Publication Mail Registration Number: 40052410 THE MAGAZINE FOR PUBLIC SECTOR DECISION MAKERS SUMMER 2023 VOLUME 29 | NUMBER 2 0 9 06 61399 70471 $5.00 Display until September 10 www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca INSIDE: HOW TO IMPROVE THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA’S ACCESSIBILITY BUILD RELATIONSHIPS AS COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE GREENER ECONOMY
Summer 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 3 CONTENTS 6 How to Improve the Government of Canada’s Accessibility By Mike Gifford 12 Panel Discussion Highlights: The relationship between government and private consulting firms By CGE staff 16 PERSPECTIVE Smart Cities and the Green Economy: Data Privacy and Cybercrime Protection Start with a Smart Cloud By Paul West 18 MIDDLE MANAGEMENT Build relationships as communities of practice By John Wilkins 20 GOVERNING DIGITALLY A Critical Inflection Point: Hybrid Work and Artificial Intelligence By Jeffrey Roy 22 Time to Increase Arctic Maritime Domain Awareness By Pierre LeBlanc 28 THE LAST WORD By Lori Turnbull 16 Smart Cities and the Green Economy CGE ONLINE: Letters We welcome feedback on articles and story ideas. Email lori@promotivemedia.ca About the Cover Digital Health - A Shared National Imperative It’s in the Archives Missed an issue? Misplaced an article? Visit www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca for a full archive of past CGE issues, as well as online extras from our many contributors.
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6 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 ACCESSIBILITY ACCESSIBILITY HOW TO IMPROVE THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA’S The governments in the European Union, United Kingdom and United States have a requirement to regularly publish data on the digital accessibility of their departments and agencies.This public reporting has unleashed a great deal of accessibility innovation in Europe. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) just recently published their summary findings from their agencies, after failing to for a decade. It is clear now how much time they have lost. BY MIKE GIFFORD
Summer 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 7 ACCESSIBILITY Canadian government departments are not required to publish data on the accessibility of their digital services. This year, we should start to see department specific reports against the accessibility action plans of that department. Unfortunately, this is way too general. It is unclear if these will be public. The lack of specificity makes it impossible to provide a government-wide report on digital accessibility for the Government of Canada. We will not be able to know if the government as a whole is making progress. Most government websites do not even meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA, let alone the current best practices. More importantly, government services continue to present barriers to Canadians. For many working in government, this will be new information. The assumption for most federal employees is that the government is already meeting the WCAG 2.0 AA requirements. There was a clear decision of the 2012 Supreme Court in the Donna Jodhan Case which reinforced that having an inaccessible site is a violation of Charter rights. At that point all government websites were mandated by the courts to ensure that they meet WCAG 2.0 AA. The Accessible Canada Act was intended to be a brave step in improving services for disabled Canadians. The act targets the Government of Canada and about 20,000 federally regulated organizations. There is space within the act to regulate those organizations, but the act was signed in 2019 and Canada seems to be falling further behind. Progress on digital inclusion in the Canadian government has just not kept up with the changes in technology, or advances made by other governments. Fortunately, there are best practices in digital inclusion that can be applied from other governments globally, including the UK and the EU. Canada clearly needs to jumpstart its accessibility maturity, to ensure that it is addressing the inclusion challenges of 2023 with approaches that are appropriate for today. 1) Clearly state that PDFs must be avoided The most cost-effective and inclusive approach to document accessibility was provided by the UK government. They highlighted not only that PDFs are a problem to assistive technology users, which they are, but also that they present a significant problem for anyone using a smartphone. Unlike HTML, PDFs generally do not reflow to fit the size of the screen. PDFs are an ongoing problem with accessibility. It is commonly known that most PDFs present barriers to access for people with disabilities. PDFs were never built to be accessible. Efforts to add accessibility into the format are only partially successful. They exclude low vision users as well as anyone trying to read a document on their cell phone. They are an outdated format that excludes many Canadians. It is still too easy to publish PDFs, and too difficult to make them accessible. This is especially true with PDF forms. Sadly, for people without accessibility expertise, it is still nearly impossible to distinguish between accessible and inaccessible PDFs. The Treasury Board should clearly state that government content should be published in HTML, and that PDFs should be avoided. Write clear guidance indicating how to write accessible documents and warning people about the challenges that are inherent with PDFs. Provide accessible templates for agency document policies to help enforce this. Automate Basic PDF Validation If government agencies insist on using PDFs, there needs to be automated validation built in to block the PDFs that obviously fail to meet accessibility standards. Canada should build on open source tools like Luxembourg’s simplA11y PDFCrawler, which can collect PDFs and evaluate them for basic accessibility issues. While Luxembourg is a very small country, this approach could be expanded so that it could serve much larger government agencies to automate the process of identifying inaccessible documents. Many of the approaches here could also be incorporated into CMS like Drupal or WordPress. It is possible to evaluate if documents have basic semantic markup within the PDF and block files from being The Treasury Board should clearly state that government content should be published in HTML, and that PDFs should be avoided.
