cp24.com

Maude Barlow -- chair of the Council of Canadians and author of books on Canadian sovereignty, access to water and deeper integration with the U.S. -- will speak at Media Democracy Day's closing plenary.

Activists, community leaders and proponents of net neutrality will converge on the University of Toronto Thursday in one of three Canadian events celebrating Media Democracy Day.

Designed to bring awareness to the voices commonly left out of mainstream media coverage, the workshops-based event will be held all day at the university's International Student Centre at 33 St. George Street.

Speakers include Maude Barlow, chair of progressive lobby group Council of Canadians; author and journalist Linda McQuaig; and SaveOurNet.ca co-founder Matt Thompson.

National organizer Steve Anderson says he hopes the event shines the spotlight on the problems the come along with media consolidation in a democratic society.

"Democracy can't exist without an informed public," says Anderson. "We rely on unbiased news from independent sources to stay informed and to hold our government accountable.

"Media consolidation means fewer sources of news, opinion and information."

Other issues on the table include the government's recently proposed copyright legislation, which would place severe penalties on people who copy music and other media, along with the "shaping" of Internet traffic being done by major service providers such as Bell.

"The debate centres on the principle of net neutrality, which requires that Internet service providers move traffic in a non-discriminatory manner based on the desires of Internet users," Anderson says.

He says the issue came to the fore earlier this year after web users attempting to download CBC's "The Next Great Prime Minister" -- with permission -- found out their bandwidth had been throttled because the download took much longer than expected.

Toronto's Media Democracy Day begins at 9 a.m. and ends with an evening party at the Steamwhistle Brewery.