Tina Leckie is the owner of Fiorentina, a restaurant in Toronto’s Danforth neighbourhood specializing in farm to table cuisine that has been dishing up meals with local ingredients for the past eight years. As many dine-in restaurants and bars close their doors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, restaurant owners like Tina are looking for new ways to serve customers and keep the lights on.
Tina Leckie is the owner of Fiorentina, a restaurant in Toronto’s Danforth neighbourhood specializing in farm to table cuisine that has been dishing up meals with local ingredients for the past eight years. As many dine-in restaurants and bars close their doors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, restaurant owners like Tina are looking for new ways to serve customers and keep the lights on.


Over the last two months, the restaurant industry has dramatically changed and Canadians are searching online to understand their new dining options. While people are still searching for "local restaurants near me," the focus has shifted to alternative mealtime solutions. For example, Canadian searches for "takeout" increased +180% in April compared to January 2020 and we saw “delivery” search interest increase 130% from March to April, compared to the 30 days prior.


To help restaurants during this time, Google has launched new tools to make it easier for restaurants to share how they are operating. Canadian restaurants can now update their free Google My Business business listing to communicate adjusted hours or updated delivery options, such as curbside pickup, no-contact delivery or takeout. These attributes appear on a restaurant’s business profile on Google Search and Maps and are visible when customers are looking for dining options that meet their needs. Businesses can even create a COVID-19 post on their business profile to share any new safety precautions they’ve implemented to keep customers safe.

Toronto’s Fiorentina has updated their Google My Business listing to let customers know they are now offering curbside pickup and no-contact delivery. Businesses can also create a COVID-19 post on their profile to share any new safety precautions they’ve implemented.


For Tina, digital tools have made all the difference in keeping Fiorentina open. “Updating our business profile was easy to do on Google, and this helped us share our new website, and let customers know we’re offering curbside pick-up and delivery, despite being temporarily closed for dine-in,” said Tina. “Now anyone searching for restaurants in the neighbourhood can see that we’re still open and offering adjusted services. Our customers and community have been extremely appreciative of these updates, and continue to support us while we stay open for business.”


“Small businesses have and always will be critical to the Canadian economy, and as consumers shift purchasing behaviour to online, it’s imperative that businesses are also online and can be found,” says John Kiru, Executive Director of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas. “Google My Business helps restaurants not only be found online, but also connect with customers and let them know important updates like revised store hours, alternative service options, and new safety measures implemented during COVID-19.”


Since launching Google My Business, we’ve helped more than 150 million local businesses globally connect with people who are looking for them online. The pandemic presents unique challenges to the restaurant industry and while the path forward is not yet clear, we’re committed to supporting our local communities. Business owners can learn more on our Small Business Hub or join a free, virtual workshop.


Posted by Stephanie Wong, Partner Lead, Food, Beverage & Restaurants at Google


Technology that connects us while we're apart helps keep us safe and productive. Over the past few months, we’ve seen the power of video meetings bring us together—whether we’re working with teammates, talking to healthcare professionals, sharing with loved ones, or learning from home.

Technology that connects us while we're apart helps keep us safe and productive. Over the past few months, we’ve seen the power of video meetings bring us together—whether we’re working with teammates, talking to healthcare professionals, sharing with loved ones, or learning from home.

Today, we’re making Google Meet, our premium video conferencing product, free for everyone, with availability rolling out over the coming weeks. We’ve invested years in making Meet a secure and reliable video conferencing solution that’s trusted by schools, governments and enterprises around the world, and in recent months we’ve accelerated the release of top-requested features to make it even more helpful. Starting in early May, anyone with an email address can sign up for Meet and enjoy many of the same features available to our business and education users, such as simple scheduling and screen sharing, real-time captions, and layouts that adapt to your preference, including an expanded tiled view.

It’s important that everyone who uses Meet has a secure and reliable experience from the start, so beginning next week, we’ll be gradually expanding its availability to more and more people over the following weeks. This means you might not be able to create meetings at meet.google.com right away, but you can sign up to be notified when it’s available.

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Meet operates on a secure foundation, keeping users safe, data secure, and information private—including between patients and caregivers.

Video meetings built on a secure foundation
Meet is designed, built and operated to be secure at scale. Since January, we’ve seen Meet’s peak daily usage grow by 30x. As of this month, Meet is hosting 3 billion minutes of video meetings and adding roughly 3 million new users every day. And as of last week, Meet’s daily meeting participants surpassed 100 million. With this growth comes great responsibility. Privacy and security are paramount, no matter if it’s a doctor sharing confidential health information with a patient, a financial advisor hosting a client meeting, or people virtually connecting with each other for graduations, holidays and happy hours.

