Winnipeg, MB – Each year in September, approximately 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations mark Right to Know Week to raise awareness of an individual’s right to access government information, while promoting freedom of information as an essential element of democracy and good government.
In February 2017, City Council approved the City’s Open Government Policy, which provides a framework to continue to move towards being more open, transparent, and accountable. The City’s Open Government Annual Review is before Council this week, and aims to provide a summary of the work that has been done to date on Open Government in the City of Winnipeg, and to outline work that is ongoing and planned for the future.
One of the objectives set out in the Open Government Policy is to proactively release information through Open Data. Open Data is information that is widely available, in a format that can be read by a computer, and is made available for anyone to use, transform or republish without restriction – it normally only requires that the data source be cited. The practice of providing Open Data must respect all legislation and Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) regulations.
Over the last year (September 2016 – September 2017), the City proactively shared 18 datasets to the Open Data Portal, including:
- Assessment Parcels – a list of all assessment parcels in the city
- Aggregate Building Permit Data – aggregate construction values for building permits, divided by year, neighbourhood, and permit type
- Voluntary Lobbyist Registry – a list of registrants
- Human Resources Report – dataset representing information on former and current employee complement
- Tree Inventory – detailed list and map of all public trees located in the city, including botanical name, common name, and precise location
To access the City’s publicly available datasets, please see the Open Data Portal.
Fostering innovation through participation and technology is another objective of the City’s Open Government Policy. In addition to Council and committee meetings being broadcast live online and archived for later viewing, Board of Revision hearings are now being live-streamed.
Through continued process improvements and proactive disclosure, the City saw an unprecedented drop in the volume of requests under FIPPA in 2016. The City processed 855 total requests in 2016, down from 993 in 2015, representing a 14 percent drop. The City publishes records of interest to the public both proactively and in response to requests under FIPPA.
For more information on FIPPA at the City, please consult the Access to Information webpage.