Code for Australia x Code for Canada — an interview with one of our Code for All partners
When the Base Team returned from Taipei, inspired and empowered by new friends from around the world, I wanted to somehow bottle the feeling of elation that came from being connected, of knowing we weren’t alone.
Not only to keep for ourselves, to decant in rough weeks, but to share amongst our community of change-makers. To not tell, but show our Fellows, partners, volunteers and government hosts that they’re part of something bigger — that the work they’re doing is so important in the context of Australia, but also in the context of a global civic tech movement.
In an attempt to bring some of that connectedness to Australia, I’ll be talking to a few of our Code for All partners over the next wee while — finding out what their context is like, what battles they’re facing, where we’re different, but most importantly, the ways in which we’re the same.
To kick us off, I spoke to one of the newest additions to the Code for All family: Lia Milito, Fellowship Program Manager at Code for Canada.
I guess we should start with some background — can you give me a little bit of context about you and Code for Canada?
Sure! So, Code for Canada launched publicly in April of this year, but we were working on it behind the scenes for about a year before that.
It had been behind the scenes a lot for a while. That was the time when having the support of Code for Australia and the other Code for All network organisations, was really huge.
My background, I have basically the same academic background as Alvaro [one of Code for Australia’s co-founders], weirdly enough. My undergrad is in humanities and philosophy and international development, and then my master’s degree was in urban planning. When I was studying urban planning, I was doing research about open data and community engagement. That got me into the civic tech scene in Toronto where I met Gabe and went down this path and started launching Code for Canada. That’s the short version!
When you say “doing stuff in the background,” what kind of stuff were you doing before you officially launched?
We were designing our program areas and working to define what we were trying to do really well up front, so that when we started we were able to hit the ground running. When we launched, our launch partner — the Government of Ontario [provincial government]— was ready to host a team of fellows.
The other thing we were doing was learning a lot. We went to the Code for America summit during that time. We spent the whole time asking a million questions of everybody who was there and learning. Both practical things, but also learning that this [Code for All] is an international network that is amazing to be a part of. It was really soul filling to be there and feel good about all these people who are doing similar work.
It was really soul filling to be there and feel good about all these people who are doing similar work.
Was there much of a civic tech community in Toronto at the time? Did you know that you were going to be able to find the people that had passion for it.
Gabe is one of the co-founders of Civic Tech Toronto. If you’re familiar with the Code for America Brigade system, it’s modelled after that: : a group of volunteers from a variety of backgrounds working together on projects that bring technology, data, and design to bear on civic issues.
Civic Tech Toronto started in summer of 2015. They were just meeting once a week really persistently. It started with small groups and it consistently grew — now the group draws 60–100 people every week. Having that community and that ground swell of support for this kind of work was really huge for us.
At the moment, is Code for Canada just Toronto based?
We work out of Toronto, but our first cohort will have a team of fellows in Toronto and another team of fellows in Ottawa. The Ottawa team will be working with the federal government, so there’s the potential for nation-wide impact there.
We’re also reaching across the country through some of our other program areas.We have a community network that is helping to support and grow groups like Civic Tech Toronto across the country. So from Vancouver, which is all the way out west, to Saint John, New Brunswick, which is all the way out east, we’re making connections with leaders in those communities to help that grass roots movement grow across the country.
We’re making connections with leaders in those communities to help that grass roots movement grow across the country.
I didn’t even ask, tell me about your programs other than the Fellowship!
We have three main program areas. The Fellowship is what I run, which is an opportunity for developers, designers and product managers to work with government teams to build great digital public services and products.
We also have a community network through which we support leaders and communities across Canada to create civic tech community groups locally. That means things like making a playbook for those community leaders so that they don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. It also means convening them so that they can learn from one another.
Those are two programme areas, and the third is an education and training program area. So, we do workshops and courses about civic tech in digital government. We’ve done a few workshops for specific ministries and units across government but we’re also running a continuing education course through a university here that’s for public servants who want to learn more about civic tech and digital government.
We’re also planning on creating education and training opportunities that are delivered for communities, rather than just for public servants, so that we’re meeting both of those groups’ needs.
You haven’t launched into the fellowships yet, but given your background and working in civic tech for a while, what’s your favourite project that you’ve seen? One where you’re like, “gah, this is amazing — this is why I’m doing this.”
