Canada’s 2018-2020 National Action Plan on Open Government

Establishing the MSF

The MSF launched in late 2017. The MSF emerged from sustained calls from the open government community for such a Forum. It was also a top recommendation from the OGP’s Independent Review Mechanism.

To create the MSF, a group of dedicated volunteers ran an open process across the country to identify the right mix of people to advance discussions. Establishing the MSF was based on the recognition that the open government movement is meant to be a dialogue between partners inside and outside government. Sometimes this dialogue takes the form of collaboration and sometimes it means responding to constructive critiques.

The role of the MSF in developing the National Action Plan

Launching the 2018-2020 National Action Plan on Open Government offers an opportunity to take stock of how the MSF is working. It provides an important opportunity to assess whether we are being successful in reflecting Canadians’ needs into open government commitments. It is also an opportunity to provide the MSF’s assessment of the plan, and the development process for the plan.

We’ll be clear: we view the current status of our collaboration as a starting point. This has been a learning year. It has allowed us to identify many challenges for meaningful collaboration and co-creation, but we remain committed to the vision of the MSF. It can provide an opportunity for its members to better understand each other’s realities and concerns and to explore how to work together. We appreciate that everyone came to the table with deep expertise, sharp insights, and a commitment to work together.

From the government perspective, we learned that we need to do far more to secure a deep and meaningful commitment to the MSF process across the entire government. We need to find a way to connect the work of the MSF to decision points for the many programs and policies that run in parallel to open government. This means that we need to align our work more closely to budget cycles and policy development processes. We also need to do a better job to ensure that public servants understand that open government is not a box to be checked off but rather a new way to do things. It is a new lens through which we can review our goals, our methods, our processes, our accomplishments… and even our failures. We need to enshrine the principle of genuine openness between collaborative partners. This is not only about listening; it’s about acting.

From the civil society perspective, there was a sense that the 2018-2020 National Action Plan initiative was not ready for incorporating civil society contributions into the process. Initial timelines for deliverables and public engagement were tight, expectations to have access to public officials in various key departments were high, and there was a realistic belief that the pent-up collection of previously recommended but unaddressed commitments would be foundational components of the 2018-2020 Plan. It was a challenge for the civil society members, both volunteering their limited time and potentially compromising their reputations in the broader civil society community, to remain committed and actively engaged in the process. Civil society members contributing to the 2018-2020 Plan had to rationalize that the process was an important and necessary growing pain to establish a more fruitful foundation for future National Action Plans.

Results: learning to work together

From the perspective of the MSF as a whole, we did not reach consensus on the direction of the National Action Plan, or even how it should be developed. But we still believe in the value of this process and the possibilities it raises. We believe in the value of co-creating and we think that we have taken meaningful steps and learned important lessons to realize that value.

The government members found the MSF helpful in creating momentum around particular commitments to chart bolder paths forward. The civil society members of the MSF appreciated that the government members were truly committed to the principles of open government and collaboration and actively sought to understand civil societies’ concerns and frustrations.

We recognize that members have different roles as both part of the MSF and as officials, advocates, and leaders in other capacities. As such, members continue to be free to express their thoughts about the National Action Plan and to advocate for the progress they want to see.

The 2018-2020 National Action Plan is undoubtedly better because of the MSF and its discussions. That said, we recognize that there is room for improvement and progress. It is precisely that belief that drives the open government movement: that we can always do better. We hope that the MSF can build on what we accomplished, mature into a stronger body, and drive ambitious open government reforms that have lasting and meaningful impact on Canadians’ lives.

Progress achieved to date

Canada’s commitment to open government is reflected in the sustained, incremental progress that has brought together partners from across the Government of Canada and in governments and civil society organizations across the country.