8 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 ACCESSIBILITY uploaded that have images without a text alternative or proper tagging. This would catch many of the PDFs that are uploaded to government sites. There also should just be more friction in the process of uploading PDFs, so that departments shift their behaviours. Publishing tools can be configured to actively discourage users from uploading PDFs, and explaining how they can use other formats like EPUB. Creating HTML or EPUB documents is often much easier when authors are starting with their original publishing tool (often MS Word). 2) Standardize governmentwide accessibility monitoring Because of the Web Accessibility Directive, both European Union countries and the UK are doing government-wide accessibility monitoring. For countries following this EU Directive, they must provide a public report of digital accessibility every three years. 2022 was the first year these monitoring reports were made available and many also have English translations. Each member state of the EU chooses its own path to accomplish this, but they have made efforts to make results that are comparable. The European Commission has funded the W3C’s Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) to see that there are different open source accessibility engines that can be used, but that have comparable results. Ireland and the Netherlands both have introduced a dashboard that allows departments to make meaningful comparisons. In Canada, it should be mandatory that the full reports from government departments are made public to allow for independent evaluations and comparisons. The reports should include both automated testing, manual testing, and feedback from users with disabilities. Create a dashboard that highlights errors Open source tools now allow for basic government-wide accessibility testing. Government agencies can find real barriers and avoid false positives, by using site-wide accessibility monitoring services. Many are currently using proprietary tools which take a page by page approach. Some departments are using these tools to support their accessibility efforts. When looking at a governmentwide solution a proprietary solution would be too expensive and limited in scope. A centralized accessibility scanning service, funded by the federal government, leveraging open source tools, would centralize the cost and remove budgetary barriers for individual departments. It would also provide a common platform for basic metrics, which would provide useful comparisons that are nearly impossible today. Inconsistent evaluation practices of different agencies makes central reporting far less meaningful. Self reporting by agencies provides far too much room for bias. By leveraging common open source tools like Deque’s axe, it is possible to create a meaningful dashboard which highlights a common set of accessibility barriers across all government departments. The Netherlands has an excellent example of what In Canada, it should be mandatory that the full reports from government departments are made public to allow for independent evaluations and comparisons. The reports should include both automated testing, manual testing, and feedback from users with disabilities.
Summer 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 9 ACCESSIBILITY a public dashboard should look like. Departments should be on a government-wide leaderboard that highlights their web accessibility errors. This would allow executives to easily understand how their team’s work compares with others. It should also allow the ability to view progress over time. This can be automated so that data is gathered government-wide and reported on a monthly or weekly basis. CivicActions is working with open source approaches that allow for government-wide scanning using a central open source approach. Our goal is to produce an open source leaderboard, as we have described. 3) Support authors to create accessible content One of the best ways to improve accessibility for websites is to provide better support for authors. Most content on government websites is not written by accessibility experts. Authors need support in producing accessible content. The W3C’s WAI produced the Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 to help provide guidelines for how authors can get the support they need. ATAG is broken into two parts. Part A highlights the need for the back-end interface to be as accessible as the front-end. The authors and administrators of government websites may have disabilities, much like the rest of the population. This is sometimes considered in procurement. Part B promises the biggest opportunity to address accessibility barriers. Authors should be supported in writing accessible content. Having patterns be accessible by default makes it harder for authors to create inaccessible content. There is also a huge opportunity to help use automated tools to show authors how to create more inclusive content. We know this works for spellcheck and grammar check—why isn’t this enabled by default by authoring tools for accessibility? It has been encouraging to see the advancement of authoring tools like Editoria11y and Sa11y which have built tools to help with this. The European Commission supported the We4Authors Cluster project, which supported accessibility best practices for authoring interfaces. The We4Authors project sought to determine what CMSs were used within the EU. The goal was to encourage the software designers to identify and implement best practices for authoring interfaces which would make accessibility easier. This may be the only cross-CMS author focused accessibility study that has been funded by a government. Of the EU government sites surveyed with the We4Authors project, the majority used Drupal. CivicActions participated on behalf of the Drupal community in this EU funded project. Some of the recommendations were already introduced in Drupal 8, while others are still being incorporated. 