Commitment 1: Enhance access to information
Contact: publicenquiries-demandesderenseignement@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- Bill C-58 represents the first phase of legislative changes and delivers on the Government’s commitments to modernize the Act. These proposed changes will be followed by a full review of the Access to Information Act which will begin within one year of Bill C-58 receiving Royal Assent.
- Changes to the Act need to be carefully crafted to balance open government with other important democratic values, such as the privacy of citizens, the impartiality and objectivity of our public servants, and the independence of the judiciary.
- Given that we will be conducting a full review of the Act following Royal Assent of Bill C-58, who do you think should be involved in this review?
Commitment 2: Streamline requests for personal information
Contact: publicenquiries-demandesderenseignement@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- Integrating over 200 institutions to a central ATIP request website poses a significant challenge to our ability to achieve this commitment within the timeline.
Commitment 3: Expand and improve open data
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- Information published on the portal has to be bilingual and accessible, which can take more time than we’d like. Are you aware of potential tools/solutions that could help with these challenges?
Commitment 4: Provide and preserve open information
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- We are working on a document to provide comprehensive and authoritative guidance on requirements for publishing open information. Have a look here and let us know what you think.
Commitment 5: Define an approach for measuring open government performance
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- Are there particular areas of open government that you don’t see being tracked on Open.Canada.ca but that you would think should be? If so, let us know.
- Do you have experience measuring and tracking the impact of open government? Do you have examples of good performance indicators? We would love to connect with you.
- We would really like to see Canadian academia get involved. How can we kick-start this involvement?
Commitment 6: Develop open government skills across the federal public service
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- Do you know anybody with expertise in providing training on open government who can help us achieve our goals? We would love to be introduced.
- We just created a new learning hub on Open.Canada.ca. What do you think? How can we improve it?
Commitment 7: Embed transparency requirements in the federal service strategy
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- We are working on defining our key performance indicators. Do you have views on indicators we should be tracking? We’d love to hear from you.
Commitment 8: Enhance access to culture and heritage collections
Contact: pch.rcip-chin.pch@canada.ca
Challenge:
- As one of the first groups in the Government of Canada that is working with multiple external partners to publish data as 5 star open data, this is a pilot project with a number technical challenges which could affect our ability to meet targets. If this is something you have expertise in, we would love to connect with you.
- We would like to expand participants. Who could we work with?
Commitment 9: Enhance openness of information on government spending and procurement
Contact: questions@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- Do you have ideas on how we can increase the visibility of the GC InfoBase tool so that you can find it more easily?
Commitment 10: Increase transparency of Budget and other Department of Finance information
Contact: fin.financepublic-financepublique.fin@canada.ca
Challenge:
- We’re interested in what other financial information Canadians would like, what are your views on this?
Commitment 11: Increase transparency of grants and contributions funding
Contact: zzocgpt@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- It’s sometimes challenging for us to align with international standards because definitions vary. For example, foreign governments use "grants" and "contracts", while the Government of Canada uses "Grants", "Contributions", "Other Transfer Payments", and "Procurement Contracts", all as similar mechanisms. We would love to hear from you if you have ideas on how we may be able to better address this challenge
Commitment 12: Improve public information on Canadian corporations
Contact: IC.corporationscanada.IC@canada.ca
Challenge:
- We would like to ensure that the search tool is as user-friendly as possible. What are your needs? What would you like to see?
- We have accomplished our targeted milestones. What should we do next? Should we expand the prototype?
Commitment 13: Increase the availability and usability of geospatial data
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- None
Commitment 14: Increase openness of federal science activities (open science)
Contact: ec.scienceouverte-openscience.ec@canada.ca
Challenge:
- The Government of Canada is developing metrics to track collective federal progress on open science activities. Do you have an open science indicator you think should be considered? Let us know.
Commitment 15: Stimulate innovation through Canada’s Open Data Exchange (ODX)
Contact: Kevin@codx.ca and FDO.FedDevOntario.FDO@canada.ca
Challenge:
- Companies interested in using open data for commercial purposes are invited to contact the Open Data Exchange.
Commitment 16: Align open data across Canada (Open Data Canada)
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- Do you know of any currently existing federation of open data across multiple jurisdictions? We’d love to know some of the challenges that were encountered in the process and how these barriers were overcome
Commitment 17: Implement the Extractives Sector Transparency Measures Act
Contact: nrcan.estma-lmtse.rncan@canada.ca
Challenge:
- None
Commitment 18: Support openness and transparency initiatives around the world
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- How can we help Canadians see the value of engaging in, supporting and leading transparency and accountability initiatives globally?
- A challenge is fostering better international collaboration, cooperation and learning between international initiatives and local Canadian initiatives. Do you have any advice on how best to do this? Are there any particular partners we should work with?
Commitment 19: Engage civil society on open government
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- Can you help us identify the right communities with which to target our civil society engagement activities?
- What themes within Open Government require more collaboration between government and civil society?
Commitment 20: Enable open dialogue and open policy making
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:s
- We are building an evidence base to support citizen engagement within a transparent policy lifecycle, based on draft principles. We will exchange ideas, experiences and expertise through the Government of Canada’s Open Government blog
- Developers and designers can register to be notified when opportunities are posted to the GC Developers Exchange, a pilot project to make it easier to co-develop digital engagement tools.
Commitment 21: Promote open government globally
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- None
Commitment 22: Engage Canadians to improve key Canada Revenue Agency Services
Contact: open-ouvert@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Challenge:
- The online survey on how to improve access to high-value, statistical tax data and publications has generated insufficient data to date with very low take-up. Work is underway to make sure the re-positioned online survey is compatible with the recent transfer of CRA’s webpages to Canada.ca