Compatibility of the Open Government Licence - Canada with Wikimedia projects

This page aims at explaining the compatibility of the Open Government Licence - Canada (OGL-C) with the Wikimedia projects, and Wikimedia Commons in particular.

Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use media files such as images, sounds, videos and texts. It is a project hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation which supports other free-licences projects such as Wikipedia. All the files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all Wikimedia projects in all languages, including Wikipedia. They can also be re-used by any third parties as long as they respect the licences of the files. As of 2018, the repository contains over 48 million free media files, all managed by volunteers.

The OGL-C is part of the numerous types of licences that Wikimedia Commons accepts for the medias (pictures, videos, audio files, texts, etc.) that are uploaded on it. Although the OGL-C does not explicitly state the right to sublicence the work under it under a Creative Commons Attribution licence, which is normally used on Wikimedia projects, the terms of the OGL-C are compatible with it since it allows to copy, modify, publish, translate, adapt, distribute or otherwise use the information in any medium, mode or format for any lawful purpose. The only condition to do so is to acknowledge the source of the information by including any attribution statement specified by the Information Provider(s) and, where possible, provide a link to this licence.

Wikimedia Commons possess a template specifically for the OGL-C: commons:Template:OGL-C. This template is incorporated on all files that are uploaded to Wikimedia Commons that are under the OGL-C and links to the OGL-C page on the Government of Canada's website. It clearly states the terms of the licence and also the restrictions that apply to it. It is possible to get the list of the files already available under OGL-C license on Commons: commons:Category:OGL-C.

Wikimedia Canada is proud to note the efforts of the Government of Canada towards an Open Government. The Wikimedia projects are one of the biggest sources of information for all Canadian citizens, and one of the most reliable in this era of fake news. As such, uploading the files that under OGL-C to Wikimedia Commons is one of the best ways to share the information with the public and to allow people to use it to develop new knowledge that will in turn be available to everybody.