Public servants often receive suggestions, requests, comments and criticisms from the public over budgetary decisions. The challenge every municipality faces is balancing its budget while also responding to the input and priorities of its residents. To meet this challenge, governments often hold public consultation sessions to solicit feedback on budgets, laws and projects. However, various […]
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Results from the Plateau
Earlier this month, the Plateau Mont-Royal borough of Montreal, Quebec completed their second annual public budget consultation for the 2013 budget. Using Open North’s Citizen Budget platform, the Plateau engaged 645 residents in two months. The borough used Citizen Budget’s latest features to consult citizens on both revenues and expenses and took advantage of its revamped interface. The […]
Right to Know Week
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 […]
Open North receives $10,000 from SDEVM
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 […]
Open Data Licenses in Canada
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: […]
Canada’s Democracy Week
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 […]
If you don’t ask, you don’t get
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 […]
Open North wins social entrepreneurship award
Through the à go, on change le monde! program organized by the Institut du Nouveau Monde, the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins has awarded Open North $5,000 to continue to foster effective citizen engagement through the innovative use of technology. Open North was selected as one of seven prize winners from a pool over 240 applicants. This award will support Open […]
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Let’s Upgrade our Democracy
This past spring, I had the great privilege of presenting at the recent TEDxMontreal event. In my 18 minute presentation, I try to make the point that democracy needs an upgrade. While technology is not a solution in and of itself, it can be used as a tool to improve democratic processes. The talk spans […]
Canada Day campaign raises $4,180
During our one-week campaign from June 25 to July 1st, we raised $4,180 for a new online project, Citizen Writes, that will allow citizens to publicly ask questions both to candidates during elections and to representatives in office. Open North will continue to explore options to finance this project, but with the current funding we will nonetheless […]