4) Create meaningful feedback loops through accessibility statements In Canada it isn’t uncommon to see government sites say that they are trying to meet WCAG 2.0 AA requirements, or even WCAG 2.1 or EN 301 549. But this statement alone is insufficient. The UK government has provided an amazing example of impactful accessibility statements. The UK is using their accessibility statements to assess issues like: • What are the known barriers? • Are there workarounds which are known? • What tools and techniques have been used to address accessibility? • Are there easy ways for people to report problems? Departments could go further to: • Track this feedback • Ensure that barriers can be submitted anonymously • If people provide contact information, provide follow-up to ensure their issue is being addressed • Link to existing accessibility policies • Provide links to descriptions of accessibility accommodations in physical offices The government of the Netherlands produces accessibility statements like the UK, but they have gone a step further. They are monitoring these statements across all their government sites. They are also evaluating not just the presence or absence of these statements, but if the statements need work to be fully compliant. In the Netherlands, government departments that do not have compliant statements need to state when they expect to have compliant accessibility. This pushes departments to identify and commit to a timeframe, rather than simply settling with not being fully compliant. People with disabilities deserve access to government services. Most are not interested in filing a complaint with the Accessibility Commissioner. Sites need to facilitate getting feedback from users with disabilities to those who can most quickly address those barriers. The guidance on this to organizations is overly general, and will be inconsistently implemented without clear direction. There is also a huge opportunity to help use automated tools to show authors how to create more inclusive content. We know this works for spellcheck and grammar check—why isn’t this enabled by default by authoring tools for accessibility?
There is no reason not to build to the latest WCAG recommendation. It is the codified best practice for building digital accessibility into good customer experience. 10 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 ACCESSIBILITY 5) Keep accessibility evergreen Europe has made a commitment to keep up with the evolutions of best practices of digital accessibility. Digital technologies are rapidly accelerating because of the internet. To support the needs of users, it is critical that governments agree to follow the latest recommendations from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). There are some government departments still looking for digital interfaces to meet WCAG 2.0 AA, which was a best practice in 2008—15 years ago. The EU is evaluating the WCAG release recommendations and their accessibility standards, EN 301 549, is updated regularly. The standards bodies that create this EU Standard evaluate best practices and release updated versions to support digital inclusion. There is no reason not to build to the latest WCAG recommendation. It is the codified best practice for building digital accessibility into good customer experience. This can be incorporated into existing contracts and even into public accessibility statements. Invest in standards organizations It took 4 years to provide an official translation of WCAG 2.1 into French. If the Government of Canada wanted to see that Francophones were included, they would begin translating the draft recommendations prior to the finalization by the W3C. An interim set of recommendations could be used while the W3C is finalizing the official French release. This could be an effective role for the new Accessibility Standards Canada. The EU is investing in maintaining the EN 301 549 standards, which are maintained by three separate EU standards organizations. Accessible Standards Canada, could be engaging with new releases of the EN 301 549 and ensuring that these can be effectively integrated into Canadian legislation. Like WCAG regulations, these will also need to be translated into French. The EU also supports several initiatives from the W3C WAI. The W3C really is the central organization that manages global accessibility for the web. The Government of Canada could financially support WAI initiatives. It could also support involvement of Canadians to develop WAI initiatives. Doing
Summer 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 11 ACCESSIBILITY this would be an effective way to support the basic infrastructure for our modern digital life. Digital government depends on open standards, which can be implemented consistently worldwide. 6) Procurement Government procurement should be improving government accessibility. There has not been a great deal of innovation in Europe around accessible procurement. Most European countries have looked at the early leadership from the USA on Section 508 and the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template and decided that this was not a model that was effective for them. European countries are struggling to find better ways to engage with their vendors, but there is no clear leadership. The Netherlands and the W3C have done a lot of innovation with the creation of the WCAG Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM). This process and the associated WCAG-EM Tool help website evaluators strategically evaluate the accessibility of websites. Contracts can be set up to evaluate a website when it is launched, and then every year after that. Because the WCAG-EM Tool produces machine-readable reports, it is easy to see a comparison between different departments and over time. The CivicActions team saw an opportunity to modernize procurement by leveraging the open source solutions provided by the WCAG-EM Tool. Working for the USA Government’s General Services Administration (GSA) we built OpenACR to support a transition to a