Gander Social

Absolutely. Access to trusted and credible sources of information is central to what we're up to!

What a lovely story -- thank you for sharing it with us. We are big fans of that lounge as well.

Oh, can't forget to cite our source:

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.

For now, we’re headed offline to spend some time with the people who make this country what it is: our fellow Canadians.

We’ll go into greater depth soon on how this will all work, because it’s central to what we’re trying to do here and for this to succeed, we need you to be involved with that process.

Language Rights: Launching in English, French, Cree, Inuktitut, and Ojibway -- with more languages to come.

Clear and Accessible Policies: Making sure terms of service are transparent, understandable, and fair.

Here are a few of the ways we’re approaching it:

Freedom of Expression: Tackling hate speech while protecting space for expression.

Mobility Rights: Supporting data portability. Your content, connections, and identity are yours to take with you.

We’re designing Gander to align with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Not just because it’s the law, but because we have a responsibility to design a platform that enshrines dignity, equality, and safety.

A scanned image of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The document has a cream-colored background with a red header at the top that includes the Canadian coat of arms and the words “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” in both English and French. Below the header, the text is organized into multiple columns, each outlining different sections of the Charter, including rights and freedoms related to expression, mobility, equality, legal protections, and language rights. The document has a formal, official appearance, resembling a historical or legal proclamation.

Happy Canada Day.

We’re all about small-p patriotism: recognizing there’s plenty of work to be done, but also that we’ve got something worth building on here.

Another thread 👇

So if you’re following us now and see hope for better social media, there’s a pretty good chance Arlene had a hand in that, and I am immeasurably grateful for it.

Thank you, Arlene.

And happy Canada Day.

#GanderGratitude #BuildInPublic

Her involvement has helped us validate our mission, opened doors to new advisors, and made a real impact in the media.

She’s leveraging her network to get Gander in front of the right news outlets, the right money, and the right influencers because she genuinely cares about creating a better future.

She's since jumped in not only as one of the first investors at Gander, but as an advisor who is helping us to frame a business in a space that's lost all credibility.

And she did. Just two weeks later, a LinkedIn notification popped up on my phone: “I’m curious about the Canadian social platform you're building. – Arlene”.

Just the kind of Canadian we wanted as an advisor for Gander.

With all the activity getting Gander off the ground, we fully expected that working with Arlene would stay on the “one day” list.

“Maybe she’ll hear about us?”, I thought.

You may also know that she’s called out tech giants and partisan politics for the amplification of disinformation, the dismantling of Canadian journalism, and the threat that manufactured controversy poses not only to democracy, but society as a whole.

If you follow her, you’ll know that Arlene Dickinson is an ardent, vocal supporter of Canadian business, innovation, and ingenuity. In fact, her profile lists hashtag #TeamCanada before her professional credits.

When our founders first met back in March, one of our first topics of discussion was, “who do we want to work with on this?”

And the answer was obvious to all of us.

If you’ve been following us, it’s probably thanks to one of three things:

• You’ve been here since April
• You read about us in the press last week
• You saw one of our advisors post about Gander

What you might not know is that if it’s any of those three, it’s in part thanks to Arlene.

A graphic for Gander Gratitude featuring a circular headshot of Arlene Dickinson smiling, wearing a light blue button-up shirt, against a warmly lit background. Text underneath reads: “Arlene Dickinson, Strategic Advisor, Marketing. District Ventures, Venturepark, Believeco:Partners, Dragons’ Den.” At the bottom, an illustrated flock of Canada geese flies in formation.

We’ve decided there are too many people to thank for a single Gratitude Week. The list keeps growing. So let’s just call it Gander Gratitude, period, and let it ride.

On the eve of Canada Day, here’s one of many great Canadians who’ve stepped up: Arlene Dickinson.

That's the plan.

We're still working out some of the fine details but our preferred state is logging into Gander with an existing Bluesky account, the ability to toggle between feeds, with the option of where to share to when posting.

Hey Tod! We’d be happy to chat with you about your video.

To answer your question, the Gander platform will be entirely run on sovereign hosting from ThinkOn. This includes our databases, servers, user data, media, backups, and moderation tools.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond. We've got a lot of questions to sort out, so there will be plenty more opportunities for input.

Between that and his enthusiasm for Gander, I can’t express just how grateful we are for his support.

Thanks, Peter. Looking forward to much more.

#GanderSocial #GratitudeWeek #BuildInPublic

But more than that, he’s just easy to talk to. Speaking with Peter feels almost like talking to that great high school teacher you had who was always ready to listen, ask thoughtful questions, challenge your thinking, and then help set you on the right path.

He’s spent his career improving the lives of youth, supporting equity in First Nations housing, and bridging connections in Canada’s innovation space.

From our first meeting, Peter was all in. Both as an advisor and an investor. And given his experience, I’m overwhelmingly grateful.

When I saw his profile, it was obvious why.

Peter is the CEO of YMCA Canada (where he works with communities across the country) and the former CEO of the Assembly of First Nations.

Nevertheless, I floated our search out to a few people. And like all things Gander, a great Canadian stepped up with an answer.

Within a few days, my longtime friend and colleague Jarrett Laughlin from Sprig Learning responded to my text with: “Oh, you mean Peter Dinsdale.”

About six weeks ago, we started the hunt for people who could help us navigate community impact in Canada.

There are incredible folks across the country doing difficult and important work in communities every day... but what we were looking for was someone who could help us reach those people.

A graphic for Gander’s Gratitude Week. At the top is the Gander logo with the words “Gratitude Week.” Below is a circular headshot of Peter Dinsdale, smiling, wearing a black suit jacket, white shirt, and no tie, against a light background. Text underneath reads: “Peter Dinsdale, Social Partnerships. YMCA Canada, CSA Group, Assembly of First Nations.” At the bottom, there is an illustrated flock of Canada geese flying in formation.

We were searching for someone to help us navigate community impact in Canada.

"Oh, you mean Peter Dinsdale" came the reply.

(You can follow him here: @peterdinsdale.bsky.social)

Ben explains: