S4-Episode 7: The beauty and benefits of transparency: Ontario's public institutions rise to the challenge with innovative projects

Patricia Kosseim:

Hello, I'm Patricia Kosseim, Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, and you're listening to Info Matters, a podcast about people, privacy, and access to information. We dive into conversations with people from all walks of life and hear real stories about the access and privacy issues that matter most to them.

Hello, listeners, and welcome to a special episode of Info Matters. Today, we're putting the spotlight on some of the projects submitted by public institutions as part of our Transparency Challenge 2.0. This initiative builds on the success of our first Transparency Challenge last year. You can find our online transparency showcase on our website at ipc.on.ca. Now the idea behind the IPC's Transparency Challenge is to encourage good examples of access to information done right and promoting greater transparency more generally by highlighting the true benefits of open government. So we launched the challenge, calling on public sector institutions across Ontario to share their innovative projects and programs that improve government transparency and make real positive impact on the daily lives of Ontarians. Institutions took up our challenge, sending us their best initiatives that support open data and government transparency.

In today's episode, we'll be talking with three different institutions whose projects were selected as new exhibits in our Transparency showcase this year. I'll be joined by Steve Orsini and Josh Lovell from the Council of Ontario Universities, who will share insights about the Council's open data platform. We'll also hear from Mike Melinyshyn and Damian Mainprize from the town of Innisfil, Ontario about their Technology in Public Spaces Project and Andrea Roberts from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks will be here to tell us about the Ministry's Environmental Property Information Program, which makes it easier for the public to access environmental property records. This episode is packed with insightful discussions and valuable information about the exciting work being done out there by public institutions in support of greater openness and transparency. There's not a moment to waste, so let's get started.

Steve, Josh, welcome to Info Matters.

Steve Orsini:

Thank you for inviting us. It's our pleasure to be here.

PK:

Okay, so let's start from the beginning, shall we? Maybe you can tell us what motivated your organization to create the Ontario Universities' open data platform.

SO:

Ontario Universities have been collecting data and sharing data amongst themselves for years. We were collecting data when it was paper-based, and when we moved to the electronic era, it really accelerated our ability to collect and share information. The Council of Ontario Universities created the open data portal on ontariouniversities.ca to make it accessible to all the groups we're accountable for. We're accountable to government for the monies we receive. We're accountable to students and faculty and our staff as employees of our organization, and we're accountable to the municipalities and local chambers of commerce and the non-profit groups and for-profits group we work with. So by making this data widely available, it's built partnerships. More importantly, it helps to share understanding and best practices among universities of how they're performing, how they can advance in certain areas, and that's led to a lot of improvements in the system and we have a very robust system because of that data sharing.

PK:

I can't imagine it was too easy at the beginning. Did you encounter any hesitancy on the part of members to release data for this? And if so, how did you deal with that?

SO:

Well, a lot of effort went into what type of information are we making publicly available. Is it understandable? Is it consistently collected? Are they comparable? Universities want to make absolutely sure that the data is accurate, that it's relevant, and that it answers questions that people have and that takes time. And unless it's ready to be shared publicly, there is hesitation. But once we worked through those issues, we have one of the most open data sites of all post-secondary educational institutions across Canada. We believe we have more data that we publish than anyone else.

PK:

Maybe you can walk us more concretely through the types of data that are publicly accessible on the platform and how they actually benefit students, policymakers, and educators.

SO:

If you go to our open data site, we have a number of categories that you can access. For example, we have information on enrollment. We have information on the number of teaching faculty, research grants awarded, the graduation and employment rates by program. So if students are interested, how are people getting jobs when they graduate, we have that information available. We also have information available with our application center. We get over 800,000 applications a year. We have over 600,000 students in the Ontario Universities system this year. Students will want to know what programs are people applying to, how are they getting employed afterwards, what's the graduation rates and employment rates by program? All that information's available.