modern machine-readable approach to leverage global best practices. We saw that there was a need to rethink how Accessibility Conformance Reporting was done that allowed agencies to use the data to inform decision-making about a vendor’s accessibility claims. With a machine-readable approach, it will finally be possible to have an enterprise-wide view. There is a lot that can be done to revise the procurement process. In the USA, we have seen PEAT Works and Disability:IN produce some amazing recommendations for best practices. Procurement and contracting officers have a critical role in structuring accessible procurement. Early engagement with vendors and consistent application across government departments is key for effective adoption. Next steps There is a lot to be learned from global government agencies. Accessibility is a serious problem which requires a holistic approach. The EU and the UK have provided a great deal of leadership around accessibility in the last few years. Because this has been developed and implemented in Europe already, it will be easier for adoption to occur in Canada. We do not need to establish a new precedent or reinvent the wheel—we can improve on models that European countries are already using to improve accessibility. By refining and contextualizing these ideas, we can easily transform Canadian digital government so that inclusivity is baked into our government’s websites. Mike Gifford is a Senior Strategist at CivicActions and a thought leader on digital accessibility in the public sector. He is also a W3C Invited Expert and recognized authoring tool accessibility expert. Previously, he was the Founder and President of OpenConcept Consulting Inc., a web development agency specializing in building open source solutions for the open web. OpenConcept was an impact driven company and Certified B Corporation. Like CivicActions, OpenConcept worked extensively with the Drupal CMS. Mike was also part of the Government of Canada’s Open Source Advisory Board. Mike has spearheaded accessibility improvements in Drupal since 2008, and has served as a Drupal Core Accessibility Maintainer in 2012. As a long-term environmentalist, Mike has found ways to integrate his passions for the web and the planet. His most significant contributions have been in the development of the Sustainable Web Manifesto and adding an open source perspective to Tim Frick’s book Designing for Sustainability. Image: www.peatworks.org
These were among the issues addressed during a webinar we recently hosted featuring Dr. Amanda Clarke from Carleton University, one of the 100 most influential academics in government, and Michael Wernick from the Jaris12 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 CGE LEADERSHIP SERIES lowsky Chair in Public Sector Management at University of Ottawa and former Clerk of the Privy Council. The first point raised was among the most important “I think the first thing to keep in mind is that no one should be arguing that the government needs to go it alone or that there’s something inherently wrong with turning to outside providers or leaning on management consultants for advisory services.” Dr. Clarke said this right off the top, and Mr. Wernick echoed it. “On the one hand, you get a simplistic view that if we handed things over to the private sector or did it the way the private sector did, the public sector would be better for it. On the other side, you get reflexive arguments that contracting is always a problem and that everything would always be done better if it was done by full-time unionized public servants. Neither position moves the public sector forward.” Stressing the importance of the middle ground is important in the wake of the Carleton study because the sticker shock angered a lot of people, in part because of how the story was framed by Canadian news outlets. The National Post reported “no less than $18 billion has been spent on work that A Carleton University study found the federal government to have spent at least $22 billion on outsourcing in 2021-22. The sticker shock has been the impetus for some hard academic looks into where, how and, most importantly, why that money was spent. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE CONSULTING FIRMS Panel Discussion Highlights: Dr. Amanda Clarke Michael Wernick
Summer 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 13 CGE LEADERSHIP SERIES could have been done by public servants between 2011 and 2021.” The Globe and Mail led their story with “outsourcing costs 74-per-cent higher than when the Liberals promised in 2015 to cut back on the use of external consultants.” Snippets like these seem like they’re meant to quash the public appetite for outsourcing. But the answer isn’t to eliminate outsourcing. It’s to outsource better. For the rest of the discussion, Dr. Clarke, Mr. Wernick and moderator Lori Turnbull (Deputy Editor of Canadian Government Executive Magazine) looked at how the federal government got to the point of spending so much on outsources services, the negative implications of that spend, what can be done do reduce both and, as Dr. Clarke noted, “how to do it in a way that’s accountable, that has value for money, that enriches governance and that leaves the public service and those reliant on its services in a better position. “There’s quite a lot of room for improvement.” Dr. Clarke mentioned this as well and broke her assertion down into a few buckets. First was the value-for-money perspective: is government actually getting what they’re paying for from the consultants they bring in? Are they getting the highest forms of expertise, trained by elite schools of management? Could the work being done by outside consultants for a premium price be done as well or better in-house? Second was appearances of impropriety, and Dr. Clarke broke that down into two sub-buckets. On the one hand, the strict rules of transparency, disclosure, bilingualism and ethics baked into government process for all kinds of reasons aren’t enforced equally across