Report to the Clerk of the Privy Council: A Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service

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Executive summary

The volume of data that governments, businesses and Canadians produce is growing exponentially, animated by digital technologies. Organizations are changing their business models, building new expertise and devising new ways of managing and unlocking the value of their data. Governments need to evolve rapidly to keep up.

Public service modernization efforts focus on a more transparent, collaborative, citizen-centered and digitally enabled public service. A forward-looking, open approach to data is an essential piece of public service renewal.

How the Government of Canada collects, manages and governs data—and how it accesses and shares data with other governments, sectors and Canadians—must change. The government has a responsibility to ensure its workforce has the skills and tools it needs to ethically leverage data to support the public good, while protecting the sensitive and personal data of Canadians.

Data have the power to enable the government to make better decisions, design better programs and deliver more effective services. But for this to occur—and for us to share data in a way that allows other governments, businesses, researchers and the not-for-profit sector to also extract value from data—we need to refresh our approach.

Today, individual departments and agencies generate and hold a vast, diverse and ever-expanding array of data, including program, geo-spatial, administrative, sensor and population data. These data are often collected in ways—based on informal principles and practices—that make it difficult to share with other departments or Canadians. Their use is inconsistent across the government and their value sub-optimized in the decision-making process and in day-to-day operations.

To this end, the Clerk asked us in January to develop a Data Strategy. The strategy is intended to position the public service to provide the best possible advice to Ministers and support the more strategic use of data while protecting citizens' privacy. While not all data have privacy implications, where they do, departments and agencies should incorporate privacy by design and engage early with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC). Following consultations with all federal departments and agencies, this report provides a roadmap for a more strategic use of data. The recommendations are structured around four themes: stronger governance, improved data literacy and skills, enabling infrastructure and legislation, and more focused treatment of data as a valuable asset. The goal is to set a foundation so that the Government of Canada creates more value for Canadians from the data we hold. This strategy will align our internal efforts to use data more strategically and complements other ongoing work, such as externally focused national consultations on digital and data transformation led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). Their consultations are helping us better understand how Canada can drive innovation, prepare Canadians and firms for the future of work, and ensure that Canadians have trust and confidence in how their data are used.

We are encouraged that so many departments and agencies are already developing data strategies and undertaking bold initiatives of their own. Organizational data strategies underpin the strategic use of data, support the transition to a digital government and ensure the public service is empowered and equipped to harness the power of data to make better decisions and create better outcomes for Canadians. This roadmap provides concrete next steps that can be taken over the short and medium terms. Recommendations are intended to continuously move the Government of Canada and our behaviours in the right direction on data issues.

The most important things for us to do are:

1. By September 2019, all departments, agencies or portfolios have a data strategy in place appropriate to their line of business.
2. Provide greater clarity on who is in charge of data within individual organizations and for the government as a whole.
3. Improve and develop overall standards and guidelines that govern how departments access, collect, use, safeguard and share data, and a clear process for developing and refining these over time.
4. Clarify the governance around data to ensure that the Government of Canada manages valuable data assets for the public good.
5. Improve recruitment and professional development practices to ensure that we have the skilled people we need to do data work in a digital environment.
6. Ensure we have the right information technology (IT) environment that allows skilled professionals to use the disruptive technologies that will support the ambitious agenda outlined in this report.

These recommendations acknowledge that while there is a need for common standards and principles to guide the government's efforts, there cannot be a "one-size-fits-all" approach to data. We have sketched out an architecture and principles, but recognize that different organizations will have different needs. To the extent that funding and authorities will be required to support the recommendations, they would be sought as appropriate at the initiative level. As well, this strategy is intended to be evergreen and will inevitably evolve with a changing context.

Canada can and should be a leading jurisdiction with respect to the ethical use of data. Canada should be viewed as an ideal jurisdiction in which to undertake work using data, for both the public and private sectors, offer an alternate paradigm to strict government control or a free market approach to data, and build on and improve upon the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).

In conclusion, we would like to thank our respective teams and colleagues who undertook extraordinary work in a very short time, the networks across government that mobilized to help us understand how these issues play out in individual departments and agencies, and the Clerk for the opportunity to undertake this important work on behalf of Canadians.

The challenge

Managing, using and sharing data will be crucial in the coming years, but the government is not set up to treat data as a strategic asset for policy-making, program design or service delivery, or to create value for the public, private, not-for-profit, and research sectors.

By increasing their capacity to create, manage and use data, many government departments and agencies are making better decisions and, ultimately, better serving Canadians. However, this is happening in a fragmented fashion, along the traditional business lines of government. While decentralization can create and support innovation and experimentation, an integrated, whole-of-government approach can enable synergies through sharing and interoperability; encourage openness and ongoing learning; and ensure commitment to some common standards and best practices while driving progress and results.

While intragovernmental data sharing does occur, it is often via ad hoc technical solutions requiring formal letters of agreement signed at the deputy minister level, adding to administrative burden. The government has also pursued greater availability of data through investments in open data, but more can be done to increase the volume of data made available by default.

Compounding these challenges is the absence of a governance structure or senior-level decision-making table charged with providing strategic direction on data issues and driving cultural change.

Departments and agencies struggle with the same issues

In this rapidly accelerating environment, data-driven innovation is an increasingly important source of economic growth, which is critical to the future competitiveness of Canada's businesses in traditional and emerging sectors. Advances in various digital technologies—notably machine learning, edge computing, and satellite imagery—have the potential to greatly accelerate analytical power. While access to more data, along with technological advances, presents great opportunities for the private sector, this also elicits concerns and potentially increases risks for citizens, notably from a privacy perspective.

