Tag Archives: open government

Block review reaches 25 million pages!

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Library and Archives Canada’s Block Review project has just reached another important milestone—25 million pages opened. Since 2010, the project’s goal is to make previously-restricted archival Canadian government records available to the public. The Block Review Team takes a sample from each group of records and assesses the risks involved in sharing them. Since the project started, many Canadian historical records have been opened including those relating to Canada’s 1967 Centennial celebrations, along with early trade and foreign affairs records.

Of particular interest is the recent release of the first group of records from the Department of the Environment dating from 1969 to 1972. These records originate from the department’s Environmental Management Service and the Lands Directorate as well as registry material from the Policy Planning and Research Service. Over 300,000 pages are now open, with a focus on water pollution in the Great Lakes in the late 1960s, solid waste issues confronting municipal governments, and Canada’s relationship with NATO on environmental issues. These records would be of particular interest to researchers studying Canada’s early environmental knowledge and advocacy.

New releases to the Open Data Portal

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Library and Archives Canada is extracting the datasets of studies undertaken by federal departments from outdated storage devices, and preserving them. The studies covering a wide range of topics, such as the environment, health and immigration, are being made available on the Open Data portal. To learn more about the structure of the data, see our blog Open Data: Providing access to historical Government of Canada studies.

Here is a list of some of the new datasets available on the Open Data portal:

Prices and Incomes Commission Datasets

Thirsk Project

This file contains general time series labour force, unemployment and vacancy data collected to support a Prices and Incomes Commission study on the regional characteristics of inflation and unemployment. The data cover the time period between 1949 and 1971.

Lewis Project

The data pertain to general time series econometric data contributions to Prices and Incomes Commission studies into the validity of existing economic theories on wages and the allocation of labour. The data in most cases are monthly and cover the time period between 1935 and 1971.

Lazar Project

The data relate to general time series econometric data and social statistics concerning the state of Canada’s labour force. The data cover the time period between 1950 and 1970.

Scharfe Project

The dataset contains general time series econometric data contributing to a Prices and Incomes Commission study on inflation in the Canadian economy. The data cover the time period between 1961 and 1969.

Itinerant movements 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975

These datasets contain yearly aircraft movement statistics in Canada. Itinerant movement is one in which the aircraft taking off or landing is known to be leaving or entering the airport tower control zone.

Canadian industrial organization

The data contain variables relating to the structure, conduct, and performance of manufacturing industries in Canada as well as to the American industries that are counterparts of the sample of Canadian industries. The data were collected and cover the time period from 1975 to 1976.

Open datasets – update

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Library and Archives Canada is in the process of extracting from outdated storage devices, and then preserving, the datasets of studies undertaken by federal departments. The studies, covering a wide range of topics-including the environment, health, and immigration–are being made available on the Open Data portal. To learn more about the structure of the data, see Open Data: Providing access to historical Government of Canada studies.

In the coming months, Library and Archives Canada will be releasing the following datasets:

Alouette I synoptic data

The data result from radio sounding of the ionosphere by the Alouette I satellite. The data sets being released relate to data collected from May 1, 1963, to December 31, 1966.

Water Survey of Canada

The Water Survey of Canada has been collecting and publishing hydrometric data since 1908. Five categories of data were collected between 1908 and 1979:

  • FLOW files – historical daily, monthly and annual streamflow data from stations across Canada
  • LEVELS file – historical daily, monthly and annual water level data from stations across Canada
  • HYDEX file – descriptive information for hydrometric gauging stations (streamflow and water level)
  • PEAKS file – annual maximum instantaneous discharges or water levels from some 1,400 gauging stations across Canada
  • SEDEX file – historical daily mean suspended sediment concentrations in milligrams per litre from gauging stations across Canada

Food Prices Review Board

The results from several food price studies undertaken between 1973 and 1976 will be released:

  • Average retail food prices in major cities across Canada
  • Availability of comparative price information and effects on consumers’ purchasing decisions
  • Price data on dairy foods in major cities across Canada
  • Costs and benefits of meat specials merchandizing practices
  • Beef and pork prices in major cities across Canada

Open government 101

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The first time many of us heard of Open Government may have been in 1980, in the pilot episode of the BBC series “Yes Minister.” The first policy idea of newly-appointed minister Jim Hacker was being “open”; giving citizens the chance to connect with the people they had just elected.

Long-serving civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby was dismayed at this idea, explaining that open government was an absurd concept—one must choose between being open or governing.

Today, citizens and governments across the globe disagree with Sir Humphrey’s outdated ideas. Indeed more than 68 countries have joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral initiative that advocates openness within government to promote transparency and empower citizens.

Canada joined the OGP in 2011 and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat released our first Action Plan in 2012. This plan was founded on three pillars: Open Information; Open Data, and Open Dialogue. Our second Action Plan, which builds on the original commitments and adds new commitments in areas such as government spending and contracting data, will be completed this summer.

At Library and Archives Canada (LAC), our main commitment to Open Government centres on open information. We are committed to increasing access to archived federal documents among LAC’s holdings by removing restrictions on this information wherever possible. In February of 2015, we wrote a blog post about Block Review. We’re happy to report that this work continues and that we have now opened almost 18 million pages of records in our holdings! We’re also working to ensure that, wherever possible, government records will be open when transferred to us in the future.

