Meet Canada’s Smart21 Communities of 2021: Mississauga, Ontario

The City of Mississauga is a community of approximately 800,000 people located to the west of the city of Toronto. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area and is notable for the location of Pearson International Airport as well as significant businesses in technology, advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and banking and finance. Over 60 of the Fortune 500 companies base their global or Canadian head offices in Mississauga. This is its first time as a SMART21 community.

ICF recognized the community for several initiatives meeting its ICF Method, including:

• Its PUCC works to streamline its application process of broadband expansion across the City through automating and advancing each phase while documenting and tracking the application.
• The Mississauga Library, in partnership with the Mississauga Smart City Program, developed a digital device lending program to help support the community to bridge its digital divide issues. Included in the program are 100 Wireless Hotspots, 30+ Chromebooks, and 100 PC Laptops. Wireless Hotspots are available for external lending for patrons with a valid Library card.
• Mississauga’s Open Data Policy is one of the most important policies developed to assist with providing data literacy education to citizens and business in the City. The policy allows the City to publish approved datasets which provides the community an opportunity to engage with its data and develop insights with what is happening within Mississauga. The policy also allows us to continually build on the open data catalogue and expand their knowledge sharing with the community. The Smart City Open Data Challenge is the city’s annual hackathon event, which had to be virtual due to the pandemic. With these submissions, the Smart City team has been able to begin a Smart City Open Data Showcase displaying analysis completed by the community using only open data.
• The Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) is the City’s 10-year comprehensive road map for tackling climate change, setting out actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help the city to adapt.