September 1, 2008 -- Municipal officials across Canada have shown widespread interest in the Municipal Reference Model (MRM)  and steps are being taken to turn the concept into reality with a pilot project.

Encouraged by positive response to a series of recent webinars explaining the MRM, leaders of the initiative are in discussions with a group of municipalities interested to conduct a pilot project that would establish the MRM as a Web-based service – which ultimately would be available to all municipalities in Canada.

Decisions on the structure and participants of the pilot project will be made this fall, reports Roy Wiseman of the Region of Peel, Ontario, who is chair of the Steering Committee of MISA/ASIM Canada’s Municipal Reference Model Version 2 Project.

The Steering Committee has endorsed a recommendation to work with IBM, using IBM’s Industry Business Value Assessment (IBVA) process to further assess both the business need and the technological approach for the proposed service. 

The recommendation to work with IBM is based on evaluation of responses to a request for information issued to vendors in late 2007.  The project team will be meeting with a selected number of municipalities to gather their input into this process, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of October.

MISA/ASIM Canada staged a series of interactive webinars on July 8, 10 and 15 to address the evolution and future of the MRM. Each of the webinars attracted a national audience of more than 100 municipal IT and service-delivery officials, the majority of whom expressed support for the MRMv2 project and optimism that their municipalities would be prepared to support it financially.

Audio recordings and PDF presentation slides from those webinars can be accessed from www.golcommunications.ca/MRM2/webcast_references.html.

The MRM, originally introduced in the 1990s, is being redeveloped in a national project as an automated tool to give Canadian municipalities a common way to define and classify their services, organize them by program, and devise performance measures for them.

MISA/ASIM Canada’s goal with the Municipal Reference Model Version 2 Project is to enable municipalities to effectively communicate and interact with each other and with other levels of government in improving or aligning services.

The webcasts were sponsored in part by Adobe and organized by GOL Communications.  They included presentations by senior municipal executives from Saint John, Windsor and Toronto, as well as by Chartwell Inc. and by Roy Wiseman .

Read about the MRMv2 Project

June 2, 2008 -- Leadership of MISA/ASIM Canada, the not-for-profit corporation representing five regional municipal IT associations across the country, has moved to Atlantic Canada from the Prairies.

Daya Pillay, manager of e-Commerce and Web services for Halifax Regional Municipality, is the new president of MISA/ASIM Canada. He succeeds Kevin Peacock, branch manager of corporate information services for the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who retired at the end of his two-year term as founding president but remains on the Board of Directors.

Pillay was chosen to succeed him by the 10-member board at their Annual General Meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, on May 31, the day preceding the start of the Lac Carling Congress.

Pillay was previously vice president and was also a member of the interim executive that founded MISA/ASIM Canada in June 2006.

The national association links the four MISA chapters in Atlantic Canada, British Columbia, Ontario and the Prairies, as well as the Réseau de l’Informatique Municipale du Québec (RIMQ). Each association appoints two members to the national board.

A new board member from RIMQ was chosen at the AGM to be vice president for 2008-09: Joseph Hélal, directeur adjoint, planification stratégique, Direction des systèmes d'information, Ville de Montréal.

Hélal joined the board earlier this year to succeed the retiring Daniel Malo, CIO of Montreal. Malo was also a former vice president of MISA/ASIM Canada and one of its founders.

Two other officers of the board will continue in their current positions:  Secretary Gerry Matte, IT manager for the Municipality of Saanich, BC, and Treasurer Garry Bezruki, director of information systems for the City of Waterloo, Ontario.

The process for appointing officers was supervised by Louis Shallal of the Region of York, Ontario.

Other board members are: Kathryn Bulko of the City of Toronto; Maurice Gallant of the City of Fredericton; David Hennigan of the Capital Region District, BC; Gaston Huot of the Villes de Boucherville, Brossard, Saint-Bruno et Saint-Lambert, Quebec; AnnMarie McDonald of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta.

27 juin 2007 — L’Association des systèmes d’information municipale du Canada/Municipal Information Systems Association of Canada (ASIM/MISA Canada) a signé une entente de coopération avec une association nationale des États-Unis consacrée à la technologie dans l’administration publique, élargissant l’accès des municipalités canadiennes à des contacts et àde l’information de partout dans le monde.

L’entente avec GMIS International (Government Management Information Sciences, www.gmis.org) a été signée à Reno dans le Nevada dans le cadre de la conférence annuelle internationale de l’association.

Ralph Blauel, directeur des services de technologie de Halton Region, représentant de MISA Ontario, et Wayne Klamut, directeur des technologies de l’information de la ville de Penticton, représentant de MISA BC, ont signé l’entente au nom d’ASIM/MISA Canada.

