CIRA welcomes CFDIR recommendations on improving the reliability and resilience of digital infrastructure

When it comes to the internet, two events from the summer of 2022 remain in our minds: the Rogers outage and Hurricane Fiona. These serious disruptions to millions of Canadians’ connectivity and access to essential services demonstrated the need to strengthen the resilience of Canada’s internet. This resilience will keep people connected and safe—and the economy afloat—in the face of critical events.

While issues of internet resilience far predate these two events, they demonstrated why resilience has become top of mind for the internet community, telecommunications service providers and government officials alike. This is why the work completed at the Canadian Forum for Digital Infrastructure Resilience (CFDIR)—led by major public and private organizations, including CIRA – is a vital step towards keeping the operation of and access to essential services afloat, no matter the circumstances.

Here at CIRA, resilience is the needle that threads our work together—from operating .CA with 100 per cent uptime to providing cybersecurity services, to our work with Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)—to build a trusted internet for Canada.

That’s why, on November 1, 2022 when Innovation, Science and Industry Minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, requested that CFDIR’s industry members collaborate to create recommendations to improve the reliability of Canadian telecommunications networks and the resilience of digital infrastructure, CIRA heeded the call.

CIRA’s Chief Technology and Security Officer, Jacques Latour, has served as the co-chair of the Internet Resilience Working Group at CFDIR since 2019. Jacques helped lead an initiative to develop recommendations for the Minister, co-chairing the newly formed Canada Cyber Resilience Working Group. This group diligently developed the CFDIR Recommendations to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry: Improving the Reliability and Resilience of Canada’s Digital Infrastructure.

You can read the 26 CFDIR Recommendations here.

Here’s what Jacques Latour, Chief Technology and Security Officer, had to say:

“From electrical systems, to 911, to our everyday payments, the internet supports all of Canada’s critical services. At CIRA, we work every day to build a trusted internet. We also believe that we’re stronger together; that’s why it is so encouraging for industry stakeholders to come together to build meaningful, implementable recommendations for both government and industry to move forward with. We look forward to continuing our work with industry and government partners to build a safe, reliable and resilient internet for Canadians.