Why Engage?

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Older hand filling out a survey at a public consultation.

Engage Ottawa introduces new and innovative online tools to improve how the City engages with you. These online tools give you the opportunity to weigh in on the projects and initiatives that you care about, at your convenience.

Public Engagement

Public engagement refers to a range of activities that facilitate and support the contribution of ideas and insights from you. Your input will allow us to make decisions that are informed and reflective of your concerns and needs.

What public engagement does not mean is that everyone will always agree on decisions that are made within the Municipality. Ottawa is made up of a diverse population with very different interests and approaches to what Ottawa is and how to improve it. What we will do, is listen to all of those different opinions and incorporate them into the decision-making process, in a fair and balanced way.

Benefits of Public Engagement

Public Engagement provides a valuable link between Council, City staff and the community. It offers a range of benefits, including, but not limited to:

  • Improving Council’s decision-making process by taking into account a greater range of perspectives, experience, and knowledge
  • Ensuring that diverse voices have a place at the table
  • Creating a shared purpose
  • Encouraging greater community participation
  • Creating a better connected and informed community
  • Reducing the level of misconception or misinformation
  • Identifying and addressing potential and existing concerns
  • Empowering participants to take ownership of programs and initiatives
  • Ensuring commitment and greater ownership of the final decision by the community

Engage Ottawa introduces new and innovative online tools to improve how the City engages with you. These online tools give you the opportunity to weigh in on the projects and initiatives that you care about, at your convenience.

Public Engagement

Public engagement refers to a range of activities that facilitate and support the contribution of ideas and insights from you. Your input will allow us to make decisions that are informed and reflective of your concerns and needs.

What public engagement does not mean is that everyone will always agree on decisions that are made within the Municipality. Ottawa is made up of a diverse population with very different interests and approaches to what Ottawa is and how to improve it. What we will do, is listen to all of those different opinions and incorporate them into the decision-making process, in a fair and balanced way.

Benefits of Public Engagement

Public Engagement provides a valuable link between Council, City staff and the community. It offers a range of benefits, including, but not limited to:

  • Improving Council’s decision-making process by taking into account a greater range of perspectives, experience, and knowledge
  • Ensuring that diverse voices have a place at the table
  • Creating a shared purpose
  • Encouraging greater community participation
  • Creating a better connected and informed community
  • Reducing the level of misconception or misinformation
  • Identifying and addressing potential and existing concerns
  • Empowering participants to take ownership of programs and initiatives
  • Ensuring commitment and greater ownership of the final decision by the community

Do you have any feedback or questions about the Engage Ottawa website?

Welcome to the Engage Ottawa feedback tool. If you have any questions on how to engage with the City or how to use the Engage Ottawa website, please feel free to ask your question here. We will answer all feedback and questions within two business days.

Please do not include any personal details here. If you would like to provide personal details, please send us an email.

Please note if questions are specific they will be answered via email.

You need to be signed in to add your question.

  • Share Now I have signed up for Engage Ottawa how do I get a notice each time a new item appears on the Engage Ottawa great tools page regardless of whether the item is about something in my ward as I have interests in all wards of Ottawa and want to know about all items that appear on Engage Ottawa? on Facebook Share Now I have signed up for Engage Ottawa how do I get a notice each time a new item appears on the Engage Ottawa great tools page regardless of whether the item is about something in my ward as I have interests in all wards of Ottawa and want to know about all items that appear on Engage Ottawa? on Twitter Share Now I have signed up for Engage Ottawa how do I get a notice each time a new item appears on the Engage Ottawa great tools page regardless of whether the item is about something in my ward as I have interests in all wards of Ottawa and want to know about all items that appear on Engage Ottawa? on Linkedin Email Now I have signed up for Engage Ottawa how do I get a notice each time a new item appears on the Engage Ottawa great tools page regardless of whether the item is about something in my ward as I have interests in all wards of Ottawa and want to know about all items that appear on Engage Ottawa? link

    Now I have signed up for Engage Ottawa how do I get a notice each time a new item appears on the Engage Ottawa great tools page regardless of whether the item is about something in my ward as I have interests in all wards of Ottawa and want to know about all items that appear on Engage Ottawa?