It is clear that the government is at an important inflection point and should embrace significant new opportunities by better leveraging data.

The opportunity

This is an opportunity for Canada to position itself as a leading jurisdiction in the data sphere by setting forward-thinking, globally recognized standards that spur innovation and economic growth, and create positive social impact. It is an opportunity for the Government of Canada to address a number of important issues facing governments around the world, including:

• Leveraging data as a strategic asset for the benefit of Canadians
• Maintaining legitimacy and credibility in an increasingly complex society
• Directing resources appropriately and harnessing opportunities to improve impact
• Helping workers adapt and be competitive in a changing labour market
• Protecting citizens from the misuse of their data and adverse impacts of technology
• Maintaining sound resource management.

Along a parallel track, the Government is conducting consultations on digital and data transformation to better understand the economic opportunities afforded by a data-driven society and how to balance these with privacy. The outcomes of these consultations will be instrumental in making progress on this Data Strategy.

The scope

This Data Strategy focuses on how the Government of Canada can improve how it creates, protects, uses, manages and shares data to improve the lives of Canadians and support businesses, researchers and the not-for-profit sector, and how it makes decisions on policy and programs. It builds on current federal data initiatives to ensure complementarity, coherence and transparency, so that emerging opportunities are understood and quickly acted upon.

Adapting the government to the digital era

We have embarked on a journey to a digital government, as signalled by the recently expanded role for the President of the Treasury Board as Canada's first Minister for Digital Government. The role of the Chief Information Officer of Canada has been elevated to a deputy minister position, and strong relationships and networks are being built with digital leaders domestically and internationally. There are a number of intersecting data-related initiatives underway, including:

• The launch of the Canadian Digital Service, and development of a digital policy to support the transition to a digital government, consolidating and evolving the existing Treasury Board Policies on Service, IT and Information Management (IM)
• Engaging Canadians on digital and data transformation in support of the Innovation and Skills Plan to turn Canada into a global innovation leader, by focusing on skills, innovation, privacy and trust
• Statistics Canada's (StatCan) modernization initiative, designed to increase access to data to foster innovation and inclusion, by leveraging their expertise
• Other government initiatives, including development of the 4th National Action Plan on Open Government, which includes commitments to improve transparency, accountability and public engagement
• The creation of the Results and Delivery Unit (RDU) at the Privy Council Office (PCO) to support the government in strengthening a culture and approach that is evidence-based and is focused on measurable results and the launch of the Impact Canada initiative by the Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU) to help departments accelerate the adoption of outcomes-based and data-driven approaches to deliver meaningful results to Canadians
• Initiatives by other partners, including provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous Peoples
• The development or implementation of specific department and agency data strategies
• Assessing and modernizing legislative and policy frameworks to allow for responsible and innovative uses of personal information while ensuring continued protections and privacy by design.

Where does public sector data come from?

Around the world, 2.5 quintillion bytes (2.5 x 1018 bytes) of data are created every day, with 90 per cent of the data in the world generated in the last two years alone (IBM, 2016). The Government of Canada generates and holds a vast amount and diverse array of data, including spatial data, operational data, transactional service data, and data collected from or about citizens and businesses. These data can be categorized into four over-arching categories based on the purpose they serve, and improvements to the government’s use of data will result in efficiencies across each of these areas. For certain categories, including statistical and research purposes, progress may be made more quickly, while others may take more time and require discussions with Canadians to ensure proper social license.

Transformation roadmap

The recommendations provided in this Data Strategy seek to ignite change, demonstrate value, resolve barriers, and help the government make better use of data to improve the lives of Canadians while continuing to safeguard their privacy in a modern data-driven environment. They are presented along a transformation roadmap consisting of two timeframes, designed to generate momentum through ambitious early actions, build horizontality through collaboration, and develop strength over time. As execution and delivery will be key, this report provides some concrete timelines and overall direction, while also providing flexibility for deputy ministers to tailor implementation to the needs of their organizations, which will be crucial to success.

The recommendations are at varying stages of development, with some still being conceptualized and requiring further work and analysis by departments and agencies. As the Data Strategy is designed to be evergreen, the list is not exhaustive and will naturally evolve over time, with further work and strengthened data governance. Implementing several of the recommendations would require incremental resources. Costing estimates have not been undertaken as part of this report and there is no source of funds. Funding and authorities will be pursued, as appropriate, at the project level.

Recommendations at a glance

Laying the foundation and building momentum: Driving early action

Governance

Objective

Governance exists at the right levels to ensure that data are managed holistically as a strategic asset

Why is this important?

• To provide coherent direction on strategic and technical data issues
• To model and support cultural change
• To ensure balance between coherence and flexibility
• To provide standardization and prioritization to extract maximum public value from data

Greater oversight to better leverage data

A deputy minister-level committee for data issues

The government has established a number of new government-wide senior official committees in recent years to support its efforts to adapt to digital and data developments. While these committees have tackled many important issues, there is a need for increased coordination of effort toward greater cohesion and coherence so that key organizations are represented and take part in the decision-making process.

Consideration should be given to elevating the committee from a sub-committee of the Public Service Management Advisory Committee to a full co-chaired DM committee with decision-making authorities. Given the horizontal nature of the government's system, and to support cultural change, the committee should work closely with the Deputy Minister Task Force on Public Sector Innovation and should report on a regular basis to the Coordinating Committee of Deputy Ministers. The existing governance that supports DM CEPP (i.e., the Assistant Deputy Minister Committee on Enterprise Priorities and Planning and the Enterprise Architecture Review Board) should be reviewed so that the DM committee is also supported by an Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM)-level body focused on the strategic elements of data.

