This resource package includes presentation files and additional resources for the Expert Panel on Digital Rights at the Canadian Open Data Summit (CODS18) on November 8, 2018 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Sharing of this package is made possible by ODX in partnership with Niagara Connects.

Today there is an increasing need to examine our current legislative framework related to our digital society. Our democratic rights, equitable access to the internet, and privacy are just some of the pressing issues for the open data community to consider. In varied contexts, rights-based issues may resonate differently. Data sovereignty is a long-standing issue for First Nations communities, but it is also of interest in relation to Sidewalk Toronto and smart city developments across Canada. This panel will consider a range of emerging issues and examine how we can better conceptualize and advocate for our digital rights alongside open data.

Moderator: Dr. Karen Louise Smith (Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, Brock University) has been actively engaged in digital policy issues since the early 2000s. Dr. Smith currently collaborates on The eQuality Project, a seven-year partnership grant from SSRHC that aims to better understand the implications of digital media, including corporate data practices, in the lives of young people. She is also conducting research on the advocacy tactics demonstrated through privacy extension development for Firefox and other web browsers. Dr. Smith’s research is published in The Canadian Journal of Communication, Surveillance & Society and numerous other scholarly venues.

Panelists:
Abby Deshman is a lawyer and the Director of the Criminal Justice Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. She also teaches at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto, and is a Mentor with the Law Practice Program at Ryerson University. Previously, she served as a Corrections Advisor on the Ontario government’s Independent Review of Corrections and as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Abby has also worked with the United Nations High Council for Refugees in Kenya and Human Rights Watch’s Terrorism/Counterterrorism
division in New York. At CCLA, Abby has led advocacy and analysis in a wide range of issue areas including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, police powers and oversight, and the criminal justice system. The author of numerous reports, articles and opinion pieces, her most recent work focuses on the bail system and police record checks. Abby graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law with an Hons J.D. in 2008, and obtained an LL.M. from New York University in 2010.

Jonathan Dewar, PhD, is the Executive Director at the First Nations Information Governance Centre. He has been recognized as a leader in healing and reconciliation and Indigenous health and wellbeing education, policy, and research and has published extensively on these subjects, with a specialization in the role of the arts in healing and reconciliation. Jonathan is of mixed heritage, descended from Huron-Wendat, French-, and Scottish-Canadian grandparents, with an academic background in Indigenous Studies. A former Director of Research at the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, he also holds an appointment as Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University.

Bianca Wylie is an open government advocate with a dual background in technology and public engagement. She is the co-founder of Tech Reset Canada and a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in the Global Economy program. She worked for several years in the tech sector in operations, infrastructure, corporate training, and product
management, most recently at Thomson Reuters. As a facilitator at Swerhun Inc., she designed, delivered and supported public consultation processes for various governments and government agencies. In 2014, Bianca founded the Open Data Institute Toronto. She is a columnist, guest lecturer, and speaker on open government and public sector technology policy and a proud member of the Toronto Public Library’s Innovation Council.

Additional Resources

View Expert Panel on Digital Rights