TfD Weekly - 29th July 2026
Waymo open letter hits 133 signatures with diverse endorsements. Relational Tech Project on vibe coding for local needs. August volunteer meeting details.
Welcome to TfD Weekly
TfD Weekly is the newsletter of Technologists for Democracy (TfD), 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:
Previous campaigns:
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This Week at Civic Tech Toronto
This week's talk was by Deborah Tien from The Relational Tech Project, on "How Tech Can Support Your Local Neighbourhood to Flourish."
AI, while rightfully being criticised for a host of reasons (check our People's Consultation on AI work), isn't all bad. In fact, these tools can be used to help non-technical people gain better understanding of programming and systems. And to take it a step further, you can use AI platforms to build working software and services. Deborah argues that the ease of building tools can now free up our organisations to better serve the needs of the people around us. It centres local context and lived experience, rather than technical proficiency.
The library of Relational Tech tools enables people to 'remix' existing ideas that have been implemented around the world. Communicate your knowledge and insight to the AI, it will help you adapt a project to the needs of your group.
It's vibe coding to meet local needs, a tech way of addressing the paradox in "Everyone wants a village, nobody wants to be a villager."
Check out the Relational Tech Studio for more.
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Waymo Open Letter Update
Our open letter to Ontario's Minister of Transportation now has 133 signatures across Toronto's community. Our diverse group includes 3 Uber drivers, a courier driver and a bus driver in addition to software engineers, professors, researchers and urban planners. Among the organisational endorsers are the TTC Riders, Ridefair and the Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto.
Thank you to everyone who has signed so far. Please keep sharing this among your circles.
We'll be presenting the campaign at Civic Tech Brampton, so if you'd like more information you can attend remotely too.
One of our members put together a video explaining why this issue matters. Watch and share it with your networks:
Read the letter and add your name
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Monthly Volunteer Meeting
Our next volunteer meeting is on Wednesday, August 12. Join us to get involved with TfD's campaigns and projects. You can also add points to the agenda through the link below.
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Technologists for Democracy is a community of Canadians who work with technology towards better democracy for all. Learn more at techfordemocracy.ca