A. Study overview

Governments collect and produce a wealth of data. Increasingly, governments worldwide have started to implement open data strategies and to launch open data portals to enable the release of these data in open and reusable formats. In this context, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (hereinafter “the Committee”) adopted the following motion:

That the Committee undertake, consistent with Canada’s signing of the G8 Open Data Charter, a study to assess and enhance the government’s open data practices; that this study include examining how Canadian businesses can better obtain and utilize high-value information with strong economic potential from the government and reviewing the processes and practices of other governments with respect to their collection, storage and transfer of open data; and that the Committee use its findings to provide the government with direction and advice focused on improving the way this high-value data is collected, stored and transferred to Canadians, resulting in access to useful and useable open data that will drive economic growth as part of an information economy.

Over the course of its study, the Committee held 11 meetings and heard testimony from federal, provincial and municipal officials, industry representatives, academics and other stakeholders. As well, witnesses from the United Kingdom and the United States each discussed the open data initiatives in their countries. In addition, a representative from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provided insight into the open data experience in other countries. The Committee focused its study on users’ needs in relation to the federal government’s open data initiative, the best practices of other jurisdictions with respect to open data and the economic and social benefits associated with the use of open data.

In his remarks, the President of the Treasury Board told the Committee that open data is Canada’s next “natural resource.” Likewise, Richard Stirling, International Director of the U.K. Open Data Institute, added that open data is a raw material for the digital age. Many witnesses agreed – there is value in open data.

Several witnesses underscored the importance of understanding the terminology in relation to open data. At the outset of the study, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Government of Canada explained the following:

• Raw data is machine-readable data at the lowest level of integration that can be reused alone, or mashed up with other data in innovative ways. The government either generates or collects and aggregates a vast amount of raw data.
• Metadata is data about data. It describes the contents of a dataset and the specific kinds of information in each field.
• Open data is the practice that takes the raw data and the metadata and makes it available through a portal, as is the case of data.gc.ca.

B. Federal initiatives

The federal government first launched its open data portal as a pilot project in March 2011. The following year, the federal government announced Canada’s membership in the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a group of countries working toward making government more open, accountable and responsive to citizens. As part of its commitments to the OGP, Canada endorsed the OGP Open Government Declaration, which includes improving access to open data. In April 2012, the federal government also released Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government with a focus on three activity streams – open information, open data and open dialogue – consistent with the objectives of the OGP. While the three activity streams are interrelated, the Committee focused its study on open data.

Under Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government, the federal government outlined two commitments with respect to open data: to establish a new open data portal and to publish additional resource management and performance data in relation to federal departments and agencies. The federal government’s Implementation of Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government (Year-1) Self-Assessment Report summarizes the progress made in 2012–2013 in relation to these commitments. In particular, the new data.gc.ca open data portal was launched in June 2013, and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) expenditure database with historical financial information on departmental spending was released in April 2013.

Moving ahead with its open data initiative, Canada formally adopted the G8 Open Data Charter in June 2013. Under the G8 Open Data Charter, Canada agreed to develop a country-specific action plan for implementing the Charter’s requirements; release high-value datasets in 14 keys areas; and contribute to a G8 metadata mapping exercise. In February 2014, the federal government released its open data action plan, G8 Open Data Charter – Canada's Action Plan. The open data action plan summarizes the progress made to date and details the eight commitments that the federal government will pursue in relation to open data. The open data action plan also outlines certain high-value datasets that the federal government intends to release through its open data portal.

In order to promote its open data portal, the federal government launched its first “appathon” in February 2014. The 2014 Canadian Open Data Experience – a mobile and web-based application challenge – brought together 927 registered participants from universities in all provinces across Canada. The “appathon” challenged participants to develop applications using the federal government’s open data.

Overall, the federal government has commitments related to open data as part of its membership in the OGP, in accordance with its action plan on open government, and in accordance with its action plan on open data. These commitments build on each other, and represent the federal government’s plan with respect to open data.

In accordance with the G8 Open Data Charter, Canada agreed to implement five foundational open data principles by 31 December 2015: Open Data by Default; Quantity and Quality; Useable by All; Releasing Data for Improved Governance; and Releasing Data for Innovation. The various themes and findings that emerged throughout the study are presented in the report according to these five principles. These foundational principles represent an interconnected web that support open data, and as such, some findings may relate to more than one principle.