Working on open government in Canada
I‘ve been thinking about how I can contribute most effectively to improving how governments work and how citizens inform, direct and monitor that work — or ‘open government,’ ‘civic tech’ or ‘open data’ in contemporary jargon.
Many people for whom this sort of work is a hobby have asked me the same — this series is primarily for them.
In this post, it helps to distinguish different ways of contributing. As part of my contribution to the “what is civic tech?” discussion in 2013,¹ I listed five ways that people can exercise power over institutions. Updating for the present discussion, one can:
Mandate the improvements
At the federal level in Canada, this power is largely exercised by the members of Cabinet, the members of Parliament (collectively), the officers of Parliament with order-making powers, the Clerk of the Privy Council, the deputy ministers in government departments, and the heads of regulators. To the extent that judicial activism exists, judges may exercise this power.
If the last paragraph didn’t make any sense to you, don’t worry about it — in practice, considering the difficulty of assuming those roles, the only realistic option² to exercise this power is to join a Cabinet minister’s office as a policy advisor.
I discuss this strategy in Working on open government in Canadian politics.
Deliver the improvements
You can deliver improvements to government by joining the civil service, by formally partnering with it, or by informally cooperating with it.
(In some cases, you may also be able to provide a government-type service independent of government, but this may not be sustainable.)
For example, let’s say you’re passionate about improving the government’s data quality. You can join the civil service and negotiate with your manager to spend time on this work. You can join a company that lobbies for and wins contracts to do this work. Or you can join a company that takes the government’s data, improves it, and sells the improved data, without integrating it back into the government.
In this series, I won’t investigate providing services independently, since the goal is to improve government itself. I discuss this strategy in more detail in:
- Working on open government as a civil servant (link forthcoming) and
- as a government contractor.
There are many Canadian nonprofits, companies and universities at which you can work on open government using this strategy. For example, TechPo.org (a resource I started with Lex Gill) has a list of Montreal-based organizations working at the intersection of technology, policy and society.
Demonstrate the improvements
In some cases, only a government has the authority to deliver a service (like a police service). If you can’t use the previous strategy of delivering an improvement, an alternative strategy is to demonstrate the improvement.
For example, David Eaves initiated datadotgc.ca to demonstrate to the Government of Canada “what a federal open data portal could and should look like.” It was never intended to serve as that portal or substitute for it.
This strategy relies on governments taking notice of your innovation and adopting it. In most cases, this means sticking around for many years (or decades) to gather evidence for your solution, build a reputation, and get attention.
In order to be sustainable, the demonstration needs to be paired with other work — often with consulting contracts that require the same skills and expertise, or by selling the solution at a smaller scale than if government were to adopt it.
If the improvement is not related to a government priority, this strategy is often paired with lobbying governments (coming up below!).
I don’t know any organization using this as a major strategy to promote open government, civic tech or open data — though it’s often a minor strategy.
Advise governments
In short, tell the government what to do, when they ask for your advice.
This strategy’s impact is greatly limited by the demand for advice.
I briefly explore this strategy in Working on open government in Canadian think tanks.
Lobby governments
Tell the government what to do, even if they aren’t asking for your advice.
This strategy’s impact is limited by the funds it can raise to run campaigns.
The Data Coalition in the United States may be the world’s only trade association dedicated to open data. However, there are sector-specific data lobbies, like Publish What You Fund for international development aid transparency or Publish What You Pay for financial transparency in the extractives sector.
I don’t know any Canadian whose job is lobbying governments on open government, civic tech or open data.
Monitor governments
If a policy area is large enough, there may be demand for journalists and watchdogs to monitor governments and hold them to account.
I don’t know any Canadian journalists or watchdogs with a primary mandate to monitor governments on open government, civic tech or open data.
What’s next?
In the next posts, I describe the different types of employers offering work on open government, civic tech or open data in Canada:
- Working on open government in Canadian politics
- Working on open government as a civil servant (link forthcoming)
- Working on open government in Canada as a contractor
- Working on open government in Canadian think tanks
Footnotes
1. For the best contribution to date to the “what is civic tech?” discussion, see Emily Shaw’s article.
2. The power of officers of Parliament and of regulators is scoped to one issue area (privacy, lobbying or elections, for example) and is bounded by the legislation that governs their work. If you are passionate about a specific issue area, joining these organizations may be an option.
The power of members of Parliament is limited by the composition and procedures of Parliament, the priorities of other members of the same party, and the priorities of the constituencies from which they were elected. If your only interest is to change how government works, joining an MP’s office is inadvisable.
The power of the Clerk and of deputy ministers to improve how government works is restricted due to being responsible for so many other things.