    Pat b asked about 4 years ago

    Thanks for reaching out with your question! 

    Automatic notifications announcing new tools on a project page is a functionality not yet built into the platform. You can sign-up for project notifications when you follow the project or complete one of the engagement activities; these notifications will come as an email. 

    We reached out to the platform developer (Bang the Table) and asked if this option will be available in the future, they informed me that it is currently on their workplan – scheduled to be implemented Q4 2020/Q1 2021. You can also see updates for engagement projects on the current engagement opportunities webpage. 

  • Share It would be great if the Ideas function allowed you to include URLs. Residents are able to but the text related to the URL but it would be great if they could actually add a hyperlink. on Facebook Share It would be great if the Ideas function allowed you to include URLs. Residents are able to but the text related to the URL but it would be great if they could actually add a hyperlink. on Twitter Share It would be great if the Ideas function allowed you to include URLs. Residents are able to but the text related to the URL but it would be great if they could actually add a hyperlink. on Linkedin Email It would be great if the Ideas function allowed you to include URLs. Residents are able to but the text related to the URL but it would be great if they could actually add a hyperlink. link

    It would be great if the Ideas function allowed you to include URLs. Residents are able to but the text related to the URL but it would be great if they could actually add a hyperlink.

    almost 5 years ago

    Thank you for providing this feedback! The City of Ottawa is currently piloting the Engage Ottawa platform and we always appreciate any feedback on how it can be improved. We will take your comments into consideration and see whether they can be implemented. Thanks again for reaching out!

  • Share The newest and latest initiatives should be highlighted at the top of the Engage Ottawa website in order to capture the largest possible audience. Issues can be lost in the shuffle once they are lumped together with all of the other ongoing issues. It would also be useful to see which initiatives I've already participated in, perhaps with the use of cookies, so that I can more easily keep track of them visually every time I visit the page. on Facebook Share The newest and latest initiatives should be highlighted at the top of the Engage Ottawa website in order to capture the largest possible audience. Issues can be lost in the shuffle once they are lumped together with all of the other ongoing issues. It would also be useful to see which initiatives I've already participated in, perhaps with the use of cookies, so that I can more easily keep track of them visually every time I visit the page. on Twitter Share The newest and latest initiatives should be highlighted at the top of the Engage Ottawa website in order to capture the largest possible audience. Issues can be lost in the shuffle once they are lumped together with all of the other ongoing issues. It would also be useful to see which initiatives I've already participated in, perhaps with the use of cookies, so that I can more easily keep track of them visually every time I visit the page. on Linkedin Email The newest and latest initiatives should be highlighted at the top of the Engage Ottawa website in order to capture the largest possible audience. Issues can be lost in the shuffle once they are lumped together with all of the other ongoing issues. It would also be useful to see which initiatives I've already participated in, perhaps with the use of cookies, so that I can more easily keep track of them visually every time I visit the page. link

    The newest and latest initiatives should be highlighted at the top of the Engage Ottawa website in order to capture the largest possible audience. Issues can be lost in the shuffle once they are lumped together with all of the other ongoing issues. It would also be useful to see which initiatives I've already participated in, perhaps with the use of cookies, so that I can more easily keep track of them visually every time I visit the page.

    TheSpaceWeegee asked about 5 years ago

    Thank you for this useful feedback. Engage Ottawa is a new platform and we are currently testing different ways to highlight engagement projects.

    If you’d like to see the newest projects, you can click on the ‘All Projects’ button in the page heading and all projects appear in the order that they are posted. Thank you for participating on Engage Ottawa!

Page last updated: 24 Feb 2021, 09:51 AM