Josh Lovell:

I would say there's three buckets of data on our site and the first, it's what universities are doing and that's some of the stuff that Steve mentioned, the applications that they're processing, enrollment levels, and the programs that students are in. It's operational data that is available on a dedicated portal. The second bucket is about how universities are doing what they're doing. So as an example, we have our financial officers' portal that summarizes which revenues are coming into institutions, how they're spending their money, and other elements of their day-to-day operations. And then the third bucket, what are universities achieving? What are the graduation rates, the credentials that are being distributed, what are the workforce outcomes as Steve mentioned. There are synthesized reports as well that kind of articulate some of the biggest, most important trends in the sector, all available at ontariouniversities.ca as well.

PK:

I could just imagine how useful this data is, particularly for students, as you say, when they graduate. This is really important stuff depending on which program that they're in or they're intending to pursue. Can you tell us how do you ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data and what measures do you have in place to keep the information up to date?

SO:

For each of the key data streams, we have expert committees that ensure that we use the same methodology or consistent methodology in collecting that information, that we review and validate the information, and that we set an annual schedule to updating that information. Some information's updated on a more frequent basis, such as student applications to programs. We update that quarterly at the very least, if not more. And some is an annual updates like audited financial statements. And then these expert groups, they really pore over the data to ensure that we're comparing apples to apples.

PK:

And you get regular cooperation by your members to update this data on a regular basis throughout the year?

SO:

Yes. The committees, the expert working groups have a commitment to update this data on a regular basis. It's our commitment as part of our transparency and accountability to all our communities, government, our students, faculty, staff and municipalities and chambers of commerce to be open and transparent on this data that we share.

PK:

Obviously, you have many partners that you work with and that you're accountable to as you mentioned. What impacts have you observed or do you expect to see in terms of community engagement because of this enhanced transparency in university operations?

SO:

Sharing this information has opened up whole new partnerships that we would never have imagined. We'd post information on student graduation rates by program, employment rates by program. So we're getting employers and students looking at this information to see where the trends are going. And this has really opened up new dialogues with government and with our community partners. For example, during the pandemic, we saw a surge in nursing applications and the registered nurses of Ontario had reached out to us and said, "We've seen a surge in application in nursing. What can you tell us?" We worked with them to be clear in the data and what it's telling us and they use that to make a very compelling argument to government. Because of the needs of the healthcare system and the more nurses that the system required, we have a strong need for more nursing. And the government responded with more nursing positions and now, a lot of those applicants will now find spaces in nursing, whereas a few years ago, they couldn't.

So this has led to new programming and developing more opportunities for Ontario high school students to find a program that they're interested that they can apply to. And one other thing the data is showing us is that we have more Ontario high school students wanting to attend Ontario university than we have spaces for. And we're currently in discussions with government on how can we give more opportunities to Ontario students who want to learn in Ontario? And having the data that's public really helps facilitate an open discussion of how we're going to meet Ontario's needs. So having this data open, transparent, and accountable actually leads to better research, a better public discourse on what the issues are and what's the evidence to really support a public policymaking.

PK:

That's certainly an excellent example of how concrete data can facilitate and inform those discussions and the broader implications of our education system in the community. In what ways do you envisage the Ontario University open data platform evolving in the future?

SO:

I see it as a key value of the Council of Ontario Universities to continue to expand the development and sharing of information. We have a number of key objectives. One is to make sure the information's relevant, but also more user-friendly. We are changing how we present the information. We're allowing people to log in or go into the website and then program what data would they would like to access. So more of queries and questions that they can input and that makes it a lot more relevant and easier to use. And to us, having data is one thing. Making it more accessible is a key priority for us.

JL:

The only other thing I would flag is that over time, the types of data that are available on there now might become more or less relevant. And so part of the work that the universities do collaborate on is to make sure that they're continuously presenting the most relevant information to the public so that people have access to the information they want rather than just what is available online.

PK:

What's particularly impressive is the ongoing commitment that your organization and more importantly, your members continue to uphold in feeding the data necessary to make this platform meaningful and beneficial for all of the partners that you mentioned. So thank you so much and congratulations on a wonderful initiative.

SO:

Well, thank you again. We really appreciate you acknowledging our efforts, so thank you.

PK:

For this year's Transparency Challenge, we received submissions from cities and towns across Ontario. My next guests are from Innisfil, a small town located on the western shore of Lake Simcoe. This little town that could is proof positive that the size of the institution does not matter when it comes to open data and transparency. Small organizations can indeed have big impact.