As part of the implementation of our 2016-18 National Action Plan, we took significant steps to make government more open, including:

• establishing a Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Open Government, bringing together government and civil society representatives to provide strategic direction for our work
• increasing the transparency of information on grants and contributions using a collaborative approach
• publishing the full data tables from the federal budget, just one week after the tabling of the budget in the House of Commons
• creating a new search function on open.canada.ca, allowing users to search through Government of Canada and Government of Alberta data through a single site

In all, we were able to complete implementation of 16 of the 22 commitments in our 2016-2018 Plan and significant progress was made on the other 6 commitments. You can learn more about our successes and the lessons we learned in our End-of-Term Self-Assessment Report.

The 2016 to 2018 Plan gave us an important framework to guide our open government efforts. But it could never capture all that the Government of Canada is doing to advance openness. As of September 2018, there are 67 departments and agencies contributing data and information to the open.canada.ca open government portal. Over the last 3 years alone, the Government of Canada has done more than 300 public consultations to ensure our work meets the needs and expectations of Canadians. And through learning materials, workshops, and training sessions, we have reached thousands of public servants to help them understand how they can make their work more open and accountable to Canadians. Other notable actions taken by the Government of Canada to enhance openness during the 2016 to 2018 period include:

• The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat launched its @OpenGovCan Twitter account, allowing Canadians to keep up with our work and learn more about open government in Canada and around the world
• Library and Archives Canada launched Co-Lab, a tool that allows any Canadian to contribute to making history more accessible by transcribing, tagging, translating and describing digitized images in Library and Archives Canada’s collection
• Changes were made to the House of Commons Standing Orders to better align the federal Budget and Estimates processes, ensuring Canadians and Parliamentarians have more accurate, detailed information, and they are better able to hold government to account for how it spends taxpayer dollars
• Departments and agencies across the Government of Canada held dozens of public consultations on issues as diverse as the legalization of cannabis, a new Government of Canada Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy, the protection of oceans, the Government of Canada’s approach to big data and innovation, the transition to a low carbon energy future, and the federal budget

Canada’s global open government leadership

Canada’s accomplishments in open government have been recognized on a global scale. In March 2017, Canada was elected to the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) for a 3-year term. The OGP is the leading global forum on open government issues. It works with member governments around the world to create concrete commitments to make governments more inclusive, responsive and accountable. They provide structure to Canada’s open government work through their 2-year National Action Plan process, which allows us to make commitments and report regularly on how we are following through on those commitments.

In September 2017, Canada accepted the role of co-chair of the OGP’s Steering Committee. This is a position of unprecedented leadership for Canada in the global open government community. Canada is honoured to serve as lead government co-chair of the OGP Steering Committee from October 2018 to October 2019.

The Government of Canada will work in close collaboration with our civil society co-chair Nathaniel Heller, Executive Vice President for Integrated Strategies at Results for Development.

In October 2018, we released our OGP co-chair strategy which included our priorities of inclusion, participation, and impact. We also committed to reporting publicly on progress on our leadership commitments. Canada also announced that we would host an OGP Global Summit in May 2019, welcoming the world to Ottawa to share experiences and face common challenges in open government.

Developing Canada’s plan for 2018 to 2020

From November 2017 to April 2018, the Government of Canada conducted an extensive public engagement process to understand Canadians’ priorities and expectations with regard to the fourth Plan. This was the Open Government team’s most ambitious public engagement event to date. You can find more information about this process in our What We Heard – Summary Report.

In total, more than 10,000 people participated through in-person and online events, providing suggestions and ideas for the 2018-2020 Plan. In-person events were held in 14 cities across Canada, and online events included a Reddit discussion, webinars on key thematic areas, an online questionnaire, and an ongoing Twitter dialogue. Ideas were also submitted via email and online through open.canada.ca. In the course of the consultation, over 5,000 ideas and comments were received from Canadians across the country.

From comments to commitments

Based on the input received through the public engagement process, the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, and the feminist and inclusive peer review, the Open Government team worked closely with departments across the Government of Canada to develop 10 draft National Action Plan commitments. Where possible, commitment text was co-created (drafted in collaboration) with both internal (government) and external (civil society) partners.

