Background
In July 2019, the Government of Canada announced the Data for Canadian Cities Pilot Project, and the City of Yellowknife was selected as one of fifteen Canadian cities to join the World Council on City Data’s (WCCD) global network of data-driven cities.
The Toronto-based World Council on City Data (WCCD) was founded in 2014. It exists to help communities of all sizes in Canada and across the globe to embrace standardized, independently verified and globally comparable city data to become more sustainable, resilient, prosperous inclusive and smart.
City of Yellowknife
By August the City’s participation had the blessing of the senior leadership team and Council, and in September work began to collect the data for 104 indicators under ISO 37120, the international standard for sustainable cities and communities – indicators for city services and quality of life.
Staff throughout the organization gathered data and worked with external agencies, including the NWT Bureau of Statistics, Northland Utilities, NorthwesTel, WSCC, and numerous GNWT departments, to assemble the information and supporting documents for all 45 core indicators and 53 out of 60 supporting indicators. The data was then verified by an independent third party.
Certification
In early 2020, the City received Platinum certification – the highest possible level – and joined an international network of 140+ cities that are certified against ISO 37120 in accordance with the WCCD certification system.
Why?
The data collected from each City is shared in the open data portal, creating standardized metrics that can be used to assess and compare measurements across 19 themes: economy, education, energy, environment, finance, governance, health, housing, population, recreation, safety, solid waste, sport and recreation, telecommunication, transportation, food security, urban planning, water, and waste water.
Alignment with Council Goals and Objectives
To help put context around the City’s data, WCCD mapped the indicators to the Action Plan associated with Council’s Goals and Objectives. This demonstrates how the data aligns with the Goals and Objectives and gives some insights into how the data can be potentially be used as we work through the Action Plan.
Data Driven Insights – Putting the Data to Use
WCCD prepared a Flip Book of data driven insights that demonstrate how some of the City of Yellowknife’s indicators compare to other cities in the network. They delivered a presentation to the Council Administration Round Table meeting on February 11, 2021. A recording of the presentation can be viewed on our Webcast Video Page.