Mike and Damien, thank you so much for joining us and welcome to Info Matters.

Damien Mainprize:

Thanks for having us.

Mike Melinyshyn:

Thank you for the invitation. Very excited to have this conversation.

PK:

Let's start in on just a bit of background if you like. Can you tell listeners about the Helpful Places Initiative?

MM:

As we started in Innisfil adopting different technologies, a strong compulsion to make sure we were doing it properly, being transparent about what we were doing and protecting the personal, identifiable information of our residents as we adopted those technologies, I was drafting a data governance strategy for the town of Innisfil, and in my research, I happened to connect with Jackie Liu, who was the director of data integration for Waterfront Toronto, and she was creating an organization called Helpful Places. That is where the project started from. She was trying to create a really transparent tool for municipalities to convey to your residents of the technologies that we're deploying across town.

And the tool is really interesting because it's two part. There's a signage taxonomy that really simplifies what technology is being deployed. So if it's a sensor, it's a small picture of a sensor or a CCTV camera is a picture of a camera. But the unique part of this was the implementation of a QR code. So residents could scan a QR code. It would tell what technology was being deployed, what data was being collected, where it was being stored, was it anonymized, could they access it? So it was a fully transparent tool and that's really what I found fascinating about this project.

PK:

I understand that you were one of just a handful of participating cities in this first cohort of the project. What other cities were participating?

MM:

We participated in the cohort project with Angers, France, Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington D.C. It was really exciting to participate being a smaller municipality of 45,000 people alongside Washington D.C. and Boston, which are very large municipalities, doing it in tandem with them, communicating on a regular basis with that cohort group, figuring out what worked and what couldn't work and what worked well, what should we try again in the future. It was just that synergies of collaboration that was really, really productive in making this pilot such a success.

Patricia Kosseim:

You pilot tested some technology that you were rolling out as part of this Healthful Places Initiative in the form of sensors and garbage bins, I think. Can you tell us how those sensors actually worked and what specific data were you collecting from these garbage bins?

MM:

I'm going to pass it up to Damien because we had a really great use case scenario.

DM:

We have multiple garbage bins, believe it or not, across the town. And so these ones specifically are underground bins and so they measure about eight feet deep in total and they're made of a composite kind of plastic material. And so as you can imagine, not just like your normal garbage can that might be filling up on a regular basis and you can service on a determined schedule. Many of these bins because of their location, because of the time of the season or the time of the year, they will fill up or not really be used, so our operations staff will need to service that on an irregular basis. We kicked this off and developed this use case during Covid times when a lot of people were sent home and we noticed a larger number of complaints in terms of garbage spill in the town and so we jumped on this particular initiative.

Back to the sensor itself, if you can imagine, they're about the size of a hockey puck and they get installed on the underneath part of the garbage bin lid and they send an ultrasonic pulse down to the waist and bounce back up to listen for that time. And so it's not determining the type of garbage or what's really being thrown out. It is strictly trying to measure the amount of garbage that's in that particular bin at any given time. They also measure the GPS location of the sensor, which is helpful for our operations team to know exactly the locations that might be more full than others. And ultimately, we would see that feeding into a root optimization for our staff. So not just having your predetermined thirty-so locations around the town, but knowing that these five in this particular area are going off, so you can really optimize that route.

And the other thing that the sensor will capture is the ambient temperature around it. And so that serves us with two purposes, especially with these types of bins. Because they're closed in, because they're so deep, it can flag whether or not the garbage bin has actually caught fire, so that is an immediate alert that can be sent out and kind of dealt with. But the other would be to determine whether or not at a particular temperature and a particular fill level is there an odor being given off on one of these bins and so as Mike mentioned, we're trying to be insightful with a lot of this technology, insightful with the way that we use some of these devices.

PK:

So if I understand correctly, your sensors aren't picking up that I've thrown away or discarded personal items or attaching me to whatever garbage I've thrown into the bin. You really are assessing both the need to empty them because of, as you say, odor or content and sending out your crews to empty them on a much more efficient basis. So that is an amazing explanation. I get it. But many residents might not get it because if they hear there are sensors on garbage cans, then their mind might leap immediately to privacy concerns. So how did you make sure that people understood what data was being collected and why? How did you do it in a simple way?