These 10 draft National Action Plan commitments were made publicly available and over a 3-week period Canadians were invited to provide their thoughts on the draft commitments. Almost 600 comments and ideas were received, which have helped to improve and shape the plan’s final commitments.

The commitments in our 2018-2020 Plan cover a wide range of areas, and each commitment includes specific milestones and success indicators. We believe we have drafted an ambitious, forward-thinking Action Plan that not only reflects the OGP values of transparency, accountability, and participation, but also reflects our co-chair priorities of inclusion, participation, and impact. We look forward to working with our partners throughout the federal government, across Canada, and around the world to implement these commitments between now and August 31, 2020.

Our guiding principles

What is captured in the commitments below are the specific actions we will take to make government more open. But we also know there are core principles that we must apply to all our open government initiatives. These are the principles that will guide our work every day, through every step in every process we take:

• Inclusion: The inclusion of citizens in decision-making processes is the core of democracy. In all our work, we will be inclusive and welcoming of everyone, with special focus on supporting meaningful participation from communities who are marginalized, at risk, or left out of government decisions.
• Gender equity: We know that the commitments in our plan may affect different people in different ways based on various aspects of their individual identities. We are committed to the inclusion of women, girls, and non-binary people in all open government activities, and we will apply an intersectional^{Footnote 2} lens to all commitments and open government activities.
• Accessibility: We will continue to ensure that the open information and data we provide and our public engagement activities are accessible to all, using a variety of in-person and online platforms to reach a wide audience of Canadians.
• User-centric thinking: We know that governments sometimes work and communicate in ways that are hard for Canadians to understand. We will work to communicate in plain language, and we will think about our intended audience when we publish new information. We will also work to design programs and services that respond to the needs of Canadians, and we will talk to Canadians to understand those needs.
• Reconciliation: We must do more to ensure that our open government work reflects the needs and expectations of our partners in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities across the country. The implementation of all our commitments will be guided by Canada’s renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples. We will also be guided by the fundamental principle of "nothing about us, without us" so that all programs, policies, and services affecting Indigenous peoples are designed in consultation and in collaboration with them.
• Collaboration: The global open government movement is only as powerful as the people that fuel it. Our progress is made more meaningful, and ultimately more sustainable, if we remain open to a diversity of views and experiences, and we learn from each other. We will work in collaboration with partners inside and outside government, across Canada and around the world. We will identify best practices, share lessons learned, and support each other to open up government and better serve citizens. We will be learning along the way, and sharing these lessons, as our efforts will help shape a new way for government to work.

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

Issue to be addressed

Many Canadians find it difficult to understand how the government spends their tax dollars. Governments can improve financial transparency by providing tools and information to make their spending easier to understand and by releasing more detailed information to allow citizens to hold governments to account.

Commitment

The Government of Canada will continue to improve the transparency of its spending and its open contracting to make it easier for Canadians to understand federal budgets, track funding decisions, and examine government procurement and spending processes. We will:

• make government budget and spending information easier to find and understand
• publish an analysis of gender-based impacts for all Budget measures^{Footnote 3}
• ensure Canadians have access to open data on Government of Canada procurement
• explore adoption of common contracting data standards across Canada

Lead department(s)

Department of Finance Canada (FIN); Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC); Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); other departments and agencies across the Government of Canada

Milestones

Issue to be addressed

Concealing information about corporate ownership can facilitate:

• tax evasion
• money laundering
• terrorist financing
• human rights abuses
• corruption

By improving corporate transparency, governments can safeguard against the misuse of corporations and other legal entities while continuing to facilitate the ease of doing business in order to foster growth and innovation.

In Canada, the responsibility for corporate law is shared between federal, provincial, and territorial governments. Additionally, international collaboration and information-sharing where appropriate can support more effective work in this domain by identifying best practices and common challenges. Coordination is therefore needed to address corporate issues effectively.

