government
Archived Posts from this Category
We are sponsoring a refugee family
Posted by Jim DeLaHunt on 31 Mar 2018 | Tagged as: Canada, community, government, personal, Vancouver
A month ago, three human beings were in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Now they are in Canada, and I am part of the team helping to take care of them. It has been wonderful to watch Canada welcome them. Continue Reading »
To my MP: vote in favour of Electoral Reform Committee report
Posted by Jim DeLaHunt on 31 May 2017 | Tagged as: Canada, Democratic Reform, government, politics
Today, 31. May, 2017, the Parliament of Canada held a vote which was last hope for national electoral reform for now. The vote was formally to “concur in” the report of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform (ERRE). A Yes vote would have meant that Parliament supported the ERRE recommendations, which included proportional representation (PR) in national elections.
As it turns out, that vote went against electoral reform: Yeas 146, Nays 159. I don’t yet know how my MP voted. I expect that the Parliamentary records will make it clear on 1. June or shortly after.
But, for the record, here is what I wrote to my MP, Dr Hedy Fry:
Open Data Day 2017, Team Meta, and a Prize!
Posted by Jim DeLaHunt on 31 Mar 2017 | Tagged as: government, meetings and conferences, Vancouver, web technology
Open Data Day was celebrated here on Sunday, 4. March 2017. The Open Data Society of B.C. sponsored a buzzing, successful hackathon, with participants from several communities in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and even Washington State.
I plunged back into my continuing project for Vancouver Open Data Day, to make a language census of Vancouver’s Open Data Catalogue. You can check out our Team Meta #VODay hackathon report as submitted via github. I’ve summarised it below. I was very pleased to be awarded the City of Vancouver Focus Challenge Prize for the work we accomplished that day. Continue Reading »
Submission to the Committee on Electoral Reform (ERRE)
Posted by Jim DeLaHunt on 08 Oct 2016 | Tagged as: Canada, Democratic Reform, government, politics
I just submitted a brief to Canada’s Special Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform, or ERRE. I expect it will show up on their docket in due course, but you can read it here first. There are many briefs, some very good, but this one is mine. Continue Reading »
Town Hall on Electoral Reform, Dr Hedy Fry MP in Vancouver Centre, 15 Aug 2016
Posted by Jim DeLaHunt on 31 Aug 2016 | Tagged as: Canada, government, meetings and conferences, politics, Vancouver
I favour electoral reform. I am a newly-minted Canadian, who deeply hopes my first vote for Parliament will not be conducted under the current, archaic, unfair First-Past-the-Post system. So, when my MP convened a Town Hall meeting on electoral reform, I made a point of attending. Here are some notes on the event. I hope they are helpful documentation for other democratic reform advocates.
I passed the Canadian Citizenship Test!
Posted by Jim DeLaHunt on 30 Nov 2015 | Tagged as: Canada, culture, government
Last week I passed the Canadian Citizenship Test. It was a simple 20-question multiple-choice test, on facts about Canada’s history, values, make-up, culture, etc. I scored 19/20, but unfortunately my spouse Ducky scored 20/20. She gets the bragging rights. Thus I switch to focussing on the fact that we both passed, rather than the details of who got which score.
This test, and the documents check and chat with the nice woman from Citizenship and Immigration Canada which accompanied it, represent the last substantive filter to eliminate candidates from citizenship. There will be 3-5 months of process, pro-forma hearings, but not anything that is likely to reject us. Then we get a letter inviting us to an oath-taking ceremony, and we become Canadian citizens. I’m really pleased about this. It is the culmination of over ten years happy settlement in Canada.
Open Data Day 2014, and a dataset dataset for Vancouver
Posted by Jim DeLaHunt on 28 Feb 2014 | Tagged as: government, meetings and conferences, Vancouver, web technology
Again this year, I joined Vancouver open data enthusiasts in celebrating Open Data Day last Saturday. Despite limited time and schedule conflicts, I was able to make progress on an interesting project: a “dataset dataset” for the City of Vancouver’s Open Data Catalogue.