contracts. In some instances, it’s hard to know where money is being spent and if it’s being spent appropriately. Rightly or wrongly, these inconsistencies and the possible lack of visibility they provide raise eyebrows. A similar but different reason for scepticism is the prevalence of senior government leaders making career moves into the private sector at firms they brought in as consultants. The third was the hollowing-out effects of outsourcing. Again, Dr. Clarke broke this down into buckets: institutional knowledge, morale and innovation — all of which negatively affect how the public service works and how well it works. The lack of in-house institutional knowledge is key because it makes government a less informed buyer of services, and more likely to run into the problems outlined above. Also, not having in-house expertise weakens the collaborative potential between government and all its consultants because both sides can’t add equal value. On the morale side, Dr. Clarke described the disrespect felt by public servants when exciting projects they would excel at leading or working on are outsourced. The slight leads to malaise, which comes through in the effort put forth and the lack of innovative thinking. As for the innovation/creativity gap, Dr. Clarke cited this as the place to start the improvement process. “Contracting is a short-term solution to a lack of in-house capacity,” she said. “It’s distracting from the more fundamental need: creating the conditions to ensure a resilient and highly capable federal public service.” Mr. Wernick agreed and added that “a commitment to reduce the spending on “Contracting is a short-term solution to a lack of in-house capacity. It’s distracting from the more fundamental need: creating the conditions to ensure a resilient and highly capable federal public service.” — Dr. Amanda Clarke
14 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 CGE LEADERSHIP SERIES this is to prioritize empowerment by stripping away the procedural heaviness that tends to keep innovation and creativity from flourishing in the public sphere. “We have to do a real cultural shakeup of the executive class in the federal government who were raised in a culture calibrated to focus on risk management and risk aversion as the metric of success,” said Ms. Clarke. “I think we’re still largely putting those people in an environment that is far too bogged down in excessive process and oversight, and it leads to managers not pushing the status quo. Instead, they’re more concerned about mitigating the possibility of winding up on the front page for the wrong reasons.” Mr. Wernick added to this point with a future-focused perspective. “The federal government workforce has an eight percent yearly churn rate. So, half of the community turn over every five years. Young replacements coming in will obviously need to be trained, but they’ll be coming in with the latest knowledge. The intermediate and senior managers who remain are the ones who get neglected because there’s a major under-investment in their skills.” Not helping them build their knowledge sets or management competencies, not encouraging an attitude of innovation, and not creating an environment where innovation can thrive are major lost opportunities and could be detrimental in the future when these managers are tasked with making major decisions. The pandemic gave the public service a path forward The two years of WFH broke the default position of centralizing the federal public service efforts in Ottawa. It created a much larger pool of in-house and consultive talent to choose from across the country. This is obviously a boon for improving output, and it puts the federal government in parts of the country outside the national capital region. The 2020–2022 timeframe also forced the public service in general to rethink their rules of engagement, which Mr. Wernick noted was a major detriment to the way internal and external experts operate in the Canadian public sphere. “Our default response to problems is to add rules and process, both of which are difficult to hack away once they’re established,” said Mr. Wernick. The pandemic forced the public service away from that and, in the process, opened up new worlds of possibility. Now the public service can move in that direction, using the pandemic as a jumpingoff point to question more about how the public service works, how it works with external consultants, and how the two can work together affordably, collaboratively and effectively for the short- and long-term health of the public service. The consensus between the two panelists and the moderator was that outsourcing is valuable, it can work, and it has to be done and it can be done well if the in-house resources are trained to collaborate with consultants instead rather than simply being told to use them. Shifting to this mindset will help the public benefit from both sides of the equation. management consultants without a commitment to increase training and leadership development will leave us nowhere.” The investment has to start with people Regardless of how much is spent on external consultive resources, both panelists emphasized the need for government to rethink how top talent is compensated and empowered. On the renumeration side, Dr. Clarke pointed to other governments, the United States, the United Kingdom in particular, that have done a far better job of recruiting talent “by pushing salaries to a point that they’re not completely absurdly out of touch with what the private sector offers.” This is a trend the Canadian federal government has not followed for many reasons, but Mr. Wernick pointed to the basic nature of the Canadian public sector. “The federal government hasn’t historically been keen to undertake significant reform. But they have to be prepared to take political risks and say, ‘we’re going to professionalize and raise the game.’” More than money, though, the investment has to be in upskilling the people they have. Mr. Wernick posited that those energies be directed towards the 14,000 middle managers in the public service. “Middle management makes all the difference in culture and outcome and performance management and so on. A bigger investment in the middle management cadre would be enormous.” Dr. Clarke agreed and doubled down by saying that “middle management is where good ideas die or thrive.” Both panelists agreed that the way to do “Middle management makes all the difference in culture and outcome and performance management and so on. A bigger investment in the middle management cadre would be enormous.” — Michael Wernick 3rd Annual Conference
