Welcome to TfD Weekly

Technologists for Democracy (TfD) is a Toronto-based civic tech organisation working at the intersection of technology, privacy, and democratic accountability. Each week we recap what's happening at Civic Tech Toronto, share updates on our campaigns, and keep an eye on legislation that affects Canadians' digital rights.

Our active campaigns include:

• Stop Cineplex from Facial Detection — pushing back on Cineplex's use of facial recognition technology at Union Station and beyond
• People's Consultation on AI — a civil society response to the federal government's National AI Strategy

New here? You can learn more about us at techfordemocracy.ca.

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Our Monthly Volunteer Meeting is Tonight!

Our monthly volunteer meeting is happening today, April 8th. Newcomers are very welcome, come meet the TfD team, find out what we're working on, and get involved. If you're familiar with our setup and would like to add any agenda points to the meeting, you can do so at our event page. RSVP here.

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This Week at Civic Tech Toronto

This week Wency Leung, senior reporter at The Local, an award-winning independent news magazine focusing on the Greater Toronto Area, presented "Digging into data: how local journalism counters eroding government transparency." Her reporting found that average wait times to reach a Health811 nurse were as high as 11 hours, despite health authorities actively directing Ontarians to the service.

Civic Tech Toronto meets every Tuesday. Subscribe for future events.

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TfD in the News: Khasir on Algorithmic Pricing

TfD steward Khasir Hean joined CBC's Manjula Selvarajah to talk about algorithmic pricing, the practice where what you pay depends on who you are. With Manitoba introducing a bill to ban the practice in March, the conversation is building momentum. Give it a listen:

When the algorithm charges you extra — CBC Radio

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Civic Tech Brampton

TfD was at the latest Civic Tech Brampton meetup and had a great time connecting with the community. We've got some photos from our visit, we'll upload more at the social accounts at the end of this email.

Find Us Online

We've recently moved to a new Mastodon server, but if you're already following us you won't need to do anything different to stay in touch. This is the beauty of open networks that we champion. If you're recommending us to any of your friends, do take note of our new address:

Technologists for Democracy (@techfordemocracy@thecanadian.social) - TheCanadian.Social

7 Posts, 24 Following, 72 Followers · We are Canadians keeping tech accountable. Canadians using technology towards better democracy for all

TfD is also active across other channels, so give us a follow there too.

LinkedIn: Technologists for Democracy

Instagram: techfordemocracy

Bluesky: techfordemocracy.bsky.social

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Until next time, The TfD Team