and focused on the unique opportunity Canadians have to contribute to the Internet governance conversation.
Many stakeholders translated the discussion to action the very next day as CIRA hosted a WSIS+10 workshop, where attendees worked through WSIS-related draft documents and provided input, which will ultimately go to the Canadian Government for their consideration as they prepare for WSIS meetings at the United Nations later in the year.
Later in the week, the scene shifted to Montreal, where that city hosted the 36th meeting of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). The meeting immediately followed a gathering of the North America Network Operators' Group in the same location, and featured a packed agenda headlined by ARIN's recent announcement that its Free Pool of IPv4 addresses is depleted. See a recent blog from ICANN's head of technical engagement for even more information on the transition from IPv4.
I had the pleasure of closing the week by presenting to more than 70 undergraduate students at McGill University. The presentation covered an introduction to Internet governance, an introduction to ICANN, the new generic Top-Level Domain program, and the IANA Stewardship Transition. I was very pleased to have been joined by Glenn McKnight of the North America Regional At-Large Organization (NARALO). A Canadian himself, Glenn discussed how young people can get involved at ICANN, including through the NextGen@ICANN program.
Canada is closing the year strong. Take a look back at other Internet governance-related work in the country in my recap from the 2015 Canadian Internet Forum.
Joe Catapano is Program Manager, ICANN Global Stakeholder Engagement for North America