GC CDS, StatCan and the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) would co-lead work on the development of frameworks, principles, protocols and guidance with respect to the ethical and secure use of data. This would support social license and ensure the government's use and analysis of data continues to be appropriate, citizen- and business-centric, and ethical.

Next steps

• Consult on committee changes and draft updated mandate, authorities, membership, governance and support (fall 2018)
• Potential committee modifications implemented (winter 2019)
• PCO, TBS and StatCan to work together to clarify roles and responsibilities around enterprise data leadership, including vis-a-vis roles of CIO and GC CDS with respect to data, for discussion at DM CEPP
• Ultimate scope and authorities of GC CDS to be determined as appropriate
• GC CDS, StatCan and TBS to co-lead work on the development of frameworks, principles, protocols and guidance with respect to the ethical and secure use of data

Build data and analytics capability and culture

The growth in volume and strategic importance of data assets requires the development of organizational data strategies as well as the assignment of specific responsibility for data. This will help align strategy, processes and structures around data, support the transition to a digital government and help ensure the public service is agile, properly equipped and inclusive. To ensure essential elements are in place and support an integrated perspective on data, strategies will be built around a foundation of governance and the three pillars in alignment with this Data Strategy.

In recent years, the roles of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and CIOs have become more professionalized as our working environments have evolved. Moving forward, government organizations will be significantly more data-enabled and data management will become just as important as human resources or financial management. Many would argue that this should already be the case, and that we are lagging behind.

The Clerk's tasking requested consideration of the need for Chief Data Officers (CDOs) across the government and for the government as a whole. While their prevalence as an executive leader for data is growing in the private sector and some departments and agencies have recently named CDOs, such a position may not suit the diverse range of mandates and structures across the government. As well, recent changes to the IM/IT policies have empowered organizational CIOs with more responsibilities around data. However, all organizations must clearly identify who is responsible for fulfilling data functions and it would be expected that most will choose to have a CDO to achieve the appropriate balance between data management (CIO) and privacy, governance and analytics (CDO). The assignment of functions to positions should be articulated in organizational data strategies.

Work will also explore how to consider data earlier in the decision-making process through the provision of guidance for Budget asks, Memoranda to Cabinet (MC) and Treasury Board submissions (TB Subs). This would include assessing the needs of others when planning new data activities. An assessment will be conducted of the necessity of data management plans aligned to the FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable). This will support proper data stewardship and increase access to data that could be repurposed by others. This work will also consider implementing attestations, similar to what is required for the CFOs in decision-making processes, by the entire C-suite of officers, including CFOs, CIOs, CDOs and Chief Results and Delivery Officers (CRDOs).

Next steps

• TBS, StatCan and the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) to develop guidance/training on data strategies for all organizations by April 2019
• Renewed DM CEPP to provide recommendations on reporting/updating of data strategies by April 2019
• All departments, agencies or portfolios to develop data strategies by September 2019
• Central agency-led working group to make any recommendations for changes to decision-making processes by September 2019

Accelerate collaboration

Local, regional, national and global issues are all increasingly complex. A great deal of success has been achieved in collaborating with the provinces and territories through long-standing initiatives, such as the National Justice Statistic Initiative, a cross-jurisdictional forum and partnership. And we continue to adapt to emerging needs, such as through collaboration on the collection and sharing of quarterly data on opioid-related deaths. But, more can be done. We need to continue to work together to replicate our successes across other domains and with all our partners to create more value for Canadians.

All Canadians will ultimately benefit from greater collaboration between levels of government, with Indigenous Peoples, with the private sector, and with non-profit organizations. The Government of Canada needs to take a leadership role in the area of data, including through investments, standards and focus, to create platforms and opportunities that will enable all sectors to create value from data.

Existing infrastructure, including the Clerks and Cabinet Secretaries table and current departmental and agency federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) tables will be leveraged to provide regular updates and drive progress on specific data issues or needs with provinces, territories, and municipalities. An approach to co-develop data strategies with Indigenous Peoples is discussed below.

Next steps

• TBS, PCO and StatCan to host a joint FPT table at least once per year starting in 2019
• Clerk to issue a statement encouraging the pursuit of collaboration with other levels of government and Indigenous Peoples
• Where possible, expand collaboration on federal data tools, such as the Federal Geospatial Platform (FGP), to provinces and territories.

Supporting Indigenous data strategies

The Government of Canada is undergoing historic transformations towards reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. It is working in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to renew relationships, recognize and respect rights, advance self-determination, rectify socioeconomic inequalities, and remove barriers so that they can control and plan the delivery of the services that affect them. These transformations will need to harness meaningful and reliable data to strengthen Indigenous Peoples' abilities to pursue their own goals and improve the quality of life in their communities by establishing baselines and data strategies to ensure that results can be measured over time. While much progress has been made toward the development of new partnerships and approaches, there is still much work to do. In particular, there are several key driving forces that need to be considered toward a government-wide Indigenous data strategy.

• First, partnering with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to co-develop data strategies that will contribute to self-determination and assist them in the design, planning and management of their services.
• Second, taking steps to enable devolution and greater Indigenous control over services. This includes exploring with Indigenous partners opportunities to build data collection, data storage solutions and analytic capacities outside of the Government of Canada.
• Third, progressively reducing dependency on reporting requirements by establishing Indigenous-led institutions, developing data sharing agreements with Indigenous partners and leveraging existing data sources, such as administrative datasets and targeted surveys, in a manner that supports the advancement of Indigenous data governance and their custodianship over data.
• Finally, co-developing data strategies that are distinctions-based and flexible to allow for aggregate data at the community, regional, and national levels, while at the same time, ensuring protection of sensitive and personal data, preventing potential misuse. This is also about integrating Indigenous ways of knowing into indicator development so that narratives are meaningful, reflecting distinct Indigenous cultures, values, and priorities.

