Open Government Canada is born

From Ad IDEM / CMLA

On March 11, 2000, a new organization Open Government Canada had its founding convention. It will be a new voice for freedom of information (FOI) in Canada. It hopes to focus on FOI networking, discussion, education and advocacy that will push for legislative changes that grant greater access to public information and make governments more accountable and transparent. Ad IDEM President, Brian Rogers, was among a number of speakers who opened the conference. In his remarks, he noted the importance of access to information laws to a democratic society. After a day and a half of discussion on goals and the means of achieving them, a Steering Committee was formed including key figures from the Canadian Newspaper Association, the Canadian Association of Journalists, the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, Democracy Watch, the Provincial Council of Women of Manitoba, the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, the Canadian Library Association, the Ontario Community Newspaper Association, and Ad IDEM. Our representative is Bert Bruser.