PlzGivHugs

Unfortunately, for a lot of stuff, there just isn’t a replacement from Reddit currently. Your best bet would be trying to find other local news sources and follow them individually, likely with an RRS.

That said, if you have the time and energy, the only way Lemmy will grow is with active users. If you join one or more of the more active Lemmy communities (likely the one Sunshine suggested) and try to post when you can, that goes a long way to either keeping these smaller communities alive, or helping them grow.

I’m against banning things. It’s better to teach users how not to use these platforms.

Just because there’s deeper root causes, doesn’t mean the end result shouldn’t be banned if its immoral or destructive. In particular, we figure out what parts of it are problematic enough to be worth banning, and ban those: I.E. the heavily biased algorithm which users have no control over.

Aside from that, theres also the option of providing alternatives. Said alternatives don’t even have to be publicly run. It could come in the form of something like a one-time grant to Mastrodon and opening up a server exclusively for government departments to share announcements or PR with the public.

Sounds like you’ve basically got yourself covered. Beyond that, I’d recommend just trying to make sure your current methods are sustainable (IE, you won’t have to switch back in a year) and trying to find ways to help others.

Some other ways the can help reduce US influence off the top of my head, ordered roughly from least to most difficult:

• Do your research and vote
• Use networked platforms (like the Fediverse) more, to help them compete with big american tech
• Promote Canadian or non-US alternatives
• put together detailed resources to help others boycott US products (IE, blog posts about how you addressed specific issues or infographics explaining the alternatives to common american products.)
• Join local groups to become more connected with your community
• Volunteering
• Becoming involved in politics, be it helping campaign for important causes or running yourself.

Yes, a lot of these aren’t directly targeting the US, but the stronger Canada is, the less power the US has over us.