Looking ahead, Canada will build on existing achievements, continue to strengthen working relationships with Indigenous partners based on an approach of mutual respect and enhanced collaboration, and introduce new processes as required. This is an opportunity to advance a collaborative approach for data collection, sharing, and stewardship between Indigenous partners and Canada. It would also advance Indigenous leadership and governments' capacity to govern their own data.

People and culture

Objective

People and Culture: the government has the talent and capacity needed to manage, interpret, use and understand data

Why is this important?

• To enable a data-driven culture that is open and shares by default
• To recognize all public servants as data agents
• To hire, retain, cultivate, and empower the right talent and capacity
• To grow data literacy in existing and new employees

Support ongoing learning and development

The varying levels of digital and data literacy across the government, along with a constantly evolving context, requires a multi-pronged, nimble and agile approach to the upskilling of employees. First, the government must establish a baseline measurement of the current state of literacy, and assess the skills and competencies required to build a skilled data scientist/specialist workforce (e.g., programming, machine learning, AI, geographic information system, visualization, privacy training, etc.). Second, renewed HR strategies must leverage best practices, accelerate capacity building and increase overall levels of digital and data literacy within communities (e.g., policy, administrative, IM and IT) and across levels, targeting employees from orientation through literacy and career development. It will be especially important to develop the data and digital literacy of government leadership, which will be critical to widespread cultural change.

Renewed strategies should include the development of training and curricula, communities of practice, a developmental program and options for increased retention and mobility. It will also be important to continue to engage in constructive dialogue with colleges and universities as well as with unions to grow the workforce of tomorrow, such that curricula, training and development are more data-focused. This should include engagement with credible industry and global experts to stay abreast of the latest tools and technologies. StatCan should be leveraged as a host organization to help build a network of data scientists and provide work experiences to support development and mobility.

Next steps

• CSPS, TBS (Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer [OCHRO]), Public Service Commission (PSC), StatCan and others to:
  • develop a whole-of-government renewed HR strategy (including recruitment, talent management, training, performance management and classification) to support data analytics and digital community-building efforts, supported by organizational HR plans
  • identify needs, required skills and competencies, in collaboration with departments and agencies, related to digital/data literacy by April 2019
  • complete the training of the inaugural cohort of the Digital Academy, including participants in a dedicated data stream
  • establish an inventory of current training resources, recommend measures to facilitate access by December 2018
  • informed by dialog with the universities and colleges, update courses of the CSPS core curriculum to better incorporate training needs for data
  • leverage and build on existing and developing partnerships to engage with colleges and universities on data literacy
  • create a community of practice for data specialists
  • work with the GC CDS, TBS, and DM CEPP to drive progress
• TBS and deputy ministers to actively engage with unions on the changing nature of work and on the workplace of the future
• CSPS to investigate the possibility of a data-science free-agent program
• Deputy ministers to ensure that employees have access to and are informed of training to increase their digital literacy, and to nominate learners for the digital academy

Encourage job-seekers to choose the Government of Canada

The time has come to move away from passive staffing approaches and toward active engagement and a reduction in the time it takes to hire staff. Amid the current strong demand for data scientists/specialists, we need to be able to hire quickly to be competitive in the marketplace. We also need to provide new hires with enabling environments consisting of the technology and equipment they need to do innovative work. Some organizations are already exploring new ways to attract this talent, and their successes should be leveraged toward a specific hiring model for data scientists/specialists.

The government should acquire talent through nimble, innovative hiring practices, and consider its value proposition, brand, and how it markets itself to potential candidates. It must also consider influencing the supply chain earlier via academia and the use of campus recruitment, a recruitment and development program, as well as the use of flexible resourcing options.

Next steps

• StatCan to pilot a "demand map" in select departments to scope hiring targets for winter 2018-2019 and medium-term needs
• StatCan and ESDC to build upon their June 2018 Labour Market hack-a-thon to identify talent supply sources
• All government organizations to leverage and build upon existing and developing partnerships with academic institutions for hiring and explore novel recruitment models, including through partnerships with the private sector
• StatCan and PCO to launch a data science stream to PCO's fellowship program
• Pilot new assessment methods for potential hiring, including a data scientist recruitment pilot to be conducted by CSPS, TBS (OCHRO), PSC and StatCan
• Scale up successful pilots as part of a longer-term government-wide talent acquisition strategy for entry-, mid-, and senior-level positions

Environment and digital infrastructure

Objective

Environment and digital infrastructure: Processes and infrastructure are aligned to turn data and analysis into action

Why is this important?

• To encourage horizontality and coherence
• To provide supporting architecture to facilitate data management and analytics
• To ensure appropriate tools, infrastructure and processes are available
• To protect data and privacy of information
• To keep pace with and fully harness technological opportunities

Strengthen a modern and enabling infrastructure

The need for tools to collect, store, analyze, manage, share, and visualize data is increasing in all departments. Enabling open standards, open source, interoperability, and the sharing of expertise requires access to a common set of data tools commensurate with common data needs. At the same time, departments need a flexible framework to explore new tools and more advanced options, that are both interoperable and secure.

