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The survey Young Canadians in a Wired World: The Students' View was carried out by Environics Research Group for the Media Awareness Network. The research was funded by the Government of Canada.

Canada is one of the world leaders in terms of Internet penetration in households. Canadians are using the Internet at home, in the workplace, school, library and other locations.

Youth are among the biggest users of media, including the Internet. Access to the Internet among youth is widespread, given that it is commonly available across the educational system and accessible in many households, public libraries and other locations.

Youth are using the Internet for a wide variety of activities, including social communication, such as e-mail, instant messaging (IM) and chat rooms, entertainment, accessing information, educational pursuits and other activities.

Along with all the benefits for children using the Internet, there are risks. Children can be exposed to pornographic, violent and hateful material and come across age-inappropriate sites. They can also come into contact with people who may put them or their family at risk, or they may become the subject of harassment.

This study examines the use of the Internet by Canadian youth, aged nine to 17 years and the extent to which they place themselves at risk. It also looks at their perceptions of parental knowledge and supervision of their Internet use.

Throughout this report, the phrase "youth in elementary school" refers to those aged nine to 12, excluding those aged 11 or 12 in Quebec who attend a secondary school (in the graphs, these students are referred to as intermediate). The phrase "youth in secondary school" refers to those aged 13 to 17, but also includes those aged 11 or 12 who attend secondary school. In addition, references to Internet use and behaviour are based on a base sample of the 5,597 youth who report that they have used the Internet.

This report contains some comparative data from a national telephone survey, called Canada's Children In A Wired World: The Parents' View, which was conducted among 1,081 parents with children six to 16 years of age who have a personal computer at home. The survey, which was conducted between February 23 and March 15, 2000, examined parents' views on their children's Internet use, their awareness of the risks and benefits of this technology and their opinions on who should be responsible for dealing with Internet-related issues and on the measures that should be taken to address them.


The current survey was conducted among 5,682 Canadian youth, aged nine to 17 years (in grades four through 11). The survey was self-administered and was completed by students in their classroom between February 23 and March 28, 2001.

Only francophone schools participated in the survey in Quebec and only anglophone schools participated in other provinces.

The total number of Canadians aged nine to 17 is 3,710,2701. This number represents 12 percent of the total Canadian population (30,750,087).

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