Canadians’ use of the Internet and digital technologies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and responses to it have contributed to, and probably accelerated, the roles that the internet and digital technologies play in our lives, thrusting large numbers of people and organizations online. But internet and digital skills vary and not everyone had the same capacity to rapidly shift activities of daily life online. The objective of this paper is to document the changes in the online activities and skills reported by Canadians prior to, and during, the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from 2018 and 2020 Canadian Internet Use Surveys are used to categorize Canadians into one of five internet user groups, ranging from non-users to advanced users.