Design Canada ?

design canada title card

Design Canada is a documentary film celebrating the golden era of Canadian design. View the trailer.

I attended the Montreal screening of the film last week and definitely learned a few things. My design history knowledge skews heavily towards Britain and Europe, so it was pretty awesome to see Canadian efforts in the spotlight. I grew up during the period when much of this work was being scrapped in favour of the new, so I never really appreciated some of the systems that we had in place.

The film is showing around the country over the next month, including several more screenings at Cinema du Parc in Montreal. It will be released digitally in the fall.

Thanks to the film’s director, Greg Durrell, for providing me with the film’s title card for this post.


Our tired FOI system

Canada’s freedom of information system is a little bit outdated.

The authors criticized Canada FOI law as an antiquated system that generally prevents citizens from filing requests electronically and compels them to submit paper cheques to cover fees. Under the Access to Information Act, any resident of Canada can request government-controlled information, such as a bureaucrat’s expense claims or a minister’s briefing notes, for an initial $5 fee. The application is subject to a range of exemptions.

Paper, cheques… seriously? I’m sure we can do better.