Submarine Submarine Disruptive Technology Disruptive Technology Disruptive Technology ASW ASW ASW Underwater Domain Underwater Domain Underwater Domain UUV UUV UUV Security Security C4ISR C4ISR Subsea Subsea Sonar Sonar Sonar Torpedoes Torpedoes Torpedoes Acoustics Acoustics Acoustics Robotics Propulsion Propulsion Engineering Engineering Sovereignty Sovereignty Sovereignty Autonomous System Autonomous Systems Autonomous Systems NOVEMBER 2, 2023 For more information, contact: David Blondeau at 1-905-841-7389 or david@promotivemedia.ca REGISTRATION IS OPEN! FORUM 2023 DEEPBLUE FORUM 2023 DEEPBLUE November 2, 2023 Venue: The Westin, Ottawa, ON Canada www.vanguardcanada.com/deepblue2023 4TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE Autonomous Systems Acoustics Torpedoes
reach US$327 billion by 2025.”3 But smart technologies may also expose municipalities to security and privacy issues. In a joint publication on cybersecurity best practices for smart cities, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and its global cybersecurity partners warn that “Smart cities are an attractive target for criminals and cyber threat actors to exploit vulnerable systems to steal critical infrastructure data and proprietary information, conduct ransomware operations, or launch destructive cyberattacks.”4 We need to look at what makes a city smart, how technology can contribute to the right kind of solutions, and—just as importantly—how we can ensure data security and cybercrime protection. Smart cities and the green economy The European Commission defines a smart city as “a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital solutions for the benefit of its inhabitants and business.”5 Smart technology helps municipalities deliver and/or regulate better transport networks, economical land use, reliable water and waste disposal facilities, and more efficient lighting and heating. Digital solutions can automate, track, report, and streamline operations, improving efficiency in healthcare, crime prevention, and education sectors—and it is all powered by data. That data is exactly what hackers are looking for when they target a municipality’s digital infrastructure. Their interference can lead to disruption of services, breach of sensitive data, financial losses, erosion of trust, and, in extreme circumstances, even peril to property and lives. Safe cities, secure data Smart cities collect vast amounts of data. By Paul West 16 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 PERSPECTIVE Sponsored Content Research shows that the implementation of smart cities has a significant impact on the development of an urban green economy.1 In my hometown of Stratford, Ontario, a Smart City initiative with city-wide digital capabilities provides citizens and visitors with access to information and public services.2 It’s a smart way to improve lives, boost tourism, and streamline operations. The power of the cloud transforms cities, improving energy efficiency, lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and helping citizens live a more sustainable life. Automated solutions that measure performance in real-time and generate environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports can help municipalities make better use of resources. However, operating in the public cloud can also make cities more vulnerable to cyberattack. That’s why smart cities need a smart cloud. Smart clouds make smarter cities As the imperative for environmental stewardship grows, municipalities are looking for solutions to keep cities safe while contributing to a greener economy. According to a study by the University of California, Berkeley, “Smart city technologies are all the rage, and investment in [these] technologies is expected to Paul West, Director, Global Public Sector, ThinkOn Every connected device, from rented bicycles or cars to smart metres, traffic lights, and digitized public services, collects and shares information that can create vulnerabilities and privacy issues. Citizens who share their names, contact information, government identification numbers, and bank accounts online, need to know that their information is secure. As noted in the Berkeley study, “The biggest risk for residents of a smart city stems from the potential leaking of personal identifiable information…. If a city keeps that type of data and it gets compromised, that can be devastating to cities.”6 While it’s true that data stored in the cloud is vulnerable to cyberattack, municipalities can minimize risk by maintaining a robust management system to analyse data, determine where it needs to be stored and delete what is not needed. In an interview with Canadian Government Executive, ThinkOn CEO, Craig McLellan said, “Just because I felt comfortable sharing information today, doesn’t mean that I gave a licence for my data to be used forever. So, data trust becomes important. If we are going to harvest metadata, we need to be clear on its use cases.”7 Canada has stringent rules on data privacy.8 Working with a cloud vendor approved under the Shared Services Canada Privacy Management Framework agreement for secure workloads guarantees that all privacy guidelines are strictly adhered to, safeguarding Canadian data. The ransomware discussion Ransomware events are becoming alarmingly frequent, and smart cities are among the most vulnerable targets, according to Canada’s spy agency, CSIS. “The Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns that technological innovations SMART CITIES AND THE GREEN ECONOMY: Data Privacy and Cybercrime Protection Start with a Smart Cloud
