Government Information Workers Are Heroes

I had the honor of emceeing a conference of Canadian Government Information Professionals and I shared some opening remarks that I thought I’d share more broadly here…

Now that I’ve introduced our conference allow me a non-sequitur to discuss the earliest European settlers in North America as my opening remarks for this conference.

British separatists known as the Pilgrims landed in North America in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and eventually formed the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While they’re often credited with the founding of what would become America, their principles were very far from what America and Canada have as our bedrocks today: religious tolerance, freedom of expression, and the open exchange of ideas.

Anyone who’s read of these early settlers knows that they were intolerant, at times purely vicious, and their principles weren’t in line with what would follow and what we cherish today. No, that happened shortly after the first settlement in modern Massachusetts and happened right here, under a half-mile from where I’m sitting today in Providence, Rhode Island. With his strange ideas, a man named Roger Williams decided to form a second settlement in America. ‘Decided’ may be too strong a word since Williams was actually ousted, thrown out, from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his ideas of tolerance and openness.

The Pilgrims used religion as a cudgel for discrimination, suppression, and mistreatment of minorities and the less privileged. It was just south of there in Rhode Island, this new settlement that introduced the ideas of religious tolerance, freedom of expression, and the open exchange of ideas.

While the Massachusetts Bay Colony continued marching forward in their oppression of women, branding them as “witches” and “heretics”; in Rhode Island, we were finding new points of trade with native populations and creating an open public market to exchange ideas.

There is a reason that Providence is home to both the First Baptist Church in North America as well as the first Synagogue in North America — all were welcome here. The principles that we all live by today and cherish started in Providence and spread throughout the world. That is my context; I live in what arguably should be called the birthplace of freedom. It isn’t only my context though, it’s also *your* context — even though today if I were to hop in my car and start driving to you in Canada, I’d arrive tomorrow evening, even if they let me across the border (which they won’t). Yet, we still share a context.

Your work is a continuation of the ideas that were first set forth by Roger Williams — I know that sounds odd, but it is the truth. Not only do you serve the public good, not only do you deliver to your constituents, but more importantly you’re the first line of defense on the principles we hold dear. You’re the first line of defense of our collective ideas of information freedom (and in my view, that’s the foundation of freedom itself).

I get excited professionally about the opportunity to share with you today because you’re also the first line of defense in reducing information risk. There are few greater unsung heroes than the government information professional. You receive little to no praise when things are working well, but you receive the full brunt of the criticism when things aren’t working well.

So, while you don’t hear this nearly as often as you deserve to hear it — thank you. Thank you for the slog, for the fight, for the struggle — our shared principles easily slip away when challenged by strongmen, bigots, and those who wish to wield power against the other — we are protected from those who wish to degrade our principles by heroes like you.

Now, let’s kick off our Conference!