The Government of Canada's IT infrastructure must be able to support the ambitious agenda of its data system. There is a growing need for higher computing capacity and for the modernization of older data infrastructures. For example, collaborative efforts are underway through initiatives, such as the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure. This initiative provides national geospatial standards and infrastructure critical to address environmental assessments, emergency response and space program continuity.

It is important that the government take a proactive approach in addressing its future data requirements. Currently, many departments and agencies are anxious for the delivery of secure cloud infrastructure and/or procurement options. It is expected that Public Protected B cloud services will be ready for departmental access by spring 2019.

Next steps

• TBS to work with departments and agencies to identify common business requirements, develop a catalogue of recommended and pre-approved tools, and establish updated guidelines and processes for their implementation
• TBS and Shared Services Canada (SSC) to assess required infrastructure needs over the short and medium terms (i.e., trajectories based on historical data usage, data pressures on the network and bandwidth consumption, forward-looking opportunities) and provide an interim report to DM CEPP by the end of summer 2019
• TBS and SSC to provide a final report to DM CEPP by fall 2020, factoring in all organizational data strategies

Align foundational support

To continue to safeguard data and privacy and support trust in the government as a data steward, while enabling the opportunities offered by a greater use of data, a number of reviews are being conducted. These include a review of the Privacy Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Statistics Act, and a legislative review to support integrated federal service delivery. Principles to support an ethical framework for control of personal information will also be explored in the context of a modern, digital society.

Next steps

• Develop proposals to modernize the Statistics Act in fall 2018
• Continue the review of the Privacy Act
• Continue the review of the PIPEDA
• Incorporate feedback from National Digital and Data Consultations
• Joint transition advice around the legislative framework environment—spring 2019
• Continue to mandate that departments and agencies integrate privacy protection in the design of programs and initiatives, and to consult the OPC as appropriate

Services review:

• Assess requirements for more efficient information-sharing—fall/winter 2018
• Streamline information-sharing agreement process—spring 2019
• Develop options for legislative change—summer 2018 to summer 2019

Work with our partners to create change

The Government of Canada is working to develop a pan-Canadian approach to digital identity. This will allow individuals to safely and securely access its services, using the method of their choice, regardless of channel. Since 2012, a cyber-authentication solution has provided end-users with choice in the credentials they use for a secure, single sign-in to available Government of Canada online services. Clients could sign in to over 100 services offered by 29 departments and agencies, including ESDC's "My Service Canada Account" and CRA's "My Account" and "My Business Account." This solution significantly reduced costs by replacing a proprietary system with a standards-based solution and provided organizations with the flexibility to determine authentication solutions according to their unique security needs. TBS is leading the procurement of a replacement solution for this mandatory service, called Sign In Canada, which will evolve the existing service to support the service strategy and federating identity across the government. The platform will be "identity-ready," with the ability to accept trusted digital identities that conform to the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework, as and when they are available, positioning the government to take advantage of future developments and service evolution.

Next steps

• Convene a digital ID cluster to drive and coordinate progress on the development of a federal roadmap for digital identity by fall 2018
• Engage provincial and territorial partners for proofs-of-concept to work towards accepting their trusted digital identities into federal programs using the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework assessment process by winter 2019

Data as an asset

Objective

The government has the data it needs, which are fit for use, discoverable, and available. Their use is appropriate, ethical, and generates social and economic value.

Why is this important?

• To ensure the government has the data it needs
• To support and inspire greater use and availability of data
• To ensure data use is appropriate, citizen- and business-centric, and ethical
• To ensure data are well managed, secure, and fit for use
• To ensure that government-held data can be combined with data from other sources so Canadians can unlock their value

Better understand the information we hold

Know what data the government holds

To increase the use of and access to data and reduce duplication, we must first have a complete view of the data we hold, along with an understanding of their quality, location, and format. This exercise will create an interface or tool to view all government data assets and will support interoperability so that organizations can share, combine and make optimal use of data. The work involves attaining a common vision for governance and stewardship and the development of a data reference model, privacy protection, security protocols and a maintenance plan. This will leverage existing work, including StatCan's Inventory of Administrative Data Providers from the Public Sector. Experience gained will inform metadata standards and inform a data reference model for a whole-of-government approach.

Next steps

• StatCan to conduct a proof-of-concept of the inventory in fall 2018
• StatCan and TBS to conduct consultations to include data from other data-intensive departments and agencies in 2019
• TBS will establish an enterprise data reference model, as well as establish government-wide data standards, including for metadata, reference data and master data. The development work will be co-led with StatCan and carried out in collaboration with other departments and agencies, beginning in 2019
• TBS to work towards a tool to provide an authoritative, evergreen and accessible view of government data holdings, beginning in 2019

Ensure the quality and maintenance of data

To maximize the value and strategic use of data, dimensions of quality, such as accuracy, timeliness, relevance, accessibility, interpretability and coherence according to intended use, must be applied. StatCan (for whom data quality management and quality control are core business activities) and TBS (who supports the development of administrative policies for the government), in coordination with other organizations, will develop, implement, and support data quality management strategies, policies, and practices for a comprehensive data quality framework. The proposed framework will be adaptable across government while establishing common enterprise-wide standards to ensure interoperability.

Next steps

• Set up interdepartmental working group by October 2018
• Analyze current data quality policies/practices by January 2019
• Draft proposed quality approach/framework by May 2019
• Complete training strategies by June 2019

Maintain digital information

Digital assets have a longer life cycle than their supporting technologies and are especially vulnerable to corruption and loss. A GC Digital Preservation Working Group established by Library and Archives Canada shares common challenges and works toward facilitating long-term retention of digital assets. The work of this committee will be leveraged and expanded to develop guidance, including best practices and standards.