adopted by municipalities could be exploited by adversaries such as the Chinese government to harvest sensitive data, target diaspora communities, and interfere in elections.”9 A successful cybercriminal could control our water supply or electricity and transportation systems through the artificial intelligence used to optimize public services. CSIS warns that simply by using a public cloud, Canadian municipalities may inadvertently agree to partnerships with third-party vendors with foreign interests, who would then have access to Canadian data. According to the CSIS report, a cyberbreach could have dangerous consequences: “This sort of exposure will have serious financial, social, and health and safety implications in Canada. Imagine a scenario where a co-ordinated cyberattack took down safety locks that prevent catastrophic explosions at a petrochemical facility, while simultaneously controlling traffic lights to inhibit the emergency response.”10 Continuous monitoring of the entire ecosystem in a municipality’s digital framework is necessary to detect, block, and mitigate at the first sign of an attack. That can be difficult on a foreign-owned public cloud with unknown global thirdparty resources. A smart cloud for smart cities Planning for a cyberattack is the best defence against cybercrime. A smart cloud approach analyzes outcomes and deploys the best solution—a strategy that allows municipalities to plan for resilience, rather than relying on a reactive approach after an attack occurs. In Canada, ransomware attacks on public service have targeted the Canada Revenue Agency, the Toronto Transit Commission, and Canada Post. U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Maryland, and New Orleans, have suffered ransomware demands that crippled services and incurred financial damages in the millions. Hackers are getting smarter, and while it’s impossible to fully protect a city from every cyberattack, defending digital infrastructure—with built-in automated detection, frequent upgrades, robust backup and data management systems, and hybrid solutions for data storage—can block attacks, and in the event of a breach, mitigate damage, protect sensitive data, and restore operations quickly. John Slater, Chief Security Officer at ThinkOn, says, “Digital transformation is necessary in today’s global world. It is a huge opportunity to streamline operations, increase efficiencies, and automate ESG. And you should not have to sacrifice security or compliance to make that happen.”11 A smart cloud, operated and managed by a government-approved domestic provider, enables smart cities to keep citizens safe while enjoying the benefits of streamlined communications, lower operations costs, and a greener economy. Learn more about cloud smart solutions with ThinkOn at www.thinkon. com/public-sector/ References: 1. Liu, K., C. Meng, J. Tan, & G. Zhang. 2023. “Do smart cities promote a green economy? Evidence from a quasi-experiment of 253 cities in China.” Environmental Impact Assessment Review (99). 107009. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.eiar.2022.107009 2. nvest Stratford. “Smart Community.” https://www.investstratford.com/ smart-city 3. Trapenberg Frick, Karen, Giselle Mendonça Abreau, Nathan Malkin, Alexandra Pan, Alison E. Post. 2021. “The Cybersecurity Risks of Smart City Technologies.” CLTC White paper series. University of California, Berkeley. https://cltc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/ uploads/2021/03/Smart_City_Cybersecurity.pdf 4. Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. 2023. “Cyber Security Best Practices—Smart Cities.” April 19. https:// www.cyber.gc.ca/en/news-events/ joint-publication-cyber-security-bestpractices-smart-cities 5. European Commission. “Smart Cities.” https://commission.europa.eu/ eu-regional-and-urban-development/ topics/cities-and-urban-development/ city-initiatives/smart-cities_en 6. Trapenberg Frick, Karen, Giselle Mendonça Abreau, Nathan Malkin, Alexandra Pan, Alison E. Post. 2021. “The Cybersecurity Risks of Smart City Technologies.” CLTC White paper series. University of California, Berkeley. https://cltc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/ uploads/2021/03/Smart_City_Cybersecurity.pdf 7. Craig McLellan. 2022. “Canadian Cloud Difference.” Canadian Government Executive. https://canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca/the-canadiancloud-difference%EF%BF%BC/ 8. Government of Canada. 2022. “Privacy Management Framework.” Last modified May 16. https://www.canada. ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/ security/privacy-management-framework.html 9. Jim Bronskill. 2023. “Canada’s spy agency warns ‘smart city’ platforms pose security risks.” Global News. March 9. https://globalnews.ca/ news/9538658/smart-city-technology-security-risks-csis/ 10.Cybersecurity Ventures. 2022. “Cybercrime Damages To Cost The World $8 Trillion USD in 2023.” Newswires. December 15. https://www.einnews. com/pr_news/606505844/cybercrime-damages-to-cost-the-world8-trillion-usd-in-2023 11. John Slater. 2023. “Cyberattacks Cost Organizations Millions in Revenue Loss and Reputational Damage: The Hidden Threats of Missing Out on the Right Cybersecurity.” ThinkOn. Last modified March 3. https://thinkon. com/blogs/hidden-threats-of-missing-out-on-the-right-cybersecurity/ As the leader of a global team of data experts dedicated to the public sector, Paul West is the face of ThinkOn’s commitment to making data thrive for government and public service organizations. His mission is to provide strategic advice, leadership, governance, and stakeholder engagement on community-driven data solutions including secure cloud services, resilient design, and enterprise applications serving the government, healthcare, public safety, and industry sectors. Decades of experience bringing technology and security resources to public services means he understands the barriers to effective data stewardship: budget restraints, escalating costs, security risks, data accessibility, sovereignty, security, governance, privacy issues, and organizational silos. Summer 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 17 Sponsored Content PERSPECTIVE