Our approach to security is simple: make products safe by default. We designed Meet to operate on a secure foundation, providing the protections needed to keep our users safe, their data secure, and their information private. Here are just a few of our default-on safety measures:

  • We provide a strong set of host controls such as the ability to admit or deny entry to a meeting, and mute or remove participants, if needed.
  • We do not allow anonymous users (i.e., without a Google Account) to join meetings created by individual accounts.
  • Meet meeting codes are complex by default and therefore resilient to brute-force “guessing.”
  • Meet video meetings are encrypted in transit, and all recordings stored in Google Drive are encrypted in transit and at rest.
  • We don’t require plugins to use Meet on the web. It works entirely in Chrome and other modern browsers, so it’s less vulnerable to security threats.
  • On mobile, we have dedicated Google Meet apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
  • Meet users can enroll their account in Google’s Advanced Protection Program—our strongest protections available against phishing and account hijacking.
  • Google Cloud undergoes regular rigorous security and privacy audits for all its services. Our global compliance certifications can help support regulatory requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA, as well as COPPA and FERPA for education.
  • Your Meet data is not used for advertising, and we don't sell your data to third parties.

We operate a highly secure and resilient private network that encircles the globe and connects our data centers to each other—ensuring that your data stays safe. Trust is built on transparency and we publish the locations of all our data centers. You can learn more about how Meet keeps your video meetings safe in this post.

Free Google Meet accounts for individuals
You can use Meet to schedule, join or start secure video meetings with anyone—for a virtual yoga class, weekly book club, neighborhood meeting, or happy hour with friends. Until now, Meet has only been available as part of G Suite, our collaboration and productivity solution for businesses, organizations and schools. Going forward, Meet will be available to anyone for free on the web at meet.google.com and via mobile apps for iOS or Android. And if you use Google Calendar, you’ll be able to easily start or join from there, too.


Use your existing Google Account to start a secure meeting in Google Meet

If you have an existing Google Account (for example, if you’re a @gmail.com user), sign in at meet.google.com to get started. If you don’t have a free Google Account, it only takes a minute to create one using your work or personal email address of choice (we require this step as a security measure, and you’ll only need to do this once).

Meetings are limited to 60 minutes for the free product, though we won’t enforce this time limit until after Sept. 30. Creating a trusted meeting space is important, and being mindful when sharing meeting links in public forums can help create a safe experience for all attendees. For more tips on how to use Meet securely and effectively, visit our Help Center.

Google Meet for groups and teams
Groups within an organization can also use Meet to create video meetings that help coworkers connect one-on-one, collaborate as a team, and more. For organizations that aren’t already G Suite customers, today we’re announcing G Suite Essentials. G Suite Essentials is perfect for teams that need access to Meet’s more advanced features, such as dial-in phone numbers, larger meetings, and meeting recording. G Suite Essentials also includes Google Drive for easy and secure access to all of a team’s content, and Docs, Sheets and Slides for content creation and real-time collaboration.

Through Sept. 30, we’re providing G Suite Essentials and all of these advanced features free of charge. If you’re interested in G Suite Essentials, complete this form to get in touch with our sales team.

Google Meet for businesses and organizations
Whether it’s hospitals supporting patients via telehealth, banks working with loan applicants, retailers assisting customers remotely, or manufacturers interacting safely with warehouse technicians, businesses across every industry are using Meet to stay connected. If you’re one of the 6 million companies and organizations that use G Suite to power remote productivity, you already have access to Meet. Admins simply need to enable Meet by following instructions outlined on our Help Center. In the spirit of being helpful during this time, we’re providing three ways for new and current enterprise customers to access Meet through Sept. 30:

  • Free access to Meet’s advanced features for all G Suite customers, such as the ability to live stream for up to 100,000 viewers within your domain.
  • Free additional Meet licenses for existing G Suite customers without any amendments to their current contract.
  • Free G Suite Essentials for enterprise customers. Enterprises can get in touch with our sales team to learn more.


Google Meet includes live captions powered by Google’s speech recognition technology

Google Meet in schools and higher-ed institutions
Many schools and colleges today use Meet to power secure virtual classes, PTA meetings, parent-teacher conferences, tutoring, and even school socials. Meet is included in G Suite for Education, which serves more than 120 million students and teachers globally. If your school already uses G Suite for Education, your administrator can enable Meet at no additional cost. If your school doesn’t use G Suite for Education, you can sign up here. To access resources for distance learning, visit Teach from Home.

Our hope is that by making Meet and G Suite more readily available for all, it will be easier to securely stay connected and productive—now and in the future.