DM:

At the core of the DTPR or Helpful Places Program and cohort that we participated in, that really is the challenge that we are trying to solve. And so to accompany the sensor deployment or any of the technology deployments that were happening in the cohorts, the DTPR program created a standard set of taxonomy symbols or icons. They're installed as a part of the signage that gets deployed or installed at or near each of the technology sites. So for us, it was at our two main parks and the garbage bins that were around those locations. The sign is meant to capture the purpose of the project, a brief explanation, but it uses these taxonomy icons to very simply capture the purpose. So whether it's waste management, whether it's planning and design, it also includes an icon for the type of technology being used as well as the owning enterprise or, in our case, the municipality. Even those signs saying that a project is underway and sensors installed doesn't get to the heart of the transparency information sharing that we were after.

And so the last part of every sign is a QR code. And in that QR code, whenever a user or resident walks by and scans it, they're brought to a web-based application. And that application allows them to drill into almost every aspect of the technology and the program that's going on. So it tells you the governing body that's sponsoring it, the purpose of the program, what data is collected, how frequent it's being collected, the type of sensor that's being used, whether the information is encrypted like where servers are installed. So you can imagine the residents that would really want to dig into it and have more questions, they can drill down into every section of that particular project and every piece of the technology being used and find a lot of those answers.

But beyond just that, there was also a quick survey for residents to fill in. Is the data helpful? Is this an easy to use platform? Is this type of initiative something that they would support and that was meant to really inform us and engage their reaction to the town using this in future applications.

The step that we did beyond that was we did in-person surveys as well. At different times of the week and different times of the day, we tried to randomly sample our busier parks to make sure that we weren't getting your typical routine or the same people answering the same questions. We went to the parks and we actually engaged with our residents to really have that conversation around how they felt about the town using the technology, how they felt about the transparency of information being shared with them, and whether or not they would even support or felt that they were supportive of future projects that the town would deploy using a technology like this. And that, I think, was our biggest eye-opener, was really receiving a universally positive feedback that they're very supportive of the town using technology like this to inform them on the decision, but also being brought along, being informed themselves about the technology being used and not just being a bystander walking through a park.

PK:

So just to wrap up, I'd love to ask you how this project has impacted public engagement and trust within your community and whether you think this model can serve as a helpful example for other municipalities who might want to adopt similar transparency initiatives.

MM:

I think the initial pilot project really helped us and helped residents feel comfortable. Being able to participate in the global community as DTPR the Helpful Places Model expands, I think it's a testament to itself, the expansion, the scale up of this project around the globe. Now, we're in Bristol, UK, Melbourne, Australia, Long Beach, California. It really is taking off, and I think that's the testament that this tool works because people see it as valuable and they're really trying to adopt it because they know it is the greatest root for transparency as they start deploying different technological tools around the world.

Interestingly enough, this project also was picked up by the United Nations Habitat Playbook as helping local and regional governments for shaping co-creation and collaboration in smart cities. And that was really exciting to hear that. And at the onset of the original cohort, the World Economic Forum endorsed this project to help technology deployment and adoption around the globe. Very exciting for that to happen and seeing that global recognition that this is a tool that should be adopted across municipalities, whatever your size.

PK:

An excellent note on which to end our conversation. I want to thank you for putting in the submission in our Transparency Showcase this year and congratulate you on the wonderful innovative work you're doing on transparency.

MM:

Thank you, Commissioner, for letting us highlight our projects. Really appreciate it.

PK:

My next guest comes to us from an Ontario government ministry with a very busy FOI office. For the past 25 years, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has received, by far, the highest number of access requests each year compared to other Ontario institutions. Many of these are for information related to soil, water, and contamination on properties across Ontario. Now traditionally, the ministry relied on paper-based records to respond to these requests, but when the pandemic hit, their ability to access these records was severely impacted, leading to significant delays and a huge backlog of requests. Clearly, something needed to be done.

