Canada says they should look to Ukraine as a guide in providing public services
Canadian authorities have emphasised the government's problems with the provision of public services and talked about learning from Ukraine’s experience in this area, as the country has achieved "striking success" in digitalisation.
Source: an article in the Canadian newspaper Ottawa Citizen
Quote: "But Canada can, and should, make the leap to being a truly digital government. And it can look to its ally Ukraine," Ottawa Citizen writes.
"Ukraine’s success in this space has been singular and striking," the article says.
The success of the Diia [Action - ed.] app is directly linked to the "bold leadership choice" that Zelenskyy's government demonstrated when it came to power in 2019. In particular, a new Ministry of Digital Transformation was created from scratch, headed by a minister with experience in the software world and with "an audacious mandate to digitise all government services".
"And — just as crucially — it placed chief digital transformation officers in every other ministry, accountable to the MDT, and ensured that it could draw all those ministries’ services into its central project. All of this made it possible for the MDT to create a single, curated, consistent, high-quality citizen experience that other countries are now learning from and seeking to emulate," the newspaper writes.
The article notes that Ukraine launched the "state in a smartphone" Diia application in September 2019. It now offers Ukrainians more than 100 services, including their passport, driver's licence, and the ability to apply for and renew permits, pay taxes, receive government benefits, demonstrate their eligibility for local government programmes, receive war updates, and even vote for Ukraine’s Eurovision representative.
A pervasive form of corruption has been curtailed by incorporating the application process for construction permits into the app.
"Less than four years later, it is on 70 percent of Ukrainians’ smartphones, and it’s fair to say that the app has radically changed how Ukrainians interact with their government," the article says.
Background:
On 26 July, the federal government of Canada appointed its first ever Minister of Citizen Services, Terry Beech. The Canadian Digital Service, an internal software development and consulting team of 100 people, was moved to the social services department, Employment and Social Development Canada.
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