From AI to Open Data: Ontario Redefines Public Trust at the ROM

TORONTO, ON – September 29, 2026 – Amid the ancient artifacts and dinosaur fossils of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), a different kind of exhibit is making history today. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) has unveiled "Clearly Now: Trust through Transparency," the third gallery in its virtual Transparency Showcase. Situated in the museum's Currelly Gallery, the interactive 3D exhibition juxtaposes the preservation of human history with the vital preservation of democratic accountability.

Launching on International Right to Know Day, the showcase highlights 15 new projects selected through the IPC’s Transparency Challenge 3.0. This brings the total number of featured initiatives to 46 across three galleries. The latest additions illuminate how public and health-sector organizations across the province are moving beyond performative openness, implementing practical solutions to improve access to information, advance open data, counter digital misinformation, and demystify the increasingly complex use of artificial intelligence.

"In today's digital world, transparency, and access to reliable government information matter more than ever. They strengthen democratic accountability, support civic engagement, and help institutions earn the confidence of the people they serve," said Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. "We're proud to unveil Transparency Showcase 3.0 at the ROM. There is no better place to showcase transparency than a museum, where artifacts and information spark learning and discovery about the world around us."

While the digital kiosk at the ROM offers a tangible touchpoint for visitors this week, the real-world impact of these 15 projects extends far beyond the museum's walls. From clinical settings to rural town halls, these initiatives provide a critical roadmap for navigating a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Opening the Black Box: Transparent AI in Clinical Settings

Perhaps nowhere is the intersection of innovation and ethical responsibility more fraught than in healthcare. As hospitals increasingly integrate machine learning to predict patient outcomes, the "black box" nature of these algorithms has raised significant concerns regarding patient privacy, inherent bias, and the need for clear governance.

Unity Health Toronto’s "AIM to Prevent Delirium" initiative, a standout in the new IPC showcase, offers a compelling case study in responsible deployment. Rolled out across 13 hospitals, the project utilizes an AI-based risk calculator—developed with 10 routinely collected clinical variables—to predict and prevent delirium in approximately 15,000 patients.

What sets the initiative apart is not just its predictive power, but its radical commitment to explainability. The project pairs the AI tool with comprehensive "model cards"—standardized documents that explain how the algorithm works, its intended use cases, and its limitations. Furthermore, the initiative includes patient and caregiver materials co-designed with the community, alongside rigorous staff training.

This approach aligns perfectly with the "Principles for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence" released jointly by the IPC and the Ontario Human Rights Commission earlier this year. The non-binding but highly influential framework stresses that automated systems must be visible, traceable, and explainable. By actively using sociodemographic data from multiple sites to assess and mitigate bias in its prediction models, the healthcare network is demonstrating how complex machine learning can be integrated while maintaining patient trust and strict regulatory compliance. The project does not merely deploy an algorithm; it surrounds that algorithm with a human-centric governance structure. By acknowledging that AI can perpetuate existing health disparities if left unchecked, the project's leaders have embedded equity into the tool's lifecycle. This proactive stance on bias mitigation sets a new benchmark for clinical AI, proving that technological advancement and ethical rigor are not mutually exclusive.

Beyond FOI Backlogs: Proactive Disclosure as a Systemic Fix

While cutting-edge AI dominates headlines, the foundational machinery of government transparency—the Freedom of Information (FOI) request—is quietly buckling under the weight of systemic delays. Across Canada, access to information systems are plagued by staggering backlogs. In the 2025-2026 fiscal year alone, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada reported nearly 6,000 complaints, with almost half stemming from institutional delays or extensions.

The IPC showcase highlights a powerful antidote to this reactive, sluggish system: proactive digital disclosure. The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development has taken a monumental step in this direction with "Collective Bargaining Ontario." The platform makes more than 75,000 collective agreements and arbitration awards publicly searchable and easily downloadable.

By digitizing and opening this vast repository, the provincial ministry is bypassing the traditional FOI bottleneck entirely. This shift not only supports more efficient research and better-informed negotiations for unions and employers but also significantly reduces the administrative burden on government staff. Legal scholars and civil society advocates have long argued that proactive disclosure is the only sustainable fix for Canada's access to information crisis. When public bodies anticipate the needs of citizens and publish data by default, they transform transparency from a legal obligation into an operational standard. The contrast with the federal landscape is illuminating. While the federal Privacy Commissioner recently noted a 15 percent increase in Privacy Act complaints—largely driven by slow response times—initiatives like the provincial bargaining database prove that the technology exists to automate transparency. The challenge is no longer technological; it is entirely cultural and administrative.

Small Towns, Big Reach: Rebuilding Civic Trust Online

The demand for transparency is not limited to massive provincial ministries or urban research hospitals. At the municipal level, local governments are grappling with a unique set of challenges: shrinking local news coverage, the rise of community social media misinformation, and the inherent difficulty of engaging citizens in the day-to-day mechanics of civic administration.

Two projects featured in Transparency Showcase 3.0 demonstrate how rural and small-town organizations are using creative digital strategies to bridge this gap. The Townships of South Glengarry and North Glengarry launched "Beyond the Minutes," a video series that uses candid mayoral interviews to unpack complex council decisions. Rather than relying on citizens to parse through dense, formal meeting minutes, the initiative explains the rationale behind local policies and their direct community effects in an accessible, conversational format.

Similarly, the Bracebridge Library has redefined institutional visibility with its "Open Book Strategy." By leveraging staff voices, sharing community stories, and providing behind-the-scenes content, the library has transformed its digital presence. The results are staggering: annual social media reach topped 8.2 million views last year. The campaign, which earned the Ontario Library Association's Media and Communications Award in January 2026, proves that authentic digital storytelling can effectively counteract local misinformation and foster deep community connections. By meeting people where they already are—online—these grassroots initiatives are rebuilding civic trust from the ground up.

Benchmarking the Right to Know

The unveiling of the third gallery at the ROM is a strategic anchor for Right to Know Week, a period when information commissioners, civil society advocates, and public institutions globally reflect on the state of democratic accountability. When benchmarked against the broader national landscape, Ontario’s localized efforts present a stark contrast to the struggles faced at the federal level.

While federal watchdogs continue to advocate for legislative reviews and battle systemic delays, the 46 projects now housed within the IPC’s virtual exhibition represent a bottom-up approach to cultural change. From the deployment of transparent AI model cards in critical care units to the proactive release of labor data and the viral reach of a small-town library, these initiatives prove that transparency is not a monolithic mandate. It is a series of deliberate, practical choices made by institutions willing to open their doors—and their data—to the public they serve. As artificial intelligence continues to blur the lines of automated decision-making, and as digital platforms reshape how citizens consume information, the traditional mechanisms of oversight are being tested. The projects celebrated in the Currelly Gallery this week offer more than just a snapshot of current best practices. They provide a vital, scalable blueprint for how governments can navigate the ethical frontiers of the digital age, ensuring that as technology advances, the fundamental right to know remains securely intact.