Commitment

The Government of Canada will continue to work with provincial and territorial governments to implement the federal, provincial, and territorial finance ministers’ December 2017 Agreement to Strengthen Beneficial Ownership Transparency. We will:

• require federal corporations to hold beneficial ownership information
• engage with key stakeholders on possible options to improve timely access to beneficial ownership information

Lead department(s)

Department of Finance Canada (FIN); Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)

Milestones

Issue to be addressed

The Government of Canada is going digital, and that means we need to fundamentally change the way we work. We want our investments in digital government to make Canadians’ lives better, and we want the benefits of digital government to reach as many people as possible. To achieve this goal, we need to follow the principles of transparency, accountability, and accessibility in implementing new and evolving government digital technologies and services.

Commitment

The Government of Canada will apply the principles of openness to its digital services, allowing it to meet evolving user expectations while enhancing transparency and inclusion. We will:

• develop a Government of Canada digital policy and data strategy roadmap for the federal public service
• engage with Canadians on what digital and data transformation means for them
• create a performance dashboard to track service to Canadians
• publish analytics on Canada.ca website traffic
• prioritize open source code in developing digital solutions
• improve transparency and awareness of the Government’s use of artificial intelligence (AI)

Lead department(s)

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC); Canada School of Public Service (CSPS); Library and Archives Canada (LAC); Privy Council Office (PCO); Statistics Canada (StatCan); Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED); Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); other departments and agencies across the Government of Canada

Milestones

Issue to be addressed

Public access to science conducted or collected by the federal government has great potential value, but government-funded science is sometimes hard to access. This is because it is not open, easy to find, or communicated in a way that resonates with Canadians. Many Canadians also do not know how to find information about federal scientists who are working on issues of interest to them.

Commitment

The Government of Canada will make federal science, scientific data, and scientists more accessible. We will:

• develop a Canada Open Science Roadmap to provide a plan for greater openness in federal science and research activities
• provide a platform for Canadians to find and access open access publications from federal scientists
• raise public awareness of federal scientists’ work and of open science
• promote open science and solicit feedback on stakeholder needs
• measure progress in implementing open science and the benefits it can provide

Lead department(s)

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC); National Research Council Canada (NRC); Office of the Chief Science Advisor; Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); other science-based departments and agencies (SBDAs)

Milestones

Issue to be addressed

There is growing evidence that trust in public institutions is low and citizens are concerned about campaigns of false information and "fake news."^{Footnote 4} These factors can present a threat to healthy democracy. It is critical for Canadians to have the tools and information to think critically about public policy, so they can participate more effectively in democratic processes.

Commitment

The Government of Canada will build the resilience of Canadian democratic institutions in the digital age, while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. We will:

• strengthen democratic institutions in Canada through modernized election laws
• strengthen international capacity to identify and respond to evolving threats to democracy
• support a healthy and reliable news ecosystem in Canada
• champion diversity of content, and quality and transparency of information online

Lead department(s)

Canadian Heritage (PCH); Global Affairs Canada (GAC); Privy Council Office (PCO)

Milestones

Issue to be addressed

Canadians want to have easier access to information held by the Government of Canada, including their own personal information.

Commitment

The Government of Canada will advance its commitment to more open and transparent government. We will:

• undertake a full review of the Access to Information Act
• improve tools available to people who request government information
• improve transparency about personal information that the government holds

Lead department(s)

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); other departments and agencies across the Government of Canada

Milestones

Issue to be addressed

Open government should benefit all Canadians. Yet many communities continue to be under-represented in government engagement processes. These communities seeking equality can include women, girls, LGBTQ2 people, racialized communities, persons with disabilities, young Canadians, low-income Canadians, and others who face barriers in accessing government information and participating meaningfully in the government’s decision-making

