The Longlist
More than 130 of you sent your ideas into the 2022-23 Public Service Data Challenge, and the judges then long-listed the seven most promising for development by interdisciplinary, cross-departmental project teams: these ideas are outlined below.
Our congratulations to those whose ideas were selected. And many thanks to everyone who submitted an idea: the quality of your proposals was very high, clearly demonstrating the expertise, inventiveness, enthusiasm and commitment of Canada’s federal workforce.
The project teams then researched their ideas – developing the evidence, data streams and partnerships required to demonstrate their value and viability. One team did not complete this process: in any innovative, experimental process, this is very much to be expected. At the Semi-Final on 24 January, having heard the remaining six teams’ pitches and put their questions, the judges selected four to go forwards to the Final on 21 June.
Learn which team triumphed at the Final on our homepage, and see the finalists’ ideas by clicking on ‘Learn more’ below.
Plastic waste and discarded ‘ghost’ fishing gear presents a serious threat to the health of our oceans – harming sea life, damaging delicate environments, and ultimately entering the human food chain. The Government of Canada is investing in clean-up operations, but these are extremely costly: an AI-assisted platform would help target this work, much improving its efficiency and effectiveness. Drawing on satellite imagery and sonar data, the tool would create heat maps of plastic and ‘ghost gear’ densities; it could also be further developed to track other pollution sources such as oil spills.
Idea submitted by Riham Elhabyan, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Under its ‘proactive disclosure’ rules, the government publishes large amounts of data on federal spending; but the current interface is not intuitive and has limited functionality.
An interactive data visualisation tool drawing on contracts, grants and outcomes data would much improve its value to users, allowing them to compare datasets and view the data by – for example – program type, area of operations or correlation with improved outcomes. A secure area of the site could enable public servants to share information, advice and contact details, improving procurement operations across government.
Idea submitted by Idralyn Alarcon, Prairies Economic Development Canada
Ensuring that Canadians’ food supplies are safe and legal, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency carries out checks on imported goods – but how to decide which consignments to inspect? Staff currently scroll through long lists of shipments, using their experience to make judgements; but a Machine Learning tool could much improve the efficiency of this process. Fed data on which shipments have been inspected in the past, it could pull similar imports from the list in moments; and given information on where checks have revealed something amiss, it could better target inspections – averting the risk that non-compliant foods reach Canadian citizens, while strengthening deterrence. The tool could also be reconfigured for use in other compliance and enforcement services across government.
Idea submitted by Aaron Schamber, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
As noted above, this team did not proceed to the Semi-Final.
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) offers a range of support programs for indigenous and isolated communities, seeking to allocate funds in ways that are transparent, impactful and equitable. These decisions could be improved by the development of a community needs index, presenting data on topics such as a community’s purchasing power, remoteness, social capital and vulnerability to climate change. And such an index would be valuable to actors across government, informing policymaking and service delivery in fields such as economic development, infrastructure provision and health care.
Idea submitted by Ioana Spinu, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
Every year, departments spend millions of dollars carrying out consultations. If the results could be pooled in a data hub, we would quickly build up a huge dataset covering a wide range of topics – providing researchers with a broad and detailed picture of Canadians’ interests, situations and needs, and thus improving decision-making in policymaking and service delivery. Creating a hub could also assist departments to coordinate or merge their consultations, reducing duplication and addressing ‘consultation fatigue’.
Idea submitted by Thom Kearney, Privy Council Office
Through its AgPal website, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada provides information on thousands of federal, provincial and territorial programmes and services for farmers and others involved in agriculture and food production. Currently, users must search by selecting categories from various lists; but such systems often struggle to meet people’s needs, omitting appropriate schemes while suggesting irrelevant ones. Today’s AI Natural Language Processing technologies could transform this search function, allowing users to ask questions and providing far more accurate and personalised responses. An AI-powered AgPal search function could thus help ensure that public funds reach their intended recipients, improving the targeting of services and the support offered to businesses.
Idea submitted by Jay Conte, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
When heavy rain is forecast, farmers in sensitive areas are asked not to apply fertilizers – which, carried into streams and rivers, can reduce oxygen levels and choke up waterways. This guidance is important, but it is a blunt instrument: farmers are dependent on public forecasts, and the advice takes no account of local geography or farming practices. Bringing together records on precipitation and water pollution, we could analyse how past rainfall has impacted water quality across the country. Then, linking this information to new weather forecasts, we could generate far more granular, accurate predictions of the local pollution risk – averting both pollution, and the issuing of alerts when the risk is low.