Post Content Posted by Javier Soltero, Vice President & GM, G Suite
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Editor’s note: This guest post is authored by Dr. Howard Njoo, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer of Canada

The COVID-19 situation in Canada is changing rapidly and we are learning more about the virus every day. As Canada’s Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, a large part of my job of late has involved speaking directly to Canadians to help them get the information they need about COVID-19. We’re working hard to share with you important updates on everything from our country’s caseload number, to explaining social distancing, to providing general health advice and guidance to Canadians.
Editor’s note: This guest post is authored by Dr. Howard Njoo, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer of Canada

The COVID-19 situation in Canada is changing rapidly and we are learning more about the virus every day. As Canada’s Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, a large part of my job of late has involved speaking directly to Canadians to help them get the information they need about COVID-19. We’re working hard to share with you important updates on everything from our country’s caseload number, to explaining social distancing, to providing general health advice and guidance to Canadians.

It’s important that the Public Health Agency of Canada and the entire Government of Canada share factual and authoritative information with all Canadians in a timely manner. To do so, we need to reach Canadians of all ages and on various platforms.

That’s why I ‘virtually’ sat down with four Canadian YouTube creators, each one very different from the next, for a new video series on Healthy Canadians, Public Health Agency of Canada’s and Health Canada’s YouTube channel.

In my interviews with Simply Nailogical, Peter McKinnon, jayaddict & The Sorry Girls, I answered questions about COVID-19 and helped shed light on issues that mattered to their audiences, whether that’s debunking conspiracy theories, sharing tips on how to make helpful DIY masks or how to actually put social distancing in practice.

We are making progress but we can’t back down from the measures we’ve put in place so far. We want to help Canadians understand and prepare for what is coming by arming them with the authoritative information and answers they need during this unprecedented time.

Check out the interviews here. Remember to #plankthecurve and stay safe, Canada.

For additional information on COVID-19 in Canada, please visit the Government of Canada’s webpage, available here.

Editor’s note: Today’s post is guest co-authored by Jack Blum, Executive Director of REEL CANADA and Sharon Corder, Artistic Director of REEL CANADA 

This National Canadian Film Day, we’re celebrating the rich history of Canadian cinematic culture with an interactive broadcast livestream on YouTube.
Editor’s note: Today’s post is guest co-authored by Jack Blum, Executive Director of REEL CANADA and Sharon Corder, Artistic Director of REEL CANADA 

This National Canadian Film Day, we’re celebrating the rich history of Canadian cinematic culture with an interactive broadcast livestream on YouTube.

On April 22, from 6-10 PM ET, visit our YouTube channel to hear from and engage with popular Canadian filmmakers and industry professionals. We’ll be joined by talented performers like Sandra Oh, Jay Baruchel, Megan Follows, Colm Feore and Don McKellar, Oscar-nominated directors like Atom Egoyan, Deepa Mehta, and Philippe Falardeau, and even a celebrated American who has appeared in more than one fine Canadian movie, Ethan Hawke.

As our industry faces a historically unprecedented shutdown, it’s more important than ever to celebrate great Canadian stories, and the hundreds of thousands of talented artists and craftspeople who make them. Our stories keep us company. They reflect our shared values, our magnificent diversity, and our precious freedoms.

Tune in to a curated ‘Stay Home and Watch 🇨🇦 #WithMe’ playlist on YouTube Canada’s channel featuring homegrown classics, including cult favourite Strange Brew, dark crime comedy Bon Cop/Bad Cop and more. Encore+ is also serving up some iconic films in both English and French.

Film is an incredibly powerful medium that has the power to capture the soul of our nation -- we’re so happy we can bring Canadians together on YouTube to watch the very best of Canadian cinema.

Whether you’re planning to join one of our national virtual watch parties, organize your own, or just watch a movie at home, you can learn more about how to celebrate #CanFilmDay on our website.

This National Canadian Film Day, let our stories keep you company.

Local news is a vital resource for keeping people and communities connected in the best of times. Today, it plays an even greater function in reporting on local lockdowns or shelter at home orders, school and park closures, and data about how COVID-19 is affecting daily life.
Local news is a vital resource for keeping people and communities connected in the best of times. Today, it plays an even greater function in reporting on local lockdowns or shelter at home orders, school and park closures, and data about how COVID-19 is affecting daily life.

But that role is being challenged as never before as the news industry deals with everything from job cuts, furloughs and cutbacks as a result of the economic downturn prompted by COVID-19. The Google News Initiative wants to help by launching a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to deliver urgent aid to thousands of small, medium and local news publishers globally. The funding is open to news organizations producing original news for local communities during this time of crisis, and will range from the low thousands of dollars for small hyper-local newsrooms to low tens of thousands for larger newsrooms, with variations per region.

Starting today, publishers everywhere can apply for funds via a simple application form. We’ve made the process as streamlined as possible to ensure we get help to eligible publishers all over the world quickly. Applications will close on Wednesday April 29, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. And in the coming weeks we’ll announce who has received funding and how publishers are spending the money.