This past summer, we told you about the work we’ve been doing with historical datasets—migrating datasets from our holdings to Canada’s Open Data Portal. To date, we have migrated over 40 datasets. Keep checking our blog to keep up to date with our new additions to the Portal.

Enough about us! How can you get involved? Open Government is about facilitating a two-way conversation. Add your voice to the conversation—the best place to start is the Open Government portal. It’s a one-stop shop for everything the federal government is doing in the Open Government arena (including current consultation opportunities).

Keep checking back for more Open Government updates!

Open Datasets – What’s New?

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Library and Archives Canada is in the process of extracting from outdated storage devices, and then preserving, the datasets of studies undertaken by federal departments. The studies covering a wide range of topics, such as the environment, health and immigration, are being made available on the Open Data portal. To learn more about the structure of the data see our blog Open Data: Providing access to historical Government of Canada studies.

Here is a summary of the datasets we have made available over the past few months. Curious about what these studies discovered? Check them out on the Open Data portal

  1. Longitudinal study of immigrants – 1969–1971 arrivals
    This longitudinal study investigated the economic and social adaptation of immigrants to life in Canada.
  2. Canadian airmen of the First World War
    This file includes personnel information for all traceable Canadian airmen who served in the First World War in the British flying services.
  3. Results of Canadian Federal Elections 1974, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1988
    These files contain the voting records for each polling station, electoral district and province for all candidates in Canadian federal elections.
  4. Canadians and Work
    These studies were undertaken in the 1970s and relate to Canadians and work. They include national surveys undertaken to assess job satisfaction and work ethic, Public Service Staff Relations Board pay-rate surveys and an employment study assessing the employment adjustment processes of Canadian graduates in the physical sciences.
  5. Environment – Fire and Water
    • The Test fire, fuel moisture and weather observations datasets contain information collected between 1931 and 1961 about weather, fuel moisture and test fire behaviour measurements for eleven field stations across Canada.
    • The 1968-1979 Canadian Oceanographic Identification Centre dataset includes taxonomic data used to produce group, genus, and species catalogues for the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific freshwater areas.
    • The St. Lawrence River studies were undertaken between 1974 and 1976 to describe the water properties, pollution levels and sediment quality of the St. Lawrence River.

Linked Open Data sets for the First World War

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We are proud to report that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has recently released a new data set on the Canadian Government Open Data portal as part of a First World War collaborative initiative with the Muninn Project. The project involved the partial transcription of the service records of soldiers who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (CEF) during the First World War. LAC provided the digitized service files of 1,000 soldiers while the Munnin Project organized the crowdsourcing for the transcription and data linking of these historical documents. As a pilot project, the scope was limited to a specific medical form—the medical case sheet—which is found in most of the files and which contains information recorded by hospital staff on a specific soldier’s medical history.

Colour reproduction of a form which provides information on a soldier’s medical history. In this case, the soldier suffered a gunshot wound to the eye.

An example of a medical case sheet from the LAC collection – Private Addison Baker

The information that has been gathered from the transcriptions represents a spectrum of the types of health issues one would expect to occur in a large group of men. Some of the medical cases are directly related to combat injuries such as gunshot or shell wounds or shell shock. Others are related to the living conditions found in trenches which would increase ailments affecting the respiratory system and the outbreak of diseases such as influenza. A large proportion of the recorded information is just the everyday health issues of the time: toothaches, measles, etc.

To learn more about the information that was gathered from the service files, visit the First World War Linked Open Data project. The raw data is also available on the Canadian Open Data Portal in Linked Open Data and plain text format.

Opening the vaults: 10 million pages and counting!

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In 2010, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) initiated a new risk-based process called “block review” to open more federal government records under the auspices of Canada’s Access to Information Act and Privacy Act. This initiative has been very successful and LAC is proud to announce that we have opened more than 10 million pages of Canadian government records, which are now available to the public.

What is a block review?

It is the systematic review of blocks or series of government records currently held in LAC’s permanent holdings. It incorporates a risk-based approach that looks at both the age of the record and the subject. Block review is completed by using various sampling strategies to determine whether the records can be opened for public access under both the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. The process involves identifying and examining representative parts of the archival record and, based on the findings, the records are either opened or not.

What records were targeted for the block review process?

LAC holds a myriad of Canadian federal government records documenting all aspects of Canadian public life. The block review process has opened material on many of these subjects. Of particular interest are:

  • records documenting Canada’s military history
  • records providing evidence of the relationship between the federal government and Canada’s Aboriginal population
  • archival material detailing our significant diplomatic and trade relationships with foreign governments and international organizations
  • regional documents created across all of Canada as the federal government administered its numerous functions and activities
  • archival material documenting how we celebrated our centenary in 1967—of timely interest as Canadians prepare for this country’s 150th anniversary
Black-and-white photograph of six men standing on the seashore, with a ship visible in the background.

An example of a collection that is now more widely available through the block review process. The photograph relates to the Canadian delegation for the International Commission for Control and Supervision in Vietnam in 1955 (MIKAN 3192391).

More records will open up as LAC continues to contribute to Canada’s Open Government initiative. We will be posting updates on the progress of the initiative, so watch for highlights of the collections being opened up to Canadians.