Lake Country, BC · A free community effort

You'll find out
exactly
what to do.

No tech background needed. Safe Family Internet walks families through five simple layers of protection. The first Lake Country session has happened, and now the whole toolkit is here for every family to use at home.

Get the free toolkit → See the five layers

Supported by the District of Lake Country and the Lake Country Rotary Club.

Colin Calnan, who started Safe Family Internet
Why this exists

It started close to home.

I am a parent in Lake Country who happens to know this technology. I kept seeing the same thing. Good parents, real harm, and a wall of settings nobody had time to figure out.

So I stopped writing warnings and started showing people what to do. No company is behind this, and taking part is free. The one thing you may need to buy is a good router, and I tell you exactly which one.

One family protecting one home is a good night. A whole community doing it together is something Lake Country can be first at in Canada.

Colin Calnan

The gathering

June 18 brought Lake Country together.

Families filled the Creekside Theatre for one practical evening and left with the five layers set up. If you missed it, you have not missed the plan. Every guide from that night is here, free, so you can do it at home at your own pace.

No fear. No jargon. Want to come to the next one? Tell me and I will let you know when it is set.

Get the free toolkit → Tell me about the next session
The Castle Model

Five layers. Not just the network.

Each layer catches what the last one misses. This is not about locking the internet out. It is about deciding, on your own terms, what gets in.

The Castle Model: five layers between a stranger and your kid. Concentric rings around a child, labelled the foundation, the shield, the armour, the walls and the moat, and the community.
Start here · the whole picture

The five layers, on one page

Most parents try to fix this one app at a time and burn out. The Castle Model stacks five simple layers instead, so each one covers the gaps in the others. Here is what each one does.

Layer 0 · The foundation

Your relationship

The one layer no app can set: whether your kid comes to you first when something goes wrong, or clears their history first. Every layer below sits on this. I can't install this one for you, but nothing else holds without it.

Layer 1 · App controls

The apps and games

Roblox, Fortnite, YouTube, the settings inside each one. Catches in-app content and stranger chat. Misses everything outside that one app.

Layer 2 · Device controls

The phone and tablet

Apple Screen Time and Google Family Link. Catches app limits, time limits, and content. Misses what happens across the home network.

Layer 3 · The walls and the moat

Your router and a free filter

Your home network, locked down two ways at once. A TP-Link Deco mesh with HomeShield (the walls) catches harmful sites on every device on your WiFi, and the free Canadian Shield DNS (the moat) blocks malware, phishing, and explicit content for the whole house. Misses anything on cellular data.

Layer 4 · The community

Your neighbours, schools, and town

The families, schools, and workplaces around you running the same layers. One castle protects one family. A community changes what is possible, because "everyone else has it" stops being true.

I always tell you what each layer misses. The honest gaps are what make the rest worth trusting.

Built with the community

This is not one person. It is a town.

Safe Family Internet runs on local backing, local funding, and local volunteers. That support is why it is free, and why it can grow.

District of Lake Country · endorsement and venue Lake Country Rotary Club · funding for decals and deco CBC & AM 1150 Radio · coverage

Lake Country is on track to be the first Internet Safe Community in Canada.

Not a slogan. A real count of protected homes, growing one family and one street at a time.

In the news

Heard on the radio. Backed at council.

Local coverage of how this started and where it is going.

CBC Daybreak South How a father plans a Lake Country internet-safe community Listen → AM 1150 · The Early Edition Safe Family Internet on Kelowna morning radio Listen → Lake Country Calendar Lake Country man seeks District support for internet safety initiative Read → Kelowna Capital News Lake Country endorses internet safety initiative Read → District of Lake Country Council The presentation to council, on the record Watch the recording →
The Safe Family Internet window decal: a cobalt shield with the Lake Country partnership mark and the Safe Family Internet wordmark
Layer five, made visible

The shield on the door.

Families in the program put this small decal in a front window. It is not a sticker and it is not a prize. It is a quiet signal that this home, and this street, decided to do something.

It carries the District of Lake Country mark, because this is a community partnership, not a product. When you start seeing it down the block, that is Layer 4 working.

your neighbours are doing this too

Where to start

Three ways in. All free.

For a community

Bring it to your town

If you can gather families, the session can come to you. This is how Safe Family Internet spreads beyond Lake Country, one town at a time.

Request a session →
For your home, today

Check your network

A free five minute test. It scores how protected your home network is right now, so you know where you stand.

Run the check →
Near Lake Country

Want the next session?

The first one filled the Creekside Theatre. Tell me you are interested and I will let you know when the next is set.

Tell me about the next one →
Take it home

Get the whole family toolkit, free.

Every guide from the session in one email: the Castle Model, Screen Time, the router, the Canadian Shield filter, and the gaming setups. Enter your email and we'll send the lot.

Questions

The things parents ask first.

Is it really free?

Yes. The session is free and no company is behind this. The guides and the home network check are free too. The one thing you may need to buy is a good router, and I tell you exactly which one.

Do I need to be techie?

No. Everything is walked through in plain language, one step at a time. If you can follow a recipe, you can do this.

What will I need to buy?

Most likely a router. The one most homes already have, especially the free box from your internet provider, cannot be set up for this. So most families need one that can. A TP-Link Deco is the one I recommend. It is a one time purchase, I tell you the exact model to get, and it is usually the only thing you will buy.

Is my family's information safe?

Yes. None of this sends your data anywhere. The tools are ones you already trust: your own devices, your router, and a Canadian DNS filter. I never need personal information to help you.

What about phones on cellular data?

Honest answer: network protection stops at your WiFi. A phone on a cellular plan can step around it. That is the one real gap, and the session covers exactly what to do about it.