Parliamentary digital releases in the time of COVID-19.

• Date: 22 March 2022
• Author: Davies, Emma
• Published date: 22 March 2022
• Author: Davies, Emma

When public health measures made in-person meetings and events difficult, parliaments across Canada began to experiment with new digital apps and programs and promoted existing digital services to help both parliamentarians and the public access information, and connect. In this article, the author highlights some of these new releases.

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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian parliaments have greatly increased their use of platforms such as Zoom, Skype for Business, Cisco WebEx, and Microsoft Teams. Indeed, meetings of the House and committees across the country now rely on these resources to discuss the very issue necessitating their use. However, Parliaments have not only been making use of pre-existing digital platforms; they have also been working on releasing their own digital tools.

In Ottawa, the federal parliament is currently testing an electronic voting app. This House of Commons digital product allows MPs to cast votes without being present in the Chamber, and operates

"using combined facial and fingerprint recognition technology". (1) While more testing is required, the app is a first for the Canadian Parliament and would represent a major shift in daily operations should it be approved. Over the course of the pandemic, the Library of Parliament and the National Film Board of Canada also released a virtual reality tour experience of the Centre Block on...