It’s tough to pick just one. There’s a project at Civic Tech Toronto that’s called DemocracyKit. It’s a group of people who are trying to democratise democracy, I think is one of the ways they say it.
In local elections here there aren’t parties, so you don’t get the support of a party if you want to break in. The incumbent advantage is enormous. It’s really hard to enter a race and do well, because there’s a lot of knowledge about how the system works that you develop over time, and as a new person, it’s hard to have. It’s hard to navigate that process.
So, they put up tutorials and resources for anybody to use. They have a particular focus on getting women into those races as well.
One of my favourite Fellowship examples from Code for America was one from Seattle last year at the summit. It was called RideAlong and it was designed for police to help those who have known mental health issues — so that they could deescalate and get them to the support that they need, rather than arresting and sending them to jail. My mom spent most of her career in the justice system in the states, so I saw the value of something like that.
I want to talk a little about Code for All. What does it mean for you as an individual, and I guess as Code for Canada, to be part of the Code for All network?
Practically speaking, as an organisation that is a little bit later to the game than a lot of the other organisations, it’s so great to be able to learn from the things that have already been done — drawing on what Code for America, Code for Germany and Code for Pakistan have already done, sharing with one another, not reinventing the wheel. We’ve been able to go pretty far, pretty fast; I think because we’ve been able to enjoy the support and learning of other organisations. That’s one.
I’d say the second really huge thing about being part of the Code for All network is also just the credibility that it lends you. When we were starting to launch, it was really powerful to be able to say, “This may be something that’s new in Canada, but it’s a model that’s proven. Here’s where it’s worked well, here’s the impacts that it’s had, here are stories from other countries around the world,” to help people here imagine what could be and what’s possible here in Canada. To have something to point to to say, “This is what we want to do. We know it can work, because it’s worked in Australia.” Especially having you guys, you have a more similar form of government than the US does, too, so especially being able to point to Australian examples has been really powerful for us to speak to people in government.
When we were starting to launch, it was really powerful to be able to say, “This may be something that’s new in Canada, but it’s a model that’s proven.”
The last benefit and the last reason that it’s huge for us is just like you were implying on the personal level, sometimes this kind of work is hard. There aren’t many people in Canada that do this kind of work and to get to talk to people who spend their day thinking about the same things I think about is so wonderful.
The summits have always seemed to have happened right when I need a little boost. Seeing all of these people from around the world who care about the same thing and are working on the same problem, it fills me with so much happiness, hope and good feelings.
If I were a nurse, there would be millions of nurses in Canada who I could talk to about my experience, but there are handful of people in Canada who do this kind of work and really just my colleagues. So to be able to talk to you on the other side of the planet, it’s great. It’s amazing.
What are you working on right now that you’re most excited about?
Our first cohort of fellows are starting two weeks from today. I just cannot wait until they’re all in the same room together — I know they’re going to do great things. That’s the sort of emotional side.
Right when they’re starting, they’re going to be with us for a month of on-boarding and training, so that’s the actual work that I’m doing: to make sure that they are in a good position to really have an impact and to get the most out of the Fellowship.
If people want to keep up to date with what Code for Canada is doing, what’s the best way for them to do so?
Ah, yes. Well, they can go to our website, which is codefor.ca and at the bottom of the page, they can register for the newsletter if they want more formal updates.
We also have a blog on Medium. In addition to putting regular blog items there, we also do this thing called Week Notes, and that’s where we say, “here’s what we’ve been doing. Here’s what we’ve been thinking about.” It’s a peek inside what we’re up to. If I wasn’t working at Code for Canada, that’s what I’d really want to see. “What are they struggling with? What are they working on? What were their big successes this week?” That’s the good stuff.
And of course, we’re on Twitter. Also, if anybody wants to email me, my email address is lia@codefor.ca.
Well, those were all my questions. Was there was something I didn’t cover that you particularly wanted to talk to?
Just the value of being part of a network like this is what’s really important to me here. It’s so exciting to be part of a network of folks who want to see governments and communities working really well together to make things that are wonderful for people to use.
We have so much to learn from one another, and I’m so happy that the pieces are in place to enable that.
We have so much to learn from one another, and I’m so happy that the pieces are in place to enable that.
This piece is the first in a series we’ll be creating — talking to others in the Code for All family and wider civic tech community. If you’d like to see more like this, let us know by clapping below.
This piece was first drafted a month or so ago. Since then, Code for Canada’s first fellowship has kicked off, which you can read about and follow here.
