A standard licence used by Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal governments to release open data and content for free reuse with minimal restrictions.
The Open Government Licence – Canada (OGL-Canada) allows anyone to copy, modify, publish, translate, adapt, distribute, or use the licensed information for any purpose, including commercial use, provided they attribute the source. It is based on the UK Open Government Licence and is designed to be compatible with Creative Commons Attribution licences.
Many Canadian provinces and municipalities have adopted their own versions of the Open Government Licence, which are substantially similar to the federal version. The licence is designed to be simple, permissive, and legally clear.
Example: Statistics Canada publishes census data under the Open Government Licence – Canada. A developer can download the data, incorporate it into a commercial application, and publish derived analyses — as long as they include the attribution statement: "Source: Statistics Canada, [dataset name], [year]. Reproduced and distributed on an 'as is' basis with the permission of Statistics Canada."
Always read the specific licence text, as provincial and municipal versions may have minor differences from the federal version.