MIDDLE MANAGEMENT 18 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 erarchies, whether silos, functional levels, or parts rarely involved in change, help people generate ideas grounded in data. Networks sustain relationships that enable managers to better cope with the speed and complexity of change. Collaborating in networks and communities Public sector projects touch diverse stakeholders across multi-level jurisdictions. Local action is difficult to mobilize from a centralized command structure. Decentralized problem solving and decision making empower community-based leadership of change. Projects achieve scale and impact quickly when hierarchical control is combined with networked information sharing. Globalization, demographics, and technologies require networked government to be full-on collaborative. The future of public BUILD RELATIONSHIPS AS COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE BY JOHN WILKINS COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE ARE GROUPS OF PEOPLE WHO SHARE A CONCERN OR A PASSION FOR SOMETHING THEY DO AND LEARN HOW TO DO IT BETTER AS THEY INTERACT REGULARLY. — ETIENNE WENGER Standing in line took on new meaning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Time passes slowly waiting in line alone, distanced from strangers to minimize health risks. It seems anti-social, almost inhuman. People are conditioned to enjoy and encourage each other, even on the most difficult days. In community, walking the road of commitment together makes the journey worthwhile. People who belong to a community live in a much larger world. Henri Nouwen said, “Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives.” Surrounding ourselves with familiar people can form a club or clique. It takes shared vision, hard work, and persistent networking to form a lasting community of people who are not like us. A community of diverse members captures the attention of the world. Accelerate by John Kotter (2014) anchors operating systems in an inseparable partnership between hierarchy and network. Managers develop and implement a seamless flow of information and activity to maintain and improve daily operations. Hi-
Summer 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 19 MIDDLE MANAGEMENT service demands closer working relationships with stakeholders in academia, civil society, and the private sector. Contextualizing and preparing public servants for a hyper-connected, interdependent world is a strategic task. Senior public servants often find themselves in vertical hierarchies with little scope for networking. Collaborative problem solving empowers teams to discover patterns in unstructured data and predictive analysis. Disruptive technologies can also destabilize societies that reinforce old power structures, manipulate elections, and facilitate unlawful surveillance. Networking and connectivity reforms help overcome divisiveness. People who participate in communities create agency to anticipate future challenges and articulate priorities for action. Communities of practice are groups of people who are bound together by area of expertise and commitment to collective learning. They are decentralized, informal knowledge circles that transcend boundaries and grow organically. They thrive on networks that cascade experiences across government, sponsor action research by institutes, and enable voluntary practitioner exchanges. For two decades, the Treasury Board Secretariat built more than 20 communities of practice across the Government of Canada. They interrogate issues arising from management policies and practices while tracking domestic and international trends and developments in good governance. Communities also identify needs and expertise, connect issues and individuals, align belonging and recognition, and promote learning partnerships. Lessons for managers Collaboration is a central management strategy for leveraging the capacity to achieve wider government goals. Partners contribute to the pool of expertise and assist in delivering opportunities for learning. They are also engaged in researching and posting guidance, tools, cases, publications, and events that share experiences and inventory good practices. It is crucial for leaders to constantly communicate with the public, key stakeholders, and public servants on the principles, methods, and timing of change. Government must be prepared to listen and build feedback into solutions. Engaging directly with citizens and stakeholders improves service experience, legitimacy, and impact. Leveraging the “wisdom of the crowd” to co-create better solutions takes into account service users’ needs and limitations. Cross-ministry collaboration and communities of expertise facilitate sharing. Public servants are more motivated and productive when they know the vision, priorities, and results of change. Successful change initiatives have a human resource strategy that accentuates employee and labour relations, optimizes talent, and minimizes harsh impacts. When change management projects fail, 70% of proponents say it was because of unresolved people issues. John Wilkins is a Teaching Practitioner with the School Of Public Policy and Administration at York University. He was a Career Senior Public Servant and Diplomat. (wilkins@yorku.ca) It is crucial for leaders to constantly communicate with the public, key stakeholders, and public servants on the principles, methods, and timing of change. Government must be prepared to listen and build feedback into solutions. Engaging directly with citizens and stakeholders improves service experience, legitimacy, and impact.
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