Les sections de l’Ontario et de la Colombie-Britannique entretenaient déjà des relations officieuses avec GMIS International, mais il existe maintenant une relation officielle entre les deux associations nationales « sœurs ».Kevin Peacock, président d’ASIM/MISA Canada et chef du service intégré d’information municipale de la ville de Saskatoon, fait la remarque suivante : « C’est la deuxième entente internationale que l’association canadienne des technologies de l’information municipale conclut, et elle montre que nous participons à la transformation mondiale des municipalités — et que nous faisons également partie de ses chefs de file. »

En novembre 2006, ASIM/MISA Canada est devenue membre de Linked Organisations in Local Authorities (LOLA — www.lola-online.org), un regroupement britannique d’associations internationales qui fournissent des services municipaux.

LOLA est également affiliée à GMIS International, comme le sont les associations de la Suède, du Royaume-Uni, de la Nouvelle-Zélande, des Pays-Bas et de la Belgique.« Soucieuses de renforcer les liens d’amitié et la compréhension entre les fonctionnaires municipaux de nos pays respectifs, et étant donné que l’établissement de ces rapports d’amitié et de coopération serviront la cause des communications et des échanges technologiques », de déclarer les parties dans l’entente de Reno, « ASIM/MISA Canada et GMIS International ont décidé d’établir et d’entretenir des rapports d’amitié et de coopération à titre d’associations consacrées aux technologies de l’information locale.

Il convient d’y arriver notamment par l’échange d’information, les publications et l’envoi de délégués aux conférences. »

November 28, 2006 -- MISA/ASIM Canada has announced a new affiliation that is widening the communication between municipalities in Canada and other countries.

The national organization has joined an international association based in Britain called the Linked Organisations in Local Authorities (LOLA).

LOLA, www.lola-online.org, is a grouping of municipal-service associations in Europe, North America and New Zealand that have agreed to work collectively and collaboratively to achieve benefits for their organizations and members, and the citizens they serve.

Participation in LOLA events and initiatives will mean exciting opportunities for MISA/ASIM Canada and its members, said Kevin Peacock, branch manager, Corporate Information Services at the City of Saskatoon and president of the 10-member Board of Directors of MISA/ASIM Canada.

“The opportunity to network, share best practices and other IT-related information on a global basis will be highly valued by our member chapters,” Peacock said.

“We are all in the service-delivery business and this relationship with LOLA will only help improve our ability to better serve the citizens of Canada.  The collaboration and the sharing of knowledge with like-minded people will prove to be invaluable.  We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with all six of the national bodies.”

MISA/ASIM Canada, or Municipal Information Systems Association/Association des systèmes d'information municipale Canada, was officially launched in June 2006.  It is the first national body formed to promote e-Government services for municipalities and to work with other levels of government to make services efficient across jurisdictions. 

Members of MISA/ASIM Canada include the four chapters of MISA as well as the Réseau de l’informatique municipale du Québec (RIMQ).

The national association has previously established international connections informally through joint attendance at events with a US association, Government Management Information Sciences (GMIS).

Daniel Malo, la tête de la Direction des technologies de l'information de la Ville de Montréal, est Vice-président d’ASIM/MISA Canada.   OTTAWA, le 6 juin 2006 – Un organisme a été créé pour faciliter la collaboration entre les municipalités du Canada dans le but d’améliorer la prestation de services aux résidents au moyen des technologies modernes. Il s’agit du premier organisme national à être constitué pour promouvoir les cyberservices des administrations municipales et collaborer avec les autres paliers de gouvernement dans le but d’assurer l’efficacité des services au sein des diverses sphères de compétence. L’organisme s’appelle ASIM/MISA Canada, ou Association des systèmes d'information municipale Canada/Municipal Information Systems Association. ASIM/MISA Canada a officiellement vu le jour aujourd’hui à l’occasion du congrès annuel d’une de ses associations membres, la Municipal Information Systems Association of Ontario. Des représentants de tous les paliers de gouvernement étaient présents à la cérémonie.                                     ASIM-MISA Canada est une association sans but lucratif immatriculée au fédéral et regroupant des associations provinciales, interprovinciales ou territoriales de représentants des administrations municipales et autres qui travaillent ou s’intéressent au développement et à l’exploitation des systèmes informatiques municipaux. Les associations suivantes constituent les membres fondateurs d’ASIM/MISA: la Municipal Information Systems Association, Atlantic Canada (MISA Atlantic); la Municipal Information Systems Association, British Columbia (MISA BC), qui englobe aussi le Yukon, les Territoires du Nord-Ouest et le Nunavut; la Municipal Information Systems Association, Ontario (MISA Ontario); la Municipal Information Systems Association, Prairies (MISA Prairie); le Réseau de l’informatique municipale du Québec (RIMQ). Toutes les associations constituantes ont leurs propres municipalités ou entreprises membres et chacune est régie indépendamment. En tant que porte-parole, l’organisme national a pour mission d’exprimer l’opinion de l’ensemble des associations qu’il représente sur les questions d’incidence nationale touchant la prestation efficace des services municipaux au moyen de l’informatique et de la technologie. ASIM/MISA Canada favorise la diffusion de l’information et du savoir sur les principes et les méthodes relatifs à la cyberadministration municipale au sein de ses collectivités membres. Elle a un site Web, www.misa-asim.ca, et publie une revue professionnelle, Municipal Interface. En outre, elle représente ses associations membres dans les pourparlers avec les gouvernements fédéral, provinciaux et territoriaux et autres associations et organismes nationaux ou internationaux sur les dossiers touchant la prestation des services municipaux ou intermunicipaux au moyen de l’informatique et de la technologie. L’association est régie par une direction composée de dix membres, soit deux membres nommés par chacune des cinq associations membres.