Commitment

The Government of Canada will support greater inclusion and diversity in its public engagement. We will apply an intersectional^{Footnote 5} lens to open government activities and work to ensure that the voices and experiences of marginalized and under-represented communities are represented, considered, and included. In particular, we will:

• test ways to make government engagement and consultation processes more open to everyone
• implement Gender Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) in public engagements and consultations
• build capacity for government officials to design, facilitate, and support more open and inclusive dialogue
• engage Canadians on gender equality
• support initiatives that build the capacity and longer term viability of women’s organizations
• increase access to gender and inclusion data
• put people with lived experiences of the consequences of public policy, including members of vulnerable communities such as persons who are homeless or in poverty, at the centre of Government of Canada policy design processes
• ensure our own National Action Plan on Open Government is as inclusive as possible by conducting a rigorous analysis of gender-based impacts of all commitments^{Footnote 6}

Lead department(s)

Canada School of Public Service (CSPS); Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC); Statistics Canada (StatCan); Status of Women Canada (SWC); Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); other departments and agencies across the Government of Canada

Milestones

Issue to be addressed

The Government of Canada is committed to a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples, based on recognition of rights, respect, cooperation, and partnership, open government activities.

The Government of Canada acknowledges the great harm some of its policies and laws have caused to Indigenous people and their cultures, heritage, and languages. Government must strive to ensure this history is not repeated by working to ensure Indigenous perspectives, values, and lived experiences are included in decisions about the policies, laws, relationships, and decisions that impact their lives. As expressed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), government must also "respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peoples which derive from their political, economic and social structures and from their cultures, spiritual traditions, histories, and philosophies, especially their rights to their lands, territories, and resources."

Commitment

Open government is a way to ensure that government decision-making processes represent and are informed by the voices of the people that will be affected by them. The Government of Canada will engage directly with First Nations, Inuit and Métis rights holders and stakeholders to explore an approach to reconciliation and open government, in the spirit of building relationships of trust and mutual respect.

This commitment has been purposely designed to allow for significant co-creation and co-implementation, encouraging First Nations, Inuit, and Métis rights holders and stakeholders to define their own approaches to engagement on open government issues. We recognize that, in contrast to other commitments, government cannot act alone to define an approach. Instead, we must work in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of activities and engagement processes that we could explore in the coming years to allow us to continue our journey of reconciliation and relationship-building.

Lead department(s)

Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNA); Statistics Canada (StatCan); Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS)

Milestones

Issue to be addressed

As the global open government movement has matured in recent years, we have increasingly recognized that open government initiatives have the potential to transform the lives of citizens. But these efforts can be vulnerable to changes in political leadership and competing government priorities. For open government to be sustainable, we need to make efforts to foster a strong, cohesive community across Canada and around the world that can continue to push for ambitious reforms in all levels of government.

Greater collaboration across the open government community can also lead to more effective work, as good practices and lessons learned can be shared to help others identify challenges and opportunities.

As lead government co-chair of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Canada has an unprecedented opportunity to convene and support the open government community around the world and here at home.

Commitment

The Government of Canada will demonstrate leadership at home and abroad, working with partners in government, civil society, and the private sector to share lessons learned and support a collaborative approach to align and advance open government efforts. In particular, we will:

• launch an ambitious strategy as co-chair of the OGP Steering Committee, in partnership with its civil society co-chair, Nathaniel Heller of Results for Development
• help to advance the responsible release and use of open data in OGP countries
• support international events to drive peer learning and measure open government impact internationally
• build capacity for governments worldwide to design more inclusive open government initiatives
• strengthen collaboration with other governments in Canada through the Canada Open Government Working Group, and expand the working group to include representatives of national municipal organizations

Lead department(s)

Canada School of Public Service (CSPS); International Development Research Centre (IDRC) through Open Data for Development (OD4D); Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); partners in provincial, territorial, and municipal governments across Canada

Milestones