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 be speaking on Thursday, September 20th at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, as part of the series “Canada’s Democratic Culture: Ideas Worth Spreading.” Jonathan will argue that, as a way to promote democracy in Canada, all levels of government should make available the information they collect on behalf of citizens, such as data on representatives, budgets, contracts and votes. By making these datasets available at no cost in open formats, governments allow citizens to create new tools to increase democratic engagement in Canada – tools to build better relationships between citizens and government, to improve understanding and access to information. Access can foster citizen engagement and, in turn, democratic action for a more representative democracy.
Our friends at Samara and Apathy is Boring are among the many supporters of the Democracy Week program. They will both be presenting as part of the “Ideas Worth Spreading” series at the UBC event on Monday, September 17th. The full listing of events is available on the Democracy Week website.