Idea submitted by Gurkanwal Arora, Environment and Climate Change Canada
In March 2022, Stephen Burt was appointed Chief Data Officer for the Government of Canada, at the Treasury Board Secretariat. His mandate is to provide leadership across government on information and data governance and integration, privacy modernization, and data-enabled digital services and programs. He is also responsible for providing enterprise level guidance on instruments and performance linked to the digital agenda, in the fields of service, security and access to information.
Vidya ShankarNarayan is the Assistant Deputy Minister, Information Systems Branch and CIO at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She is a forward-thinking and creative leader implementing the Digital and Data strategy to advance the growth, sustainability and competitiveness of the agriculture and agri-food sector. She plays an active leadership role in championing innovation within the agriculture sector, the Government of Canada and with international associations such as the OECD.
Kate is the new Director of Data Science at Infrastructure Canada. Graduating with a Master’s degree in Economics, Kate has over a dozen years in the public service, first at Statistics Canada where she developed a passion for analytical programming and innovation. Leveraging her experience in establishing enterprise-wide strategic adoption of R and Python, modernizing scalable and reproduceable data analytics, Kate joined Infrastructure Canada’s Data Science Team to lead the acceleration of the department’s data strategy and use of data science to better leverage data and analytics for decision making.
Dr. Ranjana Sharma is Natural Resources Canada’s Chief Scientist and serves as the department’s Chief Scientific Data Officer.
Erika-Kirsten Easton joined Transport Canada in August 2023 as the Director General of Service and Data Modernization and the Chief Data Officer.
Brandon was appointed to oversee the relationship between Canada and the U.S. as Consul General of Canada in San Francisco and then also in Seattle and was Canada’s Ambassador to Silicon Valley.
Nadia Ahmad is Director General of Data and Evaluation at Global Affairs Canada. In this capacity she serves as Chief Data Officer and Head of Evaluation for the department. Having held a number of executive positions, Nadia is committed to building and nurturing diverse and inclusive teams and contributing data-derived insights to inform decision-making and foster more impactful policies, programs and services. Nadia holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, a Juris Doctor from Michigan State University and a Master of Laws from the University of Ottawa.
Kara Beckles is Chief Data Officer & Director General of Data and Information Services at the Privy Council Office (PCO). As an active and experienced data leader in the Government of Canada, she has held various executive positions across the public service, including Director General of Data Integration in PCO’s Result and Delivery Unit, and Chief Economist at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. She has also held various strategic, policy and analytical roles at Finance Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, Statistics Canada, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and PCO. Kara holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and business from the University of Winnipeg and a Master of Arts in economics from Dalhousie University.
Derek leads the Microsoft’s team serving Canadian Defence and Public Safety clients in the Federal Government. Derek has spent 30 years in the industry both in uniform and as a consultant. He served in the British and Canadian Armies for 23 years in a variety of operational and strategic roles. He has led multinational and interagency teams that conducted counter terrorism, public order, framework policing and high impact arrest operations in several countries. He has led the whole of government response to multiple emergencies and disasters at the national level and was the Commander of Her Majesty the Queen’s Royal Guard in the UK. Derek has spent 6 years as a consultant focused on transformation execution supporting defence, policing, intelligence and border service agencies on their digital journeys.
Mr. Dufour is Director General, Innovation Branch at the Department of Natural Resources Canada. He is responsible to advance a departmental strategy to support innovation in the natural resource sectors and provide policy guidance on development and deployment of clean technologies. He leads the Clean Growth Hub – a whole-of-government focal point, composed of 17 departments and agencies, focused on providing front-line support to clean technology companies to navigate federal programming and clean tech regulations. Mr. Dufour is also responsible to develop international partnerships and in advancing international collaboration in clean technology R&D and innovation. He leads the management of the department’s intellectual property portfolio and services. Finally, he is the Head of the NRCan Digital Accelerator, looking at the application of innovative digital technologies to enhance the Department’s ability to conduct research and analysis, and provide evidence-based policy advice supported by advanced analytical techniques.
Together with NRCan’s Chief Information Officer and Chief Science Advisor, Daniel works with data leaders across the department and the Government of Canada to help everyone continuously improve the use of data as a strategic asset for the achievement of Departmental priorities, including through the development and implementation of the Departmental data strategy. 
Capt(N) Guillaume Lafrance was born in Quebec City. He embarked upon his Naval Officer career in 1989.