Next steps

• Working group to complete work plan and share interim guidance from international best practices by June 2019
• Develop strategies and guidelines for data management through effective use of tiered storage, cloud-based approaches by June 2020

Strengthen analysis and experimentation

The horizontal review of business innovation programs demonstrated the powerful synergies possible when data are brought together to help answer key policy questions. Rapid results were achieved by leveraging existing data holdings, infrastructure and analytical capacity across departments. To build on the success of this initiative, TBS and StatCan are continuing to develop common approaches to collect and analyze administrative data (including Grants and Contributions data), focusing first on business innovation programs. Going forward, this work will include reviewing capacity to carry out horizontal analysis to support and strengthen performance measurement and policy development in priority areas relating to Indigenous Peoples, Growing the Middle Class, and Diversity and Inclusion.

The 2016 Direction on experimentation reinforced the government's commitment to experiment with new approaches to produce evidence. An ADM-led interdepartmental Committee on Experimentation was created to help implement rigorous experimentation approaches into the core business of departments and agencies. The Committee is also linked to the Deputy Minister Task Force on Public Sector Innovation, which plays an action-oriented role in experimenting with emerging technologies and approaches. A government-wide initiative to strengthen experimentation capacity would establish a focal point for rigorous data analysis and generation for the Government of Canada, working with relevant departments to ensure the government has the conditions, capacity, and experimental design capabilities to turn data into better information on which its interventions work most effectively. Consideration will be given to whether to update the direction by dedicating a fixed percentage of resources used for generating, analyzing, collecting or commissioning data to rigorous experimentation (exploring, testing, and comparing effects and impacts of programs, policies, interventions or approaches). Final recommendations will be brought forward after interdepartmental consultations.

Next steps

• TBS, in collaboration with StatCan and other partner organizations, to ensure ongoing collection and sharing of administrative data by June 2019, and facilitate linking and releasing the data by December 2019
• Building on international best practices, develop options for the creation of civil society-led work centres that can provide rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of programs
• PCO, TBS, StatCan and others to evaluate capacity to carry out horizontal analysis to support the government's key priorities by June 2019
• Consult across government about the proposal to dedicate a fixed percentage of resources to experimentation
• Consider formalizing the ADM interdepartmental Committee on Experimentation
• Consider the creation of an innovation/experimentation fund to encourage departments and agencies to undertake and implement new approaches to data. To optimize outcomes, consider leveraging programs such as the Free Agent Program and the Fellowship Program to acquire the data skills and expertise required.

Be bold—innovate and take risks

Enabling the more strategic use of data requires their greater and more widespread use, including through analytics and innovation to transform data into new knowledge and insights. A number of initiatives are planned or underway to increase access to data and derive new insights to benefit Canadians, including:

• A crowd-sourcing initiative to generate expected delivery and/or results trajectories for the government's top priorities (Indigenous Peoples, Growing the Middle Class, and Diversity and Inclusion) and gather early intelligence about how actual progress is tracking towards expected delivery so as to inform course corrections.
• A virtual consultation with the academic community to identify policy questions that could be answered with greater access to data.
• A series of scalable pilots to examine the potential for AI to reduce the burden of administratively intense tasks, streamline processes, garner efficiencies and improve effectiveness.
• A pilot project aimed at recommending a technology solution for data sharing. The results will be widely applicable to help address barriers to sharing data within the government as well as with other jurisdictions. This body of work will contribute to the development of guidance aimed at increasing interoperability, such as ensuring that infrastructure and application systems are efficient and designed to facilitate sharing based on open standards.

Despite the natural reflex of wanting to undertake additional pilots, it is recommended that organizations focus primarily on implementing and scaling existing pilots, and that a comprehensive review and analysis of these pilots be undertaken, with the results shared across government.

Next steps

• TBS and StatCan to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis of data-driven pilots, assess for scalability and impact, and report on lessons learned to DM CEPP by January 2019

Make government data more open and transparent

While the government houses and provides access to data through many avenues, including the Open Government Portal, Research Data Centres, and the Federal Geospatial Platform (FGP), these can be improved and better leveraged.

Increasing access to data through Open Government

While work is underway to improve the Open Government Portal, there are further opportunities to integrate new elements, including open source infrastructure for data management, data visualization, piloting automated translation, improving measures to protect confidentiality and privacy, advanced searching, improved data quality, and making working documents open by default to citizens.

Grow Open by Default

While we have made some progress on Open Data, the environment is changing and citizen expectations are evolving rapidly. The government needs to accelerate the pace of change to keep up with the private sector, civil society, and other governments. To accelerate the adoption of Open by Default, the government could integrate the principle into the government's information management practices. This would include concurrent assessment and implementation of the concept of privacy by design.

Increasing access to data through a Virtual Data Lab

The Virtual Data Lab pilot builds on the foundation established by the Research Data Centres and the Canadian Centre for Data Development and Economic Research, and is being carried out in partnership with SSC and others, including Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Finance Canada and the Bank of Canada. Data access will be increased via expansion beyond physical space limitations, facilitating greater access to more Canadian data for research and analysis. This reduces duplicative collection, facilitates new insights, and increases the public good that can be enabled with existing data. The medium-term goal is to build the Lab on scalable cloud infrastructure, with data discovery tools, automated confidentiality vetting, and a full range of data files appropriately treated to ensure confidentiality and privacy.

