User-Friendly Open Government (CA0064)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Canada Action Plan 2018-2020
Action Plan Cycle: 2018
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Canada School of Public Service (CSPS); Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC); Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)’s Federal Geospatial Program (FGP); Statistics Canada (StatCan); Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); other departments and agencies across the Government of Canada
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
Access to Information, Capacity Building, E-Government, Open Data, Public ParticipationDescription
1. User-friendly open government
Issue to be addressed
Canadians want their government to reflect the values of transparency, accountability, and
citizen participation in all of its work. To do this, the Government of Canada needs to put
citizens at the centre of its open government efforts. The more Canadians know about and
understand the work government does, and the more they are able to actively participate in it,
the more we can all harness the social and economic potential of open government.
Commitment
The Government of Canada will provide opportunities for Canadians to learn about open
government. We will also improve the openness of federal government data. We will:
• make improvements to open.canada.ca
• help Canadians learn more about Government of Canada work on open government
• improve the quality of open data available through open.canada.ca
• expand the Open by Default pilot project
• provide tools for government and citizens to work together
• develop open data privacy guidelines
Lead department(s)
Canada School of Public Service (CSPS); Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC);
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)’s Federal Geospatial Program (FGP); Statistics Canada
(StatCan); Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); other departments and agencies across
the Government of Canada
Milestones
What will we do? How we will know we succeeded? What is our
deadline?
1.1 Make improvements to
open.canada.ca to make it
easier for users to find what
they’re looking for and
contribute to the open
government community
(TBS)
Pilot launched for users to submit
datasets, visualizations, and reports
based on open government data or
information
At least 20 usersubmitted
records available
by June 2020
Space provided on open.canada.ca for
stories of open data impact, including
user-submitted stories
At least
50 stories
15
What will we do? How we will know we succeeded? What is our
deadline?
available by
June 2019
Quarterly reporting on progress on
releasing datasets submitted via the
Suggest a Dataset form on
open.canada.ca
December 2018
Regular public reporting on
improvements, user research and
feedback on open.canada.ca, including on
top task success rates
June 2020
1.2 Help Canadians learn about
Canada’s work on open
government through learning
materials, information
sessions, and enhanced
training for public servants
(CSPS/TBS)
Materials for teachers and educators
drafted and published
June 2019
Outreach to at least 50 teachers or
educators to encourage them to review
and use these materials
March 2020
70% of teachers using the material are
satisfied with it
March 2020
At least 300 public servants from at least
15 Government of Canada departments
or agencies trained through learning
activities indicate a better understanding
of open government following the
learning activity
June 2020
A Government of Canada Digital Academy
is established, and at least 40 nominated
participants complete its premium course
curriculum3
August 2019
3 workshop events are held to train
federal public servants on employing
administrative data in decision-making
June 2020 What will we do? How we will know we succeeded? What is our
deadline?
Public open government and open data
webinars are held at least every 2 months
6 held by
October 2019
12 held by
June 2020
Participants are happy with webinar
content and format (at least 70%
satisfaction measured by a short survey
after each webinar)
June 2020
1.3 Improve the quality of open
data available on
open.canada.ca
(NRCan/StatCan/TBS)
Data quality criteria developed and
published, and workshops are held with
government officials to develop their
capacity to improve quality of datasets
June 2019
A new data quality rating system to
supplement current “Rate this dataset”
function is developed in consultation with
users and national partners and available
on open.canada.ca
June 2020
200 frequently downloaded datasets are
reviewed for quality,
4 standardization,
complete metadata, contextual
documentation, and plain language
descriptions
June 2020
An additional 500 geospatial datasets
reviewed using the Federal Geospatial
Platform (FGP) data quality assessment
criteria from NRCan
June 2020
1.4 Expand the Open by
Default pilot to make working
documents from government
officials open by default,
subject to applicable
Open by Default pilot is expanded to
capture working documents produced by
the Open Government team at TBS
June 2019
New innovative technologies are
implemented to improve accessibility and
April 2020
4. Data quality may include things like relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, interpretability, and
coherence. For more information, check out the Government of Canada’s Policy on Informing Users of Data Quality
and Methodology.
17
What will we do? How we will know we succeeded? What is our
deadline?
