This page has general information about this site, including how it works, where it comes from and where it's going. For more information about open data and OpenNWT's other initiatives please take a look at the OpenNWT homepage.

OpenNWT is a non-profit that focuses on promoting open government in the NWT through advocacy and the development of technical tools to help residents better access their government.

Modern governments are focusing more and more on transparency, accountability and other open government principals.

The GNWT is still catching up with the types of broad engagement that are happening in other jurisdictions around the country so we thought we'd give them a hand.

The purpose of this web site is to engage residents of the NWT in constructive discussion around ideas for the upcoming (and future) GNWT budget(s).

The GNWT is working on their Budget Dialogue which is great, and we think that more input will only make the upcoming budget even better.

We've designed a simple ideas site and an accompanying survey tool. The results of both methods will be compiled and submitted to the GNWT and all of the MLAs.

Ideally, upcoming budgets reflect the priorities of the residents as expressed through this tool and methods of engagement the GNWT undertakes.

If using this method of engagement is effective, OpenNWT will run regular brainstorming idea sessions through this new tool!

The Government of the Northwest Territories doesn't have an open data policy yet, however, many other jurisdictions do. The Federal Government has an ever growing Data Portal. At the same time some provinces and cities have made open data a priority. Some great examples are DataBC, and the Ontario Open Data Catalogue. There are also a some non-profits and advocates working to make a difference. These include Open North which is a non-profit group doing some great work on open data.

I encourage you to take a look and see what kinds of information governments are publishing.

The overall site design will be open sourced once we get it finalized. The data submitted to the site is owned by OpenNWT, and in accordance with our privacy policy, no personal information will be disclosed to any other individual or organization. However, individual ideas, comments, and summary demographic information are certainly going to be shared (and are mostly viewable).

However, the rest of the site, including the OpenNWT logo are copyright.