Additionally, we recognize that covering the coronavirus pandemic can take its toll on reporters on the front line. That’s why Google.org is giving $1 million collectively to the International Center for Journalists, which plans to provide immediate resources to support reporters globally, and the Columbia Journalism School's Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma which is helping journalists exposed to traumatic events experienced during the crisis.

Today’s news builds on other efforts we’ve made to support the industry and connect people to quality information at this time of need. We believe it is important to do what we can to alleviate the financial pressures on newsrooms, and will continue to look at other ways to help with more to announce soon.

Posted by Richard Gingras, VP of News, Google
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This week, millions of Canadians will celebrate Passover and Easter. And in the coming weeks, many more will observe Ramadan. This year, these important religious holidays will feel very different, as faith organizations all over the world look for new ways to celebrate safely in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 within their communities.
This week, millions of Canadians will celebrate Passover and Easter. And in the coming weeks, many more will observe Ramadan. This year, these important religious holidays will feel very different, as faith organizations all over the world look for new ways to celebrate safely in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 within their communities.

During these difficult times, it’s important for us to continue to connect with each other and feel part of our wider communities, even from home.

While some faith organizations have used digital tools to connect with their congregations for many years, this year’s broadly mandated orders to stay home will make it essential for communities, families and individuals to find new ways of coming together, online.

The shift has already begun. Since the start of March, the combined subscribers of all Vatican News channels has more than doubled.

To assist faith organizations everywhere who are new to online services, YouTube has brought together helpful information to get started with live streaming. Please visit our Playlist and Help Centre for best practices, or check out instructions for hosting a live stream event either from a mobile device or desktop.

For those who are marking Passover this week, synagogues are offering many ways to share and celebrate online. Beth Torah Congregation, based in Toronto, is live streaming seders and festival services throughout the week, as is Shaarey Dezek Synagogue in Winnipeg and the City of David Messianic Synagogue, also in Toronto.

For those celebrating Good Friday and Easter, churches are hosting live streams for their local congregations, including The Archdiocese of Toronto from St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica, The Anglican Church of Canada, St. George’s Anglican Church in St. Catharine’s, St. Mary’s Church in Brampton, St. Mary & St. Joseph Coptic Orthodox Church in Richmond Hill, Saint-Joseph Centre in Saint-Césaire, Quebec and more. The Vatican will live stream all of its Holy Week services from St. Peter’s Basilica, including Easter Sunday mass at 11AM CET.

Renowned opera singer Andrea Bocelli will perform live at 7PM CET on Sunday, April 12 from Milan’s historic Duomo Cathedral, available exclusively on YouTube. The concert entitled, “Music For Hope,” will represent a message of love, healing and hope to Italy and the world. The Duomo, currently closed, will open its doors exceptionally for Andrea Bocelli who will be accompanied only by the cathedral organist, Emanuele Vianelli, playing one of world’s largest pipe organs.

Wishing faith communities across Canada safe and healthy holidays.

Posted by the YouTube Canada Team
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We’re facing some of the most challenging times in recent memory. Keeping social distance is vital, but staying home for long periods can be difficult and feel isolating. Video games can be a valuable way to socialize with friends and family when you’re stuck at home, so we’re giving gamers in 14 countries free access to Stadia for two months. This is starting today and rolling out over the next 48 hours.
We’re facing some of the most challenging times in recent memory. Keeping social distance is vital, but staying home for long periods can be difficult and feel isolating. Video games can be a valuable way to socialize with friends and family when you’re stuck at home, so we’re giving gamers in 14 countries free access to Stadia for two months. This is starting today and rolling out over the next 48 hours.

Anyone who signs up will get two free months of Stadia Pro with instant access to nine games, including GRID, Destiny 2: The Collection, and Thumper. You can purchase even more games on the store, which will remain yours to play even if you cancel your Stadia Pro subscription. If you’re already a paid Stadia Pro subscriber, we won’t charge you for the next two months. After that, Stadia Pro is $9.99 a month, but you can opt out of your subscription​ at any time.

If you’re new, playing on Stadia is simple:



With increased demand due to more people at home during this time, we’re taking a responsible approach to internet traffic. For Stadia, we’ve always adjusted bandwidth use based on a variety of in-home and local internet factors. To reduce load on the internet further, we’re working toward a temporary feature that changes the default screen resolution from 4k to 1080p. The vast majority of people on a desktop or laptop won’t notice a significant drop in gameplay quality, but you can choose your​ data usage options ​in the Stadia app.

Like so many people around the world going through this crisis, our support team has been significantly impacted, and our customer support functions are not running at full capacity. Please use our automated Help Center ​and, as you give Stadia a try, check out these helpful tips ​for setting up your home environment. Many of you will be new to Stadia, so we’ve also posted a Getting Started Walkthrough.

Have fun, stay safe, and we look forward to playing with you on Stadia.

Posted by Phil Harrison, VP and GM, Stadia
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