restrictions associated with
privacy, confidentiality, and
security
(TBS)
availability of documents in both official
languages in order to comply with the
Official Languages Act, the Treasury
Board Policy on Official Languages, and
the Standard on Web Accessibility
A subset of working documents produced
by at least 3 government departments, in
addition to the Open Government team
at TBS, is available through the Open by
Default portal
June 2020
1.5 Co-create a public, digital
collaboration space where
citizens and government
employees can work together
(TBS)
A public, digital collaboration space is
launched, and made available for
Canadians and government officials to
use. The collaboration space will:
• allow users to register with a single,
easy-to-use sign-in
• allow Canadians and government
officials to share files, work
collaboratively, and participate in
community discussions
June 2019
1.6 Develop open data
guidelines to protect the
privacy of citizens, businesses,
and institutions
(StatCan)
A series of workshops is delivered by
Statistics Canada to train participants on
the application of guidelines for the
anonymization of datasets
June 2019
1.7 Help Canadians understand
the data and models used to
design and study government
programs
(ESDC)
Microsimulation models, including
underlying datasets, results and
supporting documents, are made publicly
available to help to explain how the
government uses these models to design
programs and to estimate their impacts
December 2019
and ongoing
Commitments
-
User-Friendly Open Government
CA0064, 2018, Access to Information
-
Financial Transparency and Accountability
CA0065, 2018, Access to Information
-
Corporate Transparency
CA0066, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Digital Government and Services
CA0067, 2018, Automated Decision-Making
-
Open Science
CA0068, 2018, Access to Information
-
Healthy Democracy
CA0069, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Access to Information
CA0070, 2018, Access to Information
-
Feminist and Inclusive Dialogue
CA0071, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Reconciliation and Open Government
CA0072, 2018, Access to Information
-
Open Government Community
CA0073, 2018, Access to Information
-
Enhance Access to Information
CA0042, 2016, Access to Information
-
Streamline Requests for Personal Information
CA0043, 2016, E-Government
-
Expand and Improve Open Data
CA0044, 2016, Access to Information
-
Provide and Preserve Open Information
CA0045, 2016, E-Government
-
Define an Approach for Measuring Open Government Performance
CA0046, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Develop Open Government Skills Across the Federal Public Service
CA0047, 2016, Access to Information
-
Embed Transparency Requirements in the Federal Service Strategy
CA0048, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Enhance Access to Culture & Heritage Collections
CA0049, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Enhance Openness of Information on Government Spending and Procurement
CA0050, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Increase Transparency of Budget and Other Department of Finance Information
CA0051, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Increase Transparency of Grants and Contributions Funding
CA0052, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Improve Public Information on Canadian Corporations
CA0053, 2016, E-Government
-
Increase the Availability and Usability of Geospatial Data
CA0054, 2016, Access to Information
-
Increase Openness of Federal Science Activities (Open Science)
CA0055, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Stimulate Innovation through Canada’s Open Data Exchange (ODX)
CA0056, 2016, Access to Information
-
Align Open Data Across Canada (Open Data Canada)
CA0057, 2016, Access to Information
-
Implement the Extractives Sector Transparency Measures Act
CA0058, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Support Openness and Transparency Initiatives Around the World
CA0059, 2016, Access to Information
-
Engage Civil Society on Open Government
CA0060, 2016, Public Participation
-
Enable Open Dialogue and Open Policy Making
CA0061, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Promote Open Government Globally
CA0062, 2016, Access to Information
-
Engage Canadians to Improve Key Canada Revenue Agency Services
CA0063, 2016, Access to Information
-
Implement Directive on Open Government
CA0030, 2014, Access to Information
-
Open Data Canada
CA0031, 2014, Access to Information
-
Canadian Open Data Exchange (ODX)
CA0032, 2014, Access to Information
-
Open Data for Development
CA0033, 2014, Access to Information
-
Open Data Core Commitment
CA0034, 2014, Access to Information
-
Open Science
CA0035, 2014, Public Participation
-
Mandatory Reporting on Extractives
CA0036, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Open Contracting
CA0037, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Open Information on Budgets and Expenditures
CA0038, 2014, Fiscal Openness
-
Digital Literacy
CA0039, 2014, Capacity Building
-
Open Information Core Commitment
CA0040, 2014, Access to Information
-
Consulting Canadians
CA0041, 2014, Marginalized Communities
-
International Aid Transparency Initiative: Publish Plan to Make CIDA Activities Available and Accessible
CA0010, 2012, Aid
-
International Aid Transparency Initiative: Implement Plan
CA0011, 2012, Aid
-
Opening Government of Canada Records: Increase Access to Archived Federal Documents at Library and Archives Canada
CA0012, 2012, Records Management
-
Opening Government of Canada Records: Issue New Mandatory Policy on Document Classification
CA0013, 2012, Records Management
-
Opening Government of Canada Records: Make Classified Information Available Online
CA0014, 2012, E-Government
-
GCDOCS: Deploy Wave One of Electronic Record and Document Management Solution
CA0015, 2012, E-Government
-
GCDOCS: Deploy Across Federal Government
CA0016, 2012, E-Government
-
GCWEB: Develop Consolidated Web Presence
CA0017, 2012, E-Government
-
GCWEB: Implement New Platform
CA0018, 2012, E-Government
-
Data.Gc.Ca: Expand Number of Datasets Available
CA0019, 2012, Access to Information
-
Data.Gc.Ca: Implement Data.Gc.Ca Portal
CA0020, 2012, Access to Information
-
Data.Gc.Ca: Improve Standardization of Data
CA0021, 2012, Access to Information
-
Government of Canada Resource Management Data: Publish Resource Management and Performance Data
CA0022, 2012, Access to Information
-
Government of Canada Resource Management Data: Enhance Search and Data Tools
CA0023, 2012, Access to Information
-
Consulting Canadians: Develop New Platform for Consultation
CA0024, 2012, E-Government
-
Consulting Canadians: Develop Standard Approach to Use of Social Media
CA0025, 2012, E-Government
-
Consulting Canadians: Pilot a Crowdsourcing Initiative
CA0026, 2012, E-Government
-
Consulting Canadians: Enable Use of Common Online Tools
CA0027, 2012, E-Government
-
Open Regulation: Federal Regulators to Post Forward Regulatory Plans
CA0028, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
-
Open Regulation: Simplify Engagement Activities
CA0029, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
-
Open Government Directive: Issue Directive on Open Government
CA0001, 2012, E-Government
-
Open Government Directive: Implement Directive on Open Government
CA0002, 2012, E-Government
-
Open Government Licence: Issue Open Government Licence
CA0003, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
-
Open Government Licence: Adopt Open Government Licence
CA0004, 2012,
-
Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Pilot of Online Request and Payment Service
CA0005, 2012, Access to Information
-
Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Implement ATI Solution
CA0006, 2012, Access to Information
-
Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Make Completed ATI Request Summaries Searchable
CA0007, 2012, Access to Information
-
Virtual Library: Begin Design of Virtual Library
CA0008, 2012, E-Government
-
Virtual Library: Launch Virtual Library
CA0009, 2012, E-Government