We’re off to Ottawa next week to meet with leaders regarding our new civic engagement initiative, Citizen Voice, which we hope to launch early 2013. We look forward to sharing the results of these meetings with you in upcoming posts on this blog. Until then, here are some updates and interesting stories from this week in […]
Read More… from This Week in Open Government | September 28, 2012
September 24th to 28th is Right to Know Week across Canada, which coincides with the 10th annual International Right to Know Day on September 28th. Organized by the Office of the Information Comissioner of Canada, this is Canada’s seventh Right to Know Week. Since its creation in 1983, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada has ensured that the […]
One of the most rewarding aspects of working in open data and open government is the great sense of community. This week, we want to highlight some achievements in Open North’s networks (both local and at large) in government transparency and civic access. Open North’s transportation director Stéphane Guidoin is featured this week on CIPPIC’s Decodify podcast. The episode focuses on […]
Read More… from This Week in Open Government | September 21, 2012
In August, we shared our experiences requesting digital electoral boundary files from municipal governments for Represent, our open database of Canadian elected officials. Represent uses this data to tell you what electoral districts you belong to. Nonprofits, civic innovators, and citizens often want access to this raw data, so we go one step further to make it available: […]
The Société de développement économique Ville-Marie (CLD) has awarded Open North $10,000 to support its work of better involving citizens in the decision-making processes of governments in Canada. Open North received the grant through the SDEVM’s Development Fund for Social Economy Enterprise (FDEÉS) which aims to support nonprofits and cooperatives based in the Montreal borough of Ville-Marie. The SDEVM’s mission is […]
This week is Canada’s Democracy Week, an initiative led by Elections Canada to celebrate the positive impact of democracy in the country. The week kicked off alongside the United Nations International Day of Democracy on September 15th. Several events will be held across Canada encouraging citizens to participate in the democratic process. Jonathan Brun, one of Open North’s directors, will […]
As the open data movement spreads across the globe, methods of measuring and critiquing its impact are increasing. This week, we start our round-up with two reports about the state of open data and open government. A report by US-based Open the Government concludes that, while secrecy in other parts of the federal government is decreasing, national security […]
Read More… from This Week in Open Government | September 16, 2012
September is off to a politically charged start as the party conventions wrap up in the US and Quebec ushers in a new government. The election brought good news for civic engagement: 74.61% of eligible voters in Quebec turned out this past Tuesday, the highest participation rate since 1998. Open North and our friends are hard at work on opening up other democratic […]
Read More… from This Week in Open Government | September 7, 2012
As the summer draws to a close, the open data and open government communities are preparing for a very exciting fall season full of events and launches. Open North is excited to participate in upcoming events like Hacking Corruption and Canada’s Democracy Week. To learn more about open data, government transparency and civic access, follow us on Facebook and on […]
Read More… from This Week in Open Government | August 31, 2012
Earlier this year, we launched Represent, an open database of Canadian elected officials at the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government. Hundreds of citizens across the country use it to find their representatives’ contact information, and nearly a dozen nonprofits and civic innovators now depend on it to power their projects, campaigns and products. For […]