On September 14, 2004, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent was presented with an Award of Excellence at the Showcase Ontario Conference held in Toronto, Ontario.  Showcase Ontario is the largest public sector training and education event in Canada.

The Showcase Ontario Awards of Excellence are presented annually to recognize innovative Information and Information Technology projects.  The conference this year celebrated "The Power of Possibility": the power of using technology to enrich the lives of Ontarians – and the unending possibilities that it creates for service delivery and e-democracy initiatives. 

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT), who provided funding for the project through the Connect Ontario: Partnering for Smart Communities program, nominated the Community of Chatham-Kent Portal for the award.  Chatham-Kent was one of four finalists in the ‘Serving Ontario’s Citizens Better’ category.  This category highlights any project that has contributed significantly to improvements in service or service quality for the benefit of Ontario’s citizens.  Showcase Ontario received over 99 nominations for Awards of Excellence and only two of the twenty-eight finalists were local government.

The Community of Chatham-Kent portal was recognized as an innovative method of serving a primarily rural community by providing cost-effective and alternate access to:  recreational program information; information on over 340 municipally-owned facilities, a community events calendar, an on-line library catalogue, payment of tickets issued under the Provincial Offences Act, community mapping capabilities, business and service directory, access to a health, wellness and fitness magazine, a newly released economic development site selector tool as well as comprehensive municipal information.

“The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade is pleased that the Municipality of Chatham-Kent has won a 2004 Showcase Ontario Merit Award,” said David Kennedy, Director of Information and Communications Technologies Branch, MEDT.  “It is through strong working partnerships, that this investment helps bring small businesses and residents into today’s digital economy and promotes the Chatham-Kent region to a local and global market place.” 

The next phase of development for the portal will include a patient appointment request service for Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, to be released in November of 2004, and the ability for lawyers, real estate firms and financial institutions to obtain electronic property tax certificates. 

For further information please contact:

Information Technology Services
315 King Street West, P.O. Box 640
Chatham, ON    N7M 5K8
Phone: (519) 360-1998 
Email: ckwebmaster@chatham-kent.ca