Open North Inc

Open North is part of the growing civic technology sector in North America. Within its first two years, Open North has established itself as a leader in budget consultation, open government and open data and is looking forward to further growth. Its budget consultation tool, Citizen Budget, is used by more than 50 municipalities in Canada, United States and Europe to improve their budget consultations. It operates a web service, Represent, to lookup the contact information of elected officials at all levels of government in Canada; nonprofits like the David Suzuki Foundation use it to allow its supporters to send targeted messages directly to decision makers, while media like The Tyee used it to inform readers about candidates in the recent BC election. Its work on open data standards have been adopted by leading organizations like mySociety and the Sunlight Foundation. Its staff and board of directors are regularly invited to speak on open government and are influential in the progress of open government in Canada. Open North’s activities further its social mission to increase government transparency and to educate and empower citizens to exercise their political influence and participate actively in decision-making processes.