Well, the ministry took matters in hand and my office supported their improvement efforts by monitoring its progress to clear the backlog, advising them on plans to modernize their FOI processes and provide information through other more efficient channels and modernize they did. They came up with a new, more effective way to provide the information being sought and significantly improve their response times. We think this is a great illustration of the power of innovative and creative thinking to solve what may feel like an insurmountable problem.

Andrea, thank you so much for joining us and welcome to the show.

Andrea Roberts:

Thank you so much for having me.

PK:

So I remember when we reviewed the statistics in 2022, the annual statistics that institutions send us about the volumes of FOI requests they receive, and I remember your ministries, in particular, just stood out completely off the charts in terms of the volume of FOI requests you were receiving and clearly, there was something behind that number. And I'm wondering if you can tell us a little bit about the challenges you were facing with your FOI system.

AR:

You're quite right, Commissioner. We definitely here at the Ministry of the Environment have a huge number of FOI requests that come through every year. Right now, it's about 9,000 per year and that represents more than 40% of the total for the entire province. So as a ministry, we are definitely overloaded with FOI requests. What we revealed when we took a look at what's happening behind the scenes with all these requests is that over 95% of them are actually related to property records. And I think many people think of an FOI request as tell us everything that the government is doing about this theme on a particular time period. But these were really, I'd like to know about the status of property X in town Y. Are there spills that have happened there? Are there issues with the land? Are there permits associated with them? Are there any compliance issues? And really, why a requester was wanting that information was for land redevelopment or land transaction purposes. And so really what that meant was the FOI system was being used to serve a purpose that it wasn't really intended to. And actually, there was this other service that we really needed to deliver to the business community to meet their very specific needs that are not exactly the same as an FOI needs. And that's what really led to thinking through how to serve that community better and how to design a system that met that particular need.

PK:

And how did you go about doing that?

AR:

So we've taken a two-stage approach to this and right now, we have stage one launched and that is our Environmental Property Information Search tool. And so what's available right now is that a member of the public, and usually, it is a business that's interested in land redevelopment, but anyone can go to the website and input an address and ask how many records and what types of records are associated with that property. So they do the search, they pay the small fee, and then they get their search results back. And then that allows them to gauge what next steps do I have to take?

And over 40% of recipients get a response back that says, "There are no responsive records." And that might sound like a not great thing, but actually, it is a really good thing for the average client because what it means is that we don't have any records of issues related to the property that they're interested in. And so usually what that means is that they're done, that they don't need any more information. They don't have to file an FOI request. And the great news is they can get that information within five days. Five days is our service standard, but actually, we usually meet a three-day turnaround on average.

For the remainder of the responses, they get a summary of the search results. So there are these types of records available. If you want those records, then you need to submit an FOI request. But even that process has been sped up because behind the scenes, those search results are provided to our FOI team. So when the FOI request comes in from the member of the public or the business community, they're sort of already ahead of the game. They know what the request is going to be, they know what records they're interested in having, and we're able to find those records faster because of the search that's already been completed by the tool. So really, that tool has overhauled both the public facing side of our service delivery and the behind the scenes side as well to making it much more straightforward and faster for our staff to find the records that the members of the public are looking for.

PK:

And you mentioned there are two stages to the changes you've made. What's the second phase of this project?

AR:

So the second phase we're working on right now and basically, this is to build the full end-to-end service. Right now, what you receive through the EPI tool is the search results and then you still have to go to the FOI channel. The goal is with our second phase is that you won't have to go to the FOI channel at all. If you're looking for a property record, most of the time, that property record would then be redacted and delivered by the second stage of our system. And so we're in the mid-procurement for that now and are working towards launching that second stage.

PK:

I understand that the program, since you've launched it, has processed more than 4,000 requests and the majority, as you said, have been done within five business days, in fact, even faster. What kind of feedback are you getting from these users?

AR:

We did a survey back in 2023 where we surveyed the Environmental Property Information Tool users and over 80% of them stated that they were somewhat or very satisfied with their ability to submit search requests and with the turnaround times that they were receiving. So on a scale of one to five stars, the surveyed users ranked their overall satisfaction with the service at a 3.78 and 70% of the results ranked their satisfaction at four stars or higher.