MISA/ASIM Canada now has a permanently established Executive, which has held its first meeting and made its first appearance at a national public-sector event. 

The Executive gathered for the first time at Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, on May 13, the day before the beginning of the 10th annual Lac Carling Congress (http://www.itworldcanada.com/Pages/ContentPage.aspx?name=laccarling2005). 

They made the transition from the former Interim Executive, established in 2004, to the permanently constituted Executive, which will govern the association according to its By-laws and Operations Manual. 

The five member organizations of MISA/ASIM Canada are each represented by two appointees to the Executive.  The two representatives combine to cast one vote for each member organization for decision-making purposes. 

The first task of the Executive was to select four officers.  They are as follows:

• President: Kevin Peacock
• Vice-President:  Daniel Malo
• Secretary: Roy Wiseman
• Treasurer: Garry Bezruki

The Executive members signed two poster-sized documents, one each in English and French, committing the members to the mission and objectives of MISA/ASIM Canada.  Those posters were displayed the next day at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of the Lac Carling Congress, announcing the inauguration of the Executive. 

The 10 members of the Executive, listed by their member organizations, are: 

MISA Atlantic

• Daya Pillay, manager, e-commerce & Web services, Halifax Regional Municipality
• Bill Todd, information technology manager, City of Saint John 

MISA BC

• David Hennigan, director of information technology, Capital Regional District
• Gerry Matte, information technology manager, Municipality of Saanich 

MISA Ontario

• Garry Bezruki, director of information technology, City of Waterloo
• Roy Wiseman, CIO/director information and technology services, Region of Peel 

MISA Prairie

• Kevin Peacock, branch manager, Corporate Information Services, City of Saskatoon
• Mark Humphries, supervisor, information systems, Parkland County, Alberta  
  

Réseau de l’Informatique Municipale du Québec (RIMQ)

• Gaston Huot, directeur des ressources informationnelles, Villes de Boucherville, Brossard, Saint-Bruno et Saint-Lambert
• Daniel Malo, direction des technologies de l’information, Ville de Montreal 
  

President Kevin Peacock told the Lac Carling Congress that MISA/ASIM Canada will be undertaking two major projects during 2006: updating of the Municipal Reference Model, a tool to standardize service descriptions and enable service-delivery collaborations among jurisdictions, and an exploration of ways to align online identity management, authentication and authorization methods for municipalities. 

Roy Wiseman, as municipal co-chair of the Lac Carling Congress, told delegates in his opening remarks, “I think that I can speak on behalf of the new MISA/ASIM Canada Executive in committing that municipalities across the country will work with their counterparts in other governments to move (the e-Government) agenda forward. 

“We will participate on committees, even more strongly than we have done in the past.  We will participate in pilot projects, as we have done for BizPAL, the Seniors Portal or e-Contact. 

“And we will promote the work of this forum among our members, so that the base of support continues to broaden every year.”

Recommendations made to Industry Canada for the overhaul of telecommunications regulations would leave municipalities with no say in determining cable rights of way within their boundaries, MISA/ASIM Canada states.

The national organization is urging municipal IT professionals to make their senior managements aware of the implications of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel’s 400-page report (www.telecomreview.ca), presented to Industry Canada in March.

During the panel’s review in August 2005, MISA/ASIM Canada submitted recommendations on telecommunications policy.  They are published in the News Archives section of this site.

Principal author of those recommendations was Frank Mayhood of the City of Kamloops, BC.  He has reported to the MISA/ASIM Canada Executive that the panel’s report, if implemented, would override any municipal control of rights of way.

“These policies could severely affect a municipality’s ability to control the placement and proliferation of telecommunications facilities, from poles to underground conduits to cell towers,” he said.

The Executive has agreed to spread awareness of this issue.