Canadian municipalities were facing extraordinary demands from the public prior to the pandemic. City services were already becoming increasingly digitized, a trend that’s only intensified, especially at the federal level, as the remote work era continues.
On April 6, 2020, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) portal opened, allowing Canadians impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to apply for emergency benefits. As of June 2020, over 18 million CERB applications have been processed and millions of Canadians have received crucial emergency income support. While critics of CERB’s rollout point to certain failures for some of its confusing criteria, the project shows that it is possible for the government to quickly adapt, mobilize, and distribute funding in a user-friendly way.
Municipalities have kept pace The City of Markham, for example, says it’s the first government body in Canada to leverage one of IBM’s unique AI solutions after it rolled out a new virtual agent with the technology giant back in April. In September, The City of Toronto, together with Cisco and other partners, rolled out affordable Wi-Fi access in the city’s low-income residential tower communities.
Last year, ITWC and the City of Toronto teamed up yet again to deliver Technicity, an event designed to learn about how the city is modernizing its internal processes and public services and to celebrate the digital transformation projects driving those changes.
This year, the event won’t be taking place at Arcadian Court, but it will feature more than a dozen speakers during an exclusive half-day event Dec. 9 that will go beyond initiatives happening within the City of Toronto, and incorporate the Greater Toronto Area.
The best part, thanks to corporate sponsorship, the event is free – you just need to register.
Register for Technicity GTA here!
Technicity 2019 coverage:
Created as an interactive experience that combines live presentations, recorded panels, networking breakout rooms, and a luncheon Town Hall, Technicity GTA will explore the innovative digital strategies and tools used by the 25 Toronto area municipalities to drive efficiency, collaboration, and security internally while improving the way they interact with taxpayers.
Some of the confirmed speakers so far include:
- Kalyan Chakravarthy, CIO, Regional Municipality of Durham
- Kevin Peesker, president of Microsoft Canada
- Josie Scioli, deputy city manager of corporate services, City of Toronto
- Monika Jaroszonk, CEO, co-founder, Ratio.City
For a complete list of speakers, and to register, visit Technicity.ca