Our crowdfunding campaigns for MyCityHall.ca and MaMairie.ca ended May 1st, short of our goals of $10,000 each. As a result, we could not hire additional staff to help complete the project, but had to make time within our own schedules to do the work. As a small nonprofit with many active projects, this has been a challenge. However, we are […]
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Best of the Open North Blog 2013
It’s been an exciting year for the civic technology sector. We’ve seen a lot of growth within Open North and in our peer organizations. Below are our favourite blog posts from the past year, representing Open North announcements, sector analysis, and other updates. If you think we missed a story, reach out to us at info@opennorth.ca. […]
The Township of Langley launches Citizen Budget
The Speaker of the British House of Commons, John Bercow, delivered a speech to the Hansard Society about “Designing a Parliament for the 21st Century”. In his speech, Bercow announces the creation of a new Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy to review and make recommendations on what he calls “nothing less than a Parliament version 2.0.” The full […]
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Announcing JeVeuxSavoir.org and Infothon on Nov 30th
We are pleased to announce the launch of JeVeuxSavoir.org, an online access to information portal built by Open North in partnership with the Government of Quebec. JeVeuxSavoir.org is a website for citizens to formulate requests for information from public bodies. The results of their requests including all documents obtained under the Access to Information Act will be accessible to the […]
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Cornwall launched Citizen Budget
We are pleased to announce the launch of our 9th Citizen Budget consultation this year in the City of Cornwall, Ontario. The budget simulator is available to Cornwall residents in English and French. With submission, participants are automatically entered to win a prize draw. Visit www.citizenbudget.com to learn more about our interactive budget simulator. Do you know a community organizer in […]
Create lasting customer service opportunities
Each time a resident interacts with your organization, you have an opportunity to build a stronger relationship – whether it’s visiting a service centre, attending a council meeting, calling 3-1-1, or finding a tax rate on your website. The people who participate in local government consultations are among your most engaged residents, but many of them […]
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Ensuring authentic results in Citizen Budget consultations
We are often asked how we ensure that residents submit a single response only, to avoid a scenario where individuals can bias the results of the consultation by submitting the same response multiple times. We’ve discovered that the best approach is to accept all responses at first, and to later filter out duplicates, spam and […]
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Open Ontario and the Aid Transparency Index
This week, the Government of Ontario officially launched their open government initiative. The strategy includes three pillars: open data, open information, and open dialogue. Of the plan, Premier Kathleen Wynne notes, “Part of this process will be the use of innovative models of public engagement, giving you a greater say on a range of items, including […]
GitHub’s government initiative and Code for America’s new transparency book
GitHub launched GitHub and Government, a new website dedicated “to showcasing the amazing efforts of public servants and civic hackers around the globe.” The new space for governments to connect and share best practices highlights the Treasury Board’s Canadian web experience toolkit among a few other examples of open government innovation. GitHub and Government also includes a few project […]
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Citizen Budget launches in Dieppe, NB
The first ever bilingual Citizen Budget consultation has launched in Dieppe, New Brunswick. Our team worked closely with Ville de Dieppe’s Corporate Affairs department to deliver a detailed consultation in both official languages. You can view the consultation at www.budgetdieppe.ca. The importance of civic participation as an everyday activity, a value we promote through our mission, was discussed this week in an […]