"What we're working on" are quarterly blog posts written by eServices for Citizens in partnership with government project teams. We work together to deliver public-facing digital services and websites and partner on these updates. 

We've added a new section called "eServices for Citizens projects." This is so we can share some of the behind the scenes projects we're working on and how they relate to these public-facing digital services and websites. 

Websites

Better to Know

This website is the government's online resource on sexual health. It's specifically designed for Yukon youth and the team have been conducting user research to learn how they can redesign the website so it better meets the needs of Yukon youth. This includes a combination of educational resources and support services.

The project team expect to launch this website in late summer/early fall 2024.

Water Board 

Yukon Water Board staff have been working on their new website. They expected it to launch in the coming months.  

Yukon.ca 

We’re continuing to make improvements to Yukon.ca. You may have noticed that Wildland Fire Management now posts its fire bulletins to a blog. This is a new use for the Yukon.ca blog content type. We’re looking forward to reviewing performance analytics at the end of the fire season to see how Yukoners interacted with the blog. 

The focus of our work has been on upgrading the content management system the website runs on from Drupal 7 to 10. We’re working with vendors and stakeholders as we approach the launch of Yukon.ca on Drupal 10 in the fall. Aside from this big project, we’re making smaller improvements to the site that will roll out into the fall. 

Our work on the Yukon.ca Roadmap also continues. This August we’re holding spark sessions with stakeholders. During these sessions, we’ll gather needs and ideas and use those to plan out how Yukon.ca can evolve to better serve users.  

Quitpath website 

This website is one of the ways the government supports people who are trying to reduce or quit their use of nicotine and vaping products. The project team are working to use a government-hosted platform so they can improve how they deliver these services.  

User research showed the team could take this opportunity to improve the user experience on the website. They are beginning to evaluate how the information is organized and rewriting content to align with the government’s style and reading grade level standards.  

The team expect to launch the new website in 2025. 

Citizen engagement platform 

The Citizen engagement platform allows the government to communicate engagements to the public and gives people ways to participate online. For example, the current tool was used for engagements on:

• the Electoral Boundary Commission’s proposed changes; and  
• the consultation on vegetation clearing.  

It is time to select and evaluate engagement tools for the eServices platform and a new procurement is underway. We're looking for an engagement tool that provides a landing page for topics that require more discussion and context. If any reports, maps or resources are needed to shed light on intricacies, the public would need to have these at hand while they consider the topic. We expect the procurement results to be ready by the end of the year. 

Departments can and will be able to hire large vendors to support their engagements. For example, to analyze and understand the results of the engagement. 

Transactional services

AIMES

AIMES is platform our partners at the Department of Environment will use to:

• authorize and issue permits; and
• manage monitoring, inspections and enforcement actitivies.

The team are currently working on website implementation and expect to make some services available to the public before the end of this fiscal year. 

Campground online registration system

Many Yukoners used the online campground reservation system, which launched earlier this year. The system has worked well, and the project team plans to add more campgrounds for next season. 

Court registry information system

The Department of Justice is updating how members of the public, lawyers and others get access to the court system’s online services. This 4-year project is expected to make court information more readily available. 

Covid – get a proof of vaccination certificate 

Everyone remembers the push for COVID immunization, and the documentation available to prove immunization status. This service is still available, and mostly used for people traveling internationally. The service is a cooperation between the departments of Highways and Public Works (eServices) and Health and Social Services, and it follows implementation guidelines developed jointly by the Canadian federal government. 

Good Energy – energy rebate system 

The Government’s energy rebates system is a great way to obtain energy rebates and find out what rebates are available. It is now accessible with your “MyYukon” login. 

Loans and grants system renewal 

The Yukon Housing Corporation has 8 different loans and grants programs, and the intention of this project is to make it easier to apply online. 

PUF and Morel Mushroom

In the Spring of 2024, we launched the online applications for the personal use of firewood and morel mushroom commercial harvesting permits. These permits are popular among Yukoners. Having these permits available online will make it easier for Yukoners to get out there and pick mushrooms or cut firewood. 

Sewage disposal system permitting 

This new system will allow Yukoners to apply for a permit to install, replace or modify their sewage disposal systems online. In addition to making this service available online, the project team have been using this as an opportunity to modernize the service. A variety of forms will be online in addition to instruction manuals.  

This service is expected to launch in fall 2024. 

Open government 

We’re continuing work to get ready for the next stage of the open government portal. We’re planning to migrate from the current software to CKAN, a widely-used open data management system. CKAN is open-source and is used by the governments of British Columbia, Ontario, and the Government of Canada, among others. 

If you have thoughts or feedback on the existing portal, or ideas for the future, get in touch! We have a short online questionnaire to gather feedback, and we’d love to hear from you. 

eServices for Citizens projects 

Biennial eServices Platforms STRA 

This Security and Threat Risk Assessment (STRA) is underway to make sure we’re following best practices in securing our servers and the online services that we host. We are also in the midst of conducting a security penetration test on Yukon.ca, with the help of a third party security vendor, to identify any vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. 

Email communications platform

We are planning to launch a centrally supported email newsletter / communication platform service using Envoke.com. This will be added to our common platform components as a tool to manage email campaigns, contact management, and automation. Of importance to the government is the focus on simplifying consent and privacy compliance, especially for Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). We'll have more on this in the next update. 

MyYukon 

The MyYukon sign in service is widely used to access popular services including driving and transportation, campground reservations, student financial assistance, and energy rebates.Over half of adult Yukoners have utilized a MyYukon sign in.

During upcoming months, additional features will be added to make it easier to fill out government forms and use services. MyYukon works closely with other Canadian provinces and territories, so that your MyYukon sign in will eventually get you access to services and programs elsewhere in Canada. 

Online forms

We are planning to use a product called DocuPhase to support clients in creating more online forms that will meet user expectations. This is the latest step in forms modernization as we strive to create an option for simplke forms that will be faster and more affordable for departments. 

Yukon.ca UX assessment 

This past winter we worked with a vendor to conduct a user experience (UX) assessment of Yukon.ca. The purpose of this was to: 

• find out what works well and what doesn’t work well for users; and
• address barriers by incorporating testing and solutioning into the Yukon.ca product roadmap.

There are blog posts for each piece of user research our vendor conducted. This first post gives an overview of the project and is a good starting point if you want to find out more about this user research project.  

For questions about these projects email eservices@yukon.ca.