Canadian Government Executive - Volume 26 - Issue 05

January/February 2021 // Canadian Government Executive / 23 Digital Governance meant to be an additional layer of oversight but rather a forum for dialogue and en- gagement that can both incite and incubate new ideas on how to expand openness in a measured and meaningful manner. After our first year of outreach and de- liberations, NS-TAG has recently released an inaugural report summarizing the jour- ney to date – and the path ahead. What we found, both within the public sector and across a range of stakeholders, was wide- spread recognition of the depth of the challenges at hand in keeping Canadians safe - as well as the rising importance of openness and accountability in order to safeguard and heighten public trust while enhancing organizational and policy ca- pacities. While our full report, available online, details a more complete set of themes examined by NS-TAG, three themes pre- sented here provide some sense of what we heard and where we intend to go: i) the growing complexity of national secu- rity governance; ii) the rising importance of data-driven capabilities to the conduct of national security; and iii) the treatment of racialized minorities by national secu- rity actors. In terms of governance complexity, the national security community within the federal government is a large and porous set of departments and agencies from across the Government of Canada (see our report for a visual presentation of the contours of this community). New threats can often create new relationships as well: Covid-19 has not surprisingly given rise to new questions about linkages between health authorities and security agencies. New cyber-security threats, moreover, transcend and bind together multiple or- ganizations from government and the pri- vate sector. These layers of complexity have not been well communicated by governments, in Canada and elsewhere. The risk here is that an absence of public awareness and understanding can erode collective trust and impede the abilities of citizens and stakeholders to engage with security actors. The Government of Canada must, therefore, do a better job of explaining it- self – in proactive, contemporary, and cul- turally sensitive manners, and in reaching new audiences with little appreciation for the security functions at hand. One encouraging example from our own out- reach, for example, came from the Toronto Police Services Board which has made im- portant strides in leveraging social media channels to enlarge community aware- ness and engagement. With respect to data complexity, we heard from a range of federal govern- ment actors struggling to keep up with, and make effective usage of massive data sources accelerating in today’s increasing- ly virtual and interconnected world. Gov- ernment’s own obstacles with data man- agement, moreover, are hardly unique to national security, a point acknowledged by the federal government itself in its 2019 Data Strategy Road Map. Yet, many national security efforts, often cloaked in secrecy, have raised important questions about privacy, questions bound to grow in importance moving forward. The Privacy Commissioner’s many ef- forts – including a recent examination of Artificial Intelligence is a case in point. Along with him and his counterpart, the Information Commissioner, we also met with experts who examined the privacy and security functionality of federal and provincial (Alberta) Covid-19 contact trac- ing apps, an area where health and public safety could become more intertwined in the future. The Spanish Government, for example, has already announced plans to create a database of citizens refusing Covid-19 vaccinations, while various test- ing pilot schemes are refashioning inter- national air travel and giving rise to new questions about personal information storage and sharing. Regarding cultural diversity and racial- ized minority groups, such themes have been central within the national security apparatus – especially in terms of work- place culture and recruitment and reten- tion. We learned how security agencies are making important strides in creating more open and inclusive workplace envi- ronments – appreciating that the composi- tion of workers within government must increasingly reflect the constituencies that it serves. Yet, as has been made apparent with the RCMP’s own admission of sys- temic racism within its ranks, much more remains to be done. Whether and how national security agen- cies undertake outreach and surveillance of particular ethnic, cultural or other groups is also a key aspect of national security gover- nance where more transparency is clearly required. As such, it will be the sole focus of one of our reports in year two. As with Maher Arar and many related examples, the treatment of Muslim Canadians under- scores the importance of such a task. Along with our own consultations with Muslim representatives, we note with en- couragement that the City of Edmonton’s police services has recently launched a community outreach initiative specifically designed to embrace racialized minori- ties in new and innovative manners. At the same time, the recent New Zealand Public Inquiry into the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre has produced a number of thoughtful recommendations (swiftly and fully accepted by the Government) aimed to infusing a restructured national security apparatus with greater cultural sensitivity and diversity. Prior to this important endeavour, how- ever, our next report will undertake a more systemic examination of how public sector organizations can better operationalize a mindset of transparency – and measure progress. Our hope is that this report will provide a foundation for subsequent NS- TAG undertakings, while also contributing to open government efforts more widely. We encourage you to review the full re- port – and to reach out to NS-TAG mem- bers or the Secretariat at Public Safety Canada for more information and to share your own views. As we aim to help pre- serve and deepen public trust – and facili- tate innovative and adaptive governance, our still-nascent journey can hopefully lessen the shadows surrounding this cru- cial, complex and highly consequential di- mension of democratic governance. Mary Francoli is Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies. She is also an Associate Dean and Di- rector of the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs. Jeffrey Roy is Profes- sor in the School of Public Administra- tion at Dalhousie University. Both are members of NS-TAG. With respect to data complexity, we heard from a range of federal government actors struggling to keep up with, and make effective usage of massive data sources accelerating in today’s increasingly virtual and interconnected world.