Mississauga Recognized Among North America’s Most Open Cities

The City of Mississauga has been recognized as one of the most open cities in North America by the Public Sector Digest (PSD) 2020 Open Cities Index. Mississauga has climbed the ranks to eighth among North American cities and regions.

PSD launched the Open Cities Index (OCI) in 2015 with Canada’s first benchmarking study for municipal open data initiatives. Since that time, PSD has expanded the OCI to include organizations from across North America. Forty-one organizations participated in 2020.

“It is exciting and rewarding to be recognized for the City’s commitment to being an open, transparent and accountable government that is supported by Open Data,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “2020 was a challenging year. Having the systems in place to collect, analyze and provide data has enabled the City and our residents to make decisions that help protect public health and safety. This recognition affirms that we are on the right track now and for the future.”

This year, the OCI added a new category to gather information on how municipalities have shared COVID-19-related data with organizations and their local community. The City created a Coronavirus Response Dashboard as part of its coordinated response to the pandemic.

“Our Open Data program gives everyone access to Mississauga’s demographic, financial and cultural information and more,” said Gary Kent, Commissioner of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer. “The Coronavirus Response Dashboard demonstrates the City’s ability to adapt to our community’s rapidly-changing needs so that we can keep them informed in real time.”

In 2015, Council approved an Open Data Program Policy that describes the Open Data program, principles and guidelines for City staff. Since that time, the City has added datasets in the areas of arts, culture and tourism; business and economy; local government; environment; health and safety; infrastructure; land use and development; parks and recreation; and transportation.

Information from more than 100 published datasets is available in the City’s Open Data Catalogue.

“The City’s Open Data Catalogue is up-to-date and available free of charge online, and our policy supports the City’s commitment to transparency and accountability,” said Shawn Slack, Director, Information Technology and Chief Information Officer. “We continue to foster innovation and collaboration on ideas such as last year’s Open Data Challenge – our first virtual event, where student teams were asked to submit analysis using only open data to help us understand the city’s social and economic resilience.”

The Open Cities Index is an annual survey hosted by Public Sector Digest and Canada’s Open Data Exchange. The survey assesses the openness of North American cities who participate in the survey each year in three key theme areas: Readiness, Implementation and Impact.

See the 2020 Open Cities Index full report.

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