The government of Canada launches Digital Academy
Providing good government in the 21st century means providing good government digital services. The Government of Canada is committed to placing the public service at the forefront of the digital age and to making its services more secure, faster and easier for all users.
Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government, announced the creation of Canada’s Digital Academy to ensure Canada’s world-class public service is prepared for the digital age. Hosted at the Canada School of Public Service, the academy will build on international best practices with a made-in-Canada approach.
Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government, announced the creation of Canada’s Digital Academy to ensure Canada’s world-class public service is prepared for the digital age. Hosted at the Canada School of Public Service, the academy will build on international best practices with a made-in-Canada approach.Open by default and collaborative in nature, the academy will bring together contributors from various levels of government, the private sector, and the non-profit sector, each bringing their own strengths, knowledge, experience and expertise to improve government services through digital.
The focus of the academy will be to advance the understanding of digital, what it means to public servants as professionals, and the impact it has on the business of government.
The curriculum offered at the academy will support all levels of public servants in their efforts to modernize operations to deliver the kind of digital services that Canadians expect.
Quotes
“In the age of smart phones, social media and apps that do everything, Canadians expect their government to serve them as seamlessly and as well as they’ve come to expect from the best digital service providers. Government exists to improve the lives of people, and a digitally enabled public service gives us an unprecedented opportunity to improve government services.”
Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government
Quick facts
- In the short term, the Digital Academy will focus on helping all public servants increase their digital acumen. Work is well underway in terms of refining, testing, and iterating the course content and platforms. The academy will officially host its pilot cohort in January 2019.
- Specifically, the curriculum will aim to build key digital competencies in data analysis, design, development and automation, disruptive technology and artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
- The academy will rely on a conglomerate of partners to create and facilitate learning opportunities that elevate digital literacy across the public service and beyond.
- This is a concrete action to support the government’s initiatives, such as the Digital Standards, the Data Strategy, the Digital Policy and the 4th Plan on Open Government.
Canada is a member of the Digital 7 (D7) nations. The D7 is comprised of Estonia, Israel, South Korea, New Zealand, the UK, Canada and Uruguay. By signing the D7 charter in February 2018, Canada joined the world’s most digitally advanced governments on a common mission to harness digital technology to improve the lives of our citizens.
