On December 14, 2017 the Government of Canada Enterprise Architecture Review Board made a decision to “use open source tools as key components of its technology eco-system” and “support the creation and adoption of open source throughout their practice, resulting in a robust open community within the GC.”
As such, the Secretary of the Treasury Board of Canada established the Government of Canada Chief Technology Officer Open Source Advisory Board (CTO-OSAB) as a forum for discussion of the sustainable adoption of open source across the government.
The CTO-OSAB aims to leverage the knowledge of internal and external subject matter experts to provide advice to senior technology leaders across the GC on the most effective approach to implementing an integrated eco-system of open source and closed source technology.
Given that the adoption of open source tools is new across the GC, establishing a forum for dialogue provides a formal structure for regular, two-way communication between the Government and its key open source stakeholders. This process is designed to achieve real gains in transparency, accountability, and participation, while supporting the adoption of the right tools at the right time.
February 15, 2018
Governance
The CTO-OSAB is responsible for providing advice to the GC Enterprise Architecture Review Board (GC EARB) on open source projects, open standards, procurement of open source tools, and practices for implementing a more open culture.
The advisory board will be co-chaired by the GC CTO and a private sector executive dedicated to the evolution of open source tools within Canada.
General membership will be limited to a maximum of twenty-four members to ensure the most productive discussion possible. Twelve spaces will be provided for both GC and non-GC members. Non-GC members can consist of industry, civil society, academic, and government representatives.
Application for general membership will be submitted to and determined by co-chairs. There will be a one-year term limit for both general membership and the industry co-chair. The GC CTO, or pre-determined delegate will be made available on an on-going basis for this advisory board.
All meetings will be open for anyone to attend. All resources will be shared through GitHub which is open to non-GC members.
Frequency
The CTO-OSAB meets the third Wednesday of every month, with the option for the committee to meet more frequently as required.
Working groups
Domain specific working groups will be established on an as needed basis to manage the effective operation of open source tools within the government. Each working group consists of a lead responsible for reporting back to the CTO-OSAB on a quarterly basis through a written and/ or verbal report. All reports will be made publicly available.
Location
Unless otherwise agreed, the room for in-person participation is in Ottawa.
Participation
Recognizing that membership will include members not located in Ottawa, the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) will arrange for remote participation via teleconference or The CTO-OSAB is responsible for providing advice to the GC Enterprise Architecture Review Board (GC EARB) on open source projects, open standards, procurement of open source tools, and practices for implementing a more open culture.
The advisory board will be co-chaired by the GC CTO and a private sector executive dedicated to the evolution of open source tools within Canada.
General membership will be limited to a maximum of twenty-four members to ensure the most productive discussion possible. Twelve spaces will be provided for both GC and non-GC members. Non-GC members can consist of industry, civil society, academic, and government representatives.
Application for general membership will be submitted to and determined by co-chairs. There will be a one-year term limit for both general membership and the industry co-chair. The GC CTO, or pre-determined delegate will be made available on an on-going basis for this advisory board.
All meetings will be open for anyone to attend. All resources will be shared through our GitHub page which is open to non-GC members.
Decision-making
As this is an advisory board, there will be no formal decision making rules. However, consensus on reports provided to EARB will be encouraged.
Agenda-setting
The Chairs are responsible for determining each agenda with input from advisory board members. Agendas will be circulated to members for comment prior to the meeting, along with any documents or information to be discussed during the meeting. The Chairs will amend the agenda if necessary and circulate a final agenda prior to the meeting. Regular meetings allocate time for members to raise off-agenda items. In general, decisions should not be made on off-agenda items, unless agreed by consensus.
Language
Members may express themselves in either English or French. All meeting materials will be made available in English and French.
Non-member attendance
Advisory board meetings will be open to the public. Non-members are encouraged to attend advisory board meetings to listen to the discussion as well as ask questions.
Mandate
The CTO- OSAB supports the efforts of the GC EARB to ensure the consideration of business and enterprise priorities related to the use of open source. As such, it will help the effective implementation of the Government of Canada IT Strategic Plan (strategic plan) to improve service delivery for clients and Canadians.
Responsibilities
The CTO-OSAB will be responsible for:
- Providing advice on the benefits, advantages, challenges, and use of open source at an enterprise level.
- Providing input on the anticipated use of open source tools across the government.
- Creating awareness across Canada, government and industry related to the use of open source in combination with the GC’s existing tool set, including closed source tools.
- Providing input on open source tools being assessed by the GC EARB.
- Supporting the proliferation of open source within the GC and across Canada by leading or joining the Open Source Communities.