PK:

Wow. That doesn't represent your average FOI user, I'm sure.

AR:

It was definitely really great and very encouraging results to hear that let us know that we're on the right track, that we're not at the end stage of the solution, but we are certainly on the right track to delivering that service to this community.

PK:

If I may ask, how many requests have you had in 2023 since the application of this tool?

AR:

Last year, we had about 7,500 requests come through the FOI system and over 1,600 EPI searches. Of those 1,600 EPI searches, 1,000 were forwarded to the FOI office. And so that's where we are getting some diversion of traffic from the FOI system because of the EPI tool.

PK:

So that really does sound like it's much more efficient than it was before this new digital service. As a result of this new service, did that impact your 30-day response times at all?

Andrea Roberts:

It did. So after the launch of EPI, our overall 30-day response rate rose to almost 50%. Now, that's not solely because of the EPI tool. The ministry put a lot of effort and resources into improving that response rate, but the EPI tool was a piece of the puzzle in that improvement.

PK:

So it went up to 50% from how much was it the year before?

AR:

We were under 2% in 2021.

PK:

Wow, that's extraordinary. That's a great improvement. And how are things looking for 2024?

AR:

We're on track to do even better than 50% this year.

PK:

So that's an excellent example of transparency, of ingenious and creative ways of enhancing the FOI system and providing information Ontarians really want and really care about. What lessons has the ministry learned from this initiative and how might the insights be applied to future services aimed at improving access to government records?

AR:

The first was that we set out to build a service that was directed towards a particular need where the FOI system was sort of being leveraged but not leveraged in a very effective way. So maybe the lesson learned there is that we have this particular problem, but a solution to that problem is not directly to solve that problem. It's to solve this side problem that eventually solves your original problem. And so I think the MPI, the EPI tool is an example of that kind of creative thinking that my predecessors and the team that continues to work on this project solved and created.

I guess the other lesson learned is that stage approach. This did look like an intractable problem. This is 9,000 requests a year. We have a small FOI team, a very dedicated, strong FOI team, but there's only so much that team can do in one year. And of course, so many of our staff across the ministry in offices across the province are contributing to the FOI system. So having to go through the paper records, having to find the responsive records is very time-consuming. So this seemed like an intractable challenge. And so taking that multi-staged approach, moving the yardstick slowly but surely, I think is another [inaudible 00:34:49] lesson learned when the problem looks insurmountable.

PK:

It's a wonderful example of a creative solution to, as you say, an intractable problem. And it's also a great example of how you turned a system that is essentially responsive to request to one that proactively anticipates information that individuals want and make it available proactively on a parallel track. I want to congratulate you and your team for all the great work that you've done to turn around this problem and wish you the best of luck in your future phases of your work.

AR:

Thank you so much, Commissioner. I know both the EPI team, which I work with, and our FOI team will be very pleased to hear your kind words about their hard work over the last few years.

PK:

Well, on behalf of IPC, I want to extend a very big thank you to all of our guests for joining us on the show and sharing insights about their projects. I also want to thank all of the other institutions who made submissions this year as part of our Transparency Challenge 2.0. These standout initiatives provide great examples of open data and government transparency in action, which we hope will inspire other institutions towards greater transparency too.

For listeners who want to explore the Transparency Showcase, you can browse the exhibits in our online 3D Gallery at transparencyshowcase.ipc.on.ca. There's also a link to the gallery in the show notes. If you're looking for information about transparency in modern government and access rights, I encourage you to visit our website at ipc.on.ca and you can always call or email our office for assistance and general information about Ontario's access and privacy laws.

Well, folks, that's it for this special episode of Info Matters. Hope you enjoyed it and until next time.

I'm Patricia Kosseim, Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, and this has been Info Matters. If you enjoy the podcast, leave us a rating or review. If there's an access or privacy topic you'd like us to explore on a future episode, we'd love to hear from you. Send us a tweet @ipcinfoprivacy or email us at @email. Thanks for listening, and please join us again for more conversations about people, privacy, and access to information. If it matters to you, it matters to me.