Increasing access to data through the Federal Geospatial Platform

Geospatial data (such as maps and satellite imagery) increasingly support federal decision-making and operations, such as tracking forest fires and extreme weather events, managing Canada's natural resources more sustainably, or ensuring Canadian sovereignty by defining our borders and monitoring marine traffic. It also drives innovation by providing precise positioning and navigation, and by timing data for location-based technologies, such as drones and autonomous vehicles. While the FGP is a vehicle for sharing among federal partners (and with Canadians through Open Maps), the government has yet to harness the full power of geospatial information. There remains a need to raise the relevance and profile of geospatial tools, to meet the needs of an increasingly "location-based" economy. Ongoing work will look at options for a more dynamic, user-friendly FGP interface, with improved organization of data and tools, and advanced capabilities to suit the wide range of users' interests.

Next steps

• Implement the 4th National Action Plan on Open Government, which includes commitments to introduce a dataset quality rating system, a pilot for user-submitted datasets and visualizations, and quarterly reporting on departmental data release by September 2020
• StatCan to develop a prototype of the Virtual Data Lab for broader testing by winter 2019
• NRCan to work with federal partners to broaden the use of the FGP as an enterprise-wide tool
• StatCan and NRCan to conduct a series of projects integrating geospatial and statistical information, to demonstrate how bringing these data together can support deeper analysis for decision-making
• Explore scope to update mandatory policy direction on open government to embed openness throughout the data lifecycle, aligning with the government's Digital Policy by spring 2019

Support innovation in the economy

Data-driven innovation is an increasingly important source of economic growth and is critical to the competitiveness of Canadian businesses. Canada's private sector can better leverage both public and private sector data, which can be used to derive important insights to drive competitiveness and innovation. Governments can use private sector data to improve understanding of program impacts on elements, such as business growth, research and development, or skills. ISED is currently conducting consultations on digital and data transformation to better understand the economic opportunities afforded by a data-driven society and how to balance these with privacy. This Data Strategy should enable, support, and accelerate the work ISED is undertaking.

The significant pooled data source of anonymized private-sector resource data, coupled with publicly derived and publicly funded data, can be leveraged by private sector organizations and businesses to improve decision-making, accelerate innovation, and create new markets and services. Given the government's focus and collaboration with the private sector on the six economic strategy tables (digital, energy, environment, health, agriculture, and advanced manufacturing) and major investments in five superclusters, leveraging innovation ecosystems and Canada's comparative advantages, the government has a historic opportunity to accelerate innovation and prosperity by unleashing its own data.

The Government of Canada currently provides funding for research projects that generate significant amounts of data. All data derived from publicly funded research and investment must be open source, and industry must be incentivized to donate private data for the public good. For example, Government of Canada support for research through contributions and granting councils generates significant amounts of data every year. The associated agreements could include a clause requiring that data derived from public funding also be included in data pools. For example, a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for a study on enhancing healthy and productive work for young men and women with disabilities could generate significant data containing, for example, demographics, salaries, types of work, and workplace accommodations. These data could be repurposed in a multitude of ways by other institutions and private firms, resulting in new economic activity or insights. The federal government must promote public–private collaboration to pool data assets to grow Canada's data-driven economy. Canadian government data are a public resource and should benefit Canadians. Consideration should be given to creating data trusts or pools that can be easily accessed by Canadians.

Next steps

• ISED to work with respective departments, the private sector and other organizations to increase the availability of data to empower private sector innovation and growth in support of the six strategy tables and five superclusters
• Pursue options to create a Canadian open data trust or pool
• StatCan to provide support for linked data pools, which could potentially be accessed using existing Research Data Centre infrastructure

Next steps

Driving progress

The recommended short-term next steps for the government to lay the foundation and build momentum are illustrated in Figure 6 of this report and summarized below.

Whole-of-government implementation

Governance

• Clerk to write to current DM CEPP co-chairs requesting changes to mandate, membership, and authorities by winter 2019. Once established, DM CEPP would then take the lead with a clear, consistent, and coordinated approach to ensure the implementation of this work
• Renewed DM CEPP to provide recommendations on reporting/updating of data strategies by April 2019
• PCO, StatCan and TBS to define roles/responsibilities for enterprise data leadership, including for a Government of Canada Chief Data Steward, to ensure that the government manages data for the public good
• GC CDS, StatCan and TBS to co-lead work to develop new ethics and security frameworks
• Central agencies to lead work to optimize the way data are considered in decision-making (Budget 2-pagers, MCs, TB Subs) by September 2019

Department, agency, or portfolio implementation

Governance

• Clerk to write to deputy ministers articulating the requirement for data strategies and organizational responsibility for data

People and culture

• CSPS, TBS (OCHRO), PSC, StatCan and others to assess state of data literacy and requirements by April 2019
• CSPS to pilot and launch a digital academy by January 2019
• StatCan to pilot a "demand map" for hiring targets for winter 2018-2019
• StatCan and ESDC to build upon Labour Market hack-a-thon to identify talent supply sources
• CSPS, TBS (OCHRO), PSC and StatCan to conduct a data scientist recruitment pilot

Environment and digital infrastructure

• Accelerate work to assess legislative and policy frameworks
• TBS to coordinate development of a federal roadmap for digital IDs by fall 2018
• TBS and SSC to assess required infrastructure needs and provide an interim report to DM CEPP by summer 2019

Data as an asset

• TBS and StatCan to conduct a comprehensive review, analysis and results of data-driven pilots; and provide to DM CEPP by January 2019
• StatCan to develop prototype of Virtual Data Lab by winter 2019
• TBS to update policy requirements and direction, and begin work on the development of standards and guidance, in respect of information/data management, including open government, as part of the development of a new digital policy by spring 2019

