Established | 2017 |
---|---|
Executive Director | Dorothy Eng |
Location | Toronto, Ontario |
Website | codefor |
Code for Canada is a nonprofit organization (NPO) that was co-founded in 2017 by the government of the province of Ontario, Canada with a mandate to work with the technology and government sectors and innovators from the community, to improve digital technologies that underlie government services.[1]
According to a January 2017 interview with Gabe Sawhney, Code for Canada Executive Director and Co-founder of NOW Magazine, Code for Canada is modeled after Code for America and its "chapters in Australia, Germany, Mexico and Pakistan."[2] Sawhney said that their target audience included committed tech innovators, inside and outside government, willing to partner to find technological and design solutions for civic issues.[2] Code for Canada, is similar to the civic technology movement in the United States, Code for America and Code for Australia.[3]
In April 2017, Deb Matthews, the Ontario minister for digital governance announced that the Province of Ontario was co-founding Code for Canada with a contribution of $700,000. Code for Canada's designers and coders work with government to improve and/or create "high-technology" coding that is "simpler, faster and easier to use", resulting in the provision of better government services that cost less.[1]
Code for Canada works with communities and government in Canada to improve digital technologies.[4][Notes 1]
Through their fellowship program, Code for Canada, fellows who are digital technology and design experts, spend 10 months working collaboratively with public servants in government departments to improve services.[5] Fellows demonstrate the most recent "methods in software development, design thinking, user experience research and product management,"[4][5] and examine how the "Internet and data can support and serve Canadian civil society, and our values of fairness and inclusivity."[6]
In 2017 Code for Canada offered Federal Fellowship with the Canadian Digital Service (CDS) and Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).[6][Notes 2] By January 2017, Code for Canada had already received 300 applications for their first team of six Fellows.[2]
Leon Lukashevsky, a 2017 fellow with "web development skills", described how Code for Canada Fellows work to make "Canadian civil services" more "digitally savvy".[7] In his 2017 article in Medium, Lukashevsky wrote that, "Modern governments need to understand and leverage the Internet to actualize public policy and meet residents’ expectations."[6] He described the Fellows as "democracy-driven" and compared it to the process behind the creation of e-Estonia, and its underlying digital platform X-Road.[Notes 3] Estonia, tagged the "Digital Republic" by The New Yorker, launched e-Estonia in 2017 to improve interactions between citizens and government through electronic solutions.[8] He noted that X-Road architects had "turned to democratic ideals for guidance."[7] Lukashevsky described the goal of this collaboration with CDS and VAC, was to "improve Canadian veterans' awareness of — and access to — benefits and services ... to improve their quality of life."[6]
In 2018, Christine Lee, Product Strategy, Design, and Management expert and Code for Canada fellow with the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Advanced Education & Skill Development, led a team "building products collaboratively using discovery sprints".[5] Lee's professional background is in "digital product management, development, and finance".[5]
Technology and design for the common good
2017 Code for Canada fellow Leon Lukashevsky reflects on why he brought his web development skills to the public service