Current Membership
Co-Chairs:
- Chief Technology Officer, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat; and
- Jack Gulas, Owner, YoppWorks
GC Members:
- Lena Trudeau, Canadian Digital Service
- Melanie Robert, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Christopher Allison, Canada School of Public Service
- Elizabeth Rhodenizer, Public Service Commission
- Gabrielle Cossette, Shared Services Canada
- Stephane Dufour, Statistics Canada
- Peter Silva, Environment
- Jacob Raffoul, Employment and Social Development Canada
- Guylaine Carrière / Caroline Bessett, Shared Services Canada
- Mathieu Fortin, Shared Services Canada
External members:
- Paul Bellows, Yellow Pencil
- Jean-Noé Landry, Open North
- Robin Galipeau, Open Plus
- Marc Pageau, Oproma
- Dave Buchanan, Breqwatr
- Dr. Andrew Pelling, University of Ottawa
- David Nevins, Redhat
- Mike Gifford, OpenConcept
- Harsh Sabikhi, GitHub
- Noureen Syed, Microsoft Open Source Lead
- Rodney Helal / Filippo Gagliardi, Cloudera
- Shermineh Salehi Esmati, Consultant
- Erin Kennedy, Robots
Working Group: Rules Responsible for reviewing, assessing, and making recommendations related to open source:
- Policy
- Legal
- Licence
- Procurement
- Governance
Participants
- Co-Lead: Dugald Topshee, Department of Justice
- Co-Lead: Marc Pageau, Oproma
- Heather Laird, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Rodney, Cloudera
- Noureen Syed, Microsoft
- Robin Galipeau, Open Plus
- Christian, Public Service Commission
- Mike Gifford, OpenConcept
- John O'Brien, Canadian Digital Services
- William Chen, Employment and Social Development Canada
- Ranjan Banerjee, Canada Border Services
- Noel Corriveau, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Al Akdari, MongoDB
- Caroline Bassett, Shared Services Canada
- Daniel Buijs, Health Canada
- Edith Tremblay, Public Service Commission
- Guillaume Charest, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Jim Cowie, Employment and Social Development Canada
- Johanne Jean-Baptiste, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Mike Milinkovich, Eclipse Foundation
- Sani Chabi YO, MongoDB
- Stacey Williams, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Stephane Paulin-Godbout, Department of National Defence
- William Show, MongoDB
Working Group: Tools Responsible for determining approach and contributing to:
- Tech stacks
- Commercialization
- Dev/ops
Participants
- Co-Chair: Andrew Sinkinson, Statistics Canada
- Co-chair: Jack Gulas, Yoppworks
- Sebastien Lemay, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Christopher Allison, Canadian School of Public Service
- Christopher Jaja, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Ross Thompson, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Rodney Helal, Cloudera
- Noureen Syed, Microsoft
- Marc Pageau, Oproma
- Michael Nguyen, GitHub
- Olivier Dzomo, Public Service Commission
- Dave Buchanan, Breqwatr
- Joel Brockbank, Open Plus
- Will Stevens, CloudOps
- Ross Clarke, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
- Nick Schonning, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
- Reginald Maltais, Statistics Canada
- Janique Godin, Statistics Canada
- Adam peck, Yoppworks
- Al Akdari, MongoDB
- Alessandro Alasia, Statistics Canada
- Andrew Gibson, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Chris Leblanc, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
- Christian Sauve, Public Service Commission
- Guillaume Charest, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Jean-Marc Spaggiari, Cloudera
- Jeremy Ramsey, Cloudera
- Jim Cowie, Employment and Social Development Canada
- Kristen Robinson, Amazon
- Larry Lindsay, IBM
- Mike Gifford, OpenConcept
- Mourad Faid, Statistics Canada
- Robin Galipeau, Open Plus
- Sani Chabi YO, MongoDB
- Stacey Williams, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Stephane Dufour, Statistics Canada
- Stéphane Fréchette, Microsoft
- Stuart Spence, Environment and Climate Change Canada
- William Chow, MongoDB
Work Group: People Responsible for developing engagement activities related to the improvement of:
- Community
- Culture
- Developer retention
- Development methodology
Participants
- Co-lead: Christopher Allison, Canadian School of Public Service
- Co-lead: Richard Seguin, Red Hat
- Christopher Jaja, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Erin Kennedy, Robot Missions
- Harsh Sabikhi, GitHub
- Sang Trinh, Open Plus
- Shermineh, Cyber BC
- Al Akdari, MongoDB
- Alessandro Alasia, Statistics Canada
- Caroline Bassett, Shared Services Canada
- Guillaume Charest, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Jim Cowie, Employment and Social Development Canada
- Mike Cardy, Redhat
- Mike Gifford, OpenConcept
- Paul Bellows, Yellow Pencil
- Ross Thompson, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Sani Chabi YO, MongoDB
- Stacey Williams, Treasury Board Secretariat
- Stephane Paulin-Godbout, Department of National Defence
- Stuart Spence, Environmwnr and Climate Change Canada
- William Chow, MongoDB
Terms of Reference will be reviewed and updated annually in Q1.