Elise was appointed Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Chief Data Officer in the summer of 2021. She leads a small, passionate team of policy and IT professionals dedicated to both harnessing and unleashing the power of data to improve service delivery and support the sector’s sustainable growth. 
Ms. Loignon was appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in August 2016. As CIO, Ms. Loignon leads the Digital Strategy implementation and the Information Management (IM) and Information Technology (IT) initiatives and operations that enable the delivery of ECCC programs and services. Among her strategic objectives, Ms. Loignon is responsible for the delivery of modern IM/IT solutions and practices, for the implementation of the ECCC project management center of excellence and to position the IM/IT team to embrace challenges of the future. As ECCC’s designated official for cyber security, Ms. Loignon is responsible in providing leadership, coordination and oversight for departmental cybersecurity management activities.
Jason Reid joined Natural Resources Canada on July 27, 2020. He has more than 25 years professional experience working within the Government of Canada (GC), the majority of which has been in fields of Information Management and Information Technology. He has held positions of increasing responsibility including being the Executive lead of two GC transformation projects. Jason was named to the EX cadre in 2007, he was awarded the Queens Golden Jubilee medal in 2002 and is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Development Program and the Career Assignment Program. He holds bachelor degree in Social Science with a concentration in Economics from University of Ottawa.
Joann Shields is an innovative leader with over 25 years in Information Management / Information Technology (IMIT) and Organizational Change across both the public and private sectors. 
Mélanie Robert is the Executive Director of Open Government at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). She leads the Government of Canada’s efforts to open data and information and to increase accountability and citizen participation, and manages Canada’s Open Government and Open Data Portal (open.canada.ca) as well as the Online Access to Information Request Service.
Wesley Yung is the Director of the International Cooperation and Methodology Innovation Center at Statistics Canada. Previous to this position, he was the Director of the Economic Statistics Methods Division. With a background in statistics and survey methods, Wesley has over 30 years of experience working with data and managing people providing methodological support to statistical programs at Statistics Canada. Although trained as a ‘traditional’ statistician, he is very interested in how data and modern methods, including Data Science techniques, can be leveraged to the benefit of all Canadians.
Elizabeth is the Senior Director of Research and Experimentation in the Office of Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat, Government of Canada, where she is responsible for leading advancements in innovation to improve outcomes for people management initiatives across the Government of Canada. Before starting this role in March 2020, she was Senior Lead, Behavioural Science, at the Impact and Innovation Unit at the Privy Council Office, where she oversaw the application of behavioural science to public policy challenges. Prior to joining the Government of Canada, Elizabeth held several senior leadership positions, including leading the Behavioural Insights Unit in the Government of Ontario, where she was instrumental in creating and building Canada’s first behavioural science team in government. To date, Elizabeth has successfully completed trials dealing with public health, financial decision-making, regulatory compliance, digital adoption and modernization, and service delivery. She provides advice and guidance on the application of behavioural science to public policy, recently supporting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a member of the External Advisory Committee for Capacity Development. 
James Van Loon is Health Canada’s Chief Data Officer and also serves as the department’s Chief Scientific Data Officer. He has a passion for innovating programs and delivery from the ground up in cooperation with partners across government, nationally, and internationally. Most recently, James led efforts of Health Canada, the Public Health Agency, Public Services and Procurement Canada, Statistics Canada and other partners to create a dynamic model of pan-Canadian supply and demand on Personal Protective Equipment. As a Director General on the COVID-19 Task Force, James was instrumental in leading the development of analytic tools for the Critical Drug Reserve, as well as the Testing and Vaccine Secretariats. With over 20 years of experience in developing and managing federal regulatory programs, James is recognized as an action-oriented leader who has advanced key files at Health Canada and Environment Canada.
Frank Des Rosiers was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Innovation in 2019. Prior to this, Frank was ADM, Innovation and Energy Technology at NRCan. He also served as General Director, Tax Policy at Finance Canada and as Assistant Secretary, Priorities and Planning at the Treasury Board Secretariat. Frank worked as Director General, Strategic Policy Branch at NRCan from 2003-07 and at the Privy Council Office (Intergovernmental Affairs at) as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Minister and Director, Economic and Fiscal Analysis.
Anil Arora was appointed Chief Statistician of Canada in September 2016.
Taki Sarantakis has been President of the Canada School of Public Service since July 2018, having previously served as Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Mr. Sarantakis spent most of his career at Infrastructure Canada, including as Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy and Communications.