How can the Government of Canada best engage with you and your community? What would increase your trust in the Government of Canada? Folks had a chance to answer these and other questions when a team from the federal government recently hosted a public engagement session in Yellowknife.
On March 19 Sharon Embaye and Cara Scarfone, who are research analysts with a reform initiative known as Open Government, led the session at the Historical Museum on Ingraham Trail. They are traveling across the country to hear from folks far and wide, to “co-create” a new national action plan for open government.
The initiative is run out of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and is part of a broader global movement known as the International Open Government Partnership which began in 2011. The partnership brings together governments across the globe to strive for transparent, participatory, inclusive and accountable governance.
The partnership brings together 77 countries including Canada and 150 local governments, representing over two billion people and thousands of civil society organizations.
“Part of the open government partnership membership requirements is that we create one of these plans, but it has to be co-created with the public. So that means that we go out, we talk to people, we find out what their concerns are, what their priorities are and we bring those back to our departments and we talk to them and see what we can do, to make sure that this is being addressed,” said Scarfone.
This will be Canada’s sixth national action plan. As a member of the partnership, the federal government of Canada is required to develop and carry out a national action plan every two to four years.
Once the data is collected, the report comes back to the public for feedback. The process aims to grow a “dialogue” and “continuous involvement” from the public, explained Embaye.
Anyone who would like to know more can visit the Lets Talk Open Government website and is invited to participate online.
Community members who attended the session took part in a discussion around themes of inclusive and meaningful participation, designing inclusive government programs and services, protecting civic spaces and democracy (specifically in the digital era where many are concerned about the potential spread of dis/information on social media), anti-corruption, public confidence, and corporate transparency.
Among the feedback and criticism raised was that individuals and communities living in the far North feel that their voices often seem to be regarded as “inconsequential” when it comes to political decisions.
Another point raised was that In remote areas, connectivity issues pose compounded accessibility obstacles for anyone who would like to access participatory platforms online.
Embaye and Scarfone heard from community members who felt initiatives like this could also happen within Indigenous communities led by Indigenous governance across the territories.
“To improve, inclusiveness and transparency, there needs to be real dollars, funding, rather than giving it to the GNWT, you give half of that money for policy allocations to all of the Indigenous governments across the N.W.T.,” a community member suggested.
Embaye and Scarfone accepted and thanked everyone for their feedback. They expressed an understanding that many people and communities have felt excluded from political participation in discussions and decisions.
They affirmed that this project is striving to change that in a system where change often happens at a “glacial pace.”
“We’re constantly learning. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re so grateful to be part of these discussions,” said Scarfone.