Annexes

Project team

This work has been carried out as a joint venture between PCO, TBS and StatCan. The team is headed by the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet for Results and Delivery, the Chief Information Officer of Canada, and the Chief Statistician of Canada and includes:

• Statistics Canada
  Office of the Chief Statistician
  • Anil Arora
  • Sylvie Michaud
  • Stéphane Dufour
  • Deryck Trehearne
  • Elena Prokopenko
  • Joanne Ellis
  • Robert Andrew Smith
  • Clarissa Lo-Nugent
    
    
     
• Treasury Board Secretariat
  Office of the Chief Information Officer
  • Alex Benay
  • Francis Bilodeau
  • Sonya Read
  • Marc Khouri
  • Ashley Casovan
  • Dawn Hall
  • Jessica Romkey
  • Andrea St-Laurent
  • Jérôme Foldes-Busque
  • Monica Barker
• Privy Council Office
  Results and Delivery Unit
  • Matthew Mendelsohn
  • Alain Beaudoin
  • Craig Kuntz
  • Christel Le Petit
  • Tina Patel
  • Margaret Morris
    
    
     

The team was fortunate to work with an engaged population government-wide, who provided input to, commented on, and helped shape this Data Strategy Roadmap. Some of the groups engaged included:

• An ADM table of key players identified in the data strategy arena
• The Director General (DG) data leads community
• The Enterprise Architecture Review Board
• DG-level coordinating committee meetings, each tailored to specific pillars or themes
• The Deputy Minister Task Force on Public Sector Innovation
• The Coordinating Committee of Deputy Ministers

Environmental scans

Other jurisdictions, including other countries around the world, as well as other departments, agencies and organizations, have developed and implemented or are developing data strategies. Research and consultations were therefore carried out to leverage the wealth and breadth of existing experience to inform the Data Strategy.

Two types of environmental scans were carried out to achieve a better understanding of the data landscape in terms of what has been done or what is underway within the government and in other jurisdictions. The first type of scan was a jurisdictional scan of data strategies, IM/IT plans, and digital government strategies from multiple organizations, including other countries, provinces, municipalities, and academic institutions. The second was a scan of data-centric initiatives within the government.

Consultations were also conducted with departments, agencies and other stakeholder communities to leverage existing expertise from the development of their own data strategies. The consultations were also intended to detect any missing components, and to determine how a Data Strategy could assist them, including through the identification of actions that could drive progress.

Jurisdictional scan

The jurisdictional scan covered data strategies, IM/IT plans, and digital government strategies from multiple organizations, including those in other countries, provinces, municipalities, and academic institutions. Identified commonalities included:

• Data strategies were often at early stages, and often being implemented as sub-strategies to other strategies already in place, such as digital transformation strategies or an open government agenda. In fact, enterprise-wide data strategies were not common; data strategies were often targeted at specific domains (such as health or statistics or open data).
• Data strategies required support from a high level within the organization. Data governance included clearly defined roles and responsibilities for decision-making, such as identification of data leaders or champions and oversight committees, and was often supported by policy instruments.
• Data protection and privacy are frequently enacted through legislation or regulations. Of note is the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, which harmonized data protection across the European Union member states into a single law when it came into force in May 2018.
• The implementation outcomes from these digital, IM/IT plans and data strategies were not evident.

Data-centric initiatives within the Government of Canada

The scan of the data landscape across the Government of Canada started with a review of existing documents available administratively. The partially populated scan was then shared with data-centric groups across government, including the DG data leads group and the Enterprise Architecture Review Board, for completion and validation. Findings and commonalities include:

• Departments are taking a variety of approaches to data governance. Most departments/agencies have some form of corporate, internal governance for data, and most have data strategies in place, in development or as a need.
• Some departments have or are considering the role of Chief Data Officer. The level and location within the organization of either a person such as a Chief Data Officer or Chief Information Officer or a committee championing data differ, often based on organizational needs and preferences.
• Departments are collaborating on initiatives: most commonly with other government departments, but also with municipalities, provinces, territories, Indigenous communities and academia. Several departments are working with Statistics Canada on data-enabled initiatives (e.g., Status of Women, Natural Resources Canada, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Infrastructure Canada).
• Most departments indicated goals or initiatives relating to workforce development, open data, and culture transformation.
• Other themes were consideration of privacy, ethics and security; IT modernization, analytics needs; data inventories (existing or needed, within department, or enterprise-wide, relating to department's business lines), harnessing new data sources and novel methods (Big Data, AI, geomatics), and experimentation.
• Departments are and will be leveraging existing processes, frameworks, platforms, approvals, and communities to improve communication, and increase data and availability of modern tools.

Consultations

Consultations were conducted in two phases. To create early understanding, the first phase targeted key players identified in the data strategy arena. The most commonly cited barriers to advancing the more effective use of data included cultural barriers to data sharing, privacy considerations, legal considerations, a lack of a whole-of-government approach to the management, sharing and use of data, and a lack of enabling technology for data exchange.

The second phase openly invited the participation of all departments and agencies on those topics that interested them. They formed the coordinating committees, which worked collaboratively and openly throughout the summer, including engaging on GCcollab with others across the government. Initiatives were discussed and recommendations agreed upon that would feed into the Data Strategy.

Bibliography

• IBM (2016), 10 Key Marketing Trends for 2017
• National Energy Board, Incidents at NEB-Regulated Pipelines and Facilities, 2018
• The Opioid Crisis and Response: Update to Council and Senior Administration, City of Calgary, June 21, 2018