January 2025

Welcome to The Advance, the newsletter of the CCA. Want to help us promote evidence-informed policy in the public interest? Feel free to forward this newsletter to a friend or colleague.

In this edition:

• “A roadmap for growth, innovation, and impact”
• The CCA launches two new projects
• Readings on civic capital, climate misinformation, mitigating AI risks, graduate students below the poverty line, and more
• A year of evidence for the public good

As we welcome a new year, and as I reflect on my first six months as President and CEO, I’m heartened by what we’ve achieved together and very much inspired by the opportunities ahead.

These past six months have been a whirlwind of connection and collaboration. I’ve had the privilege of meeting with leaders from across Canada’s evidence-for-policy ecosystem—government officials, academic experts, and partners in the private and non-profit sectors. These conversations have underscored the vital role the CCA plays in connecting and convening people to address complex policy challenges that cut across any one discipline, sector, or jurisdiction.

One of the most significant milestones of this period has been the smooth transition under the federal government’s Strategic Science Fund, through which the CCA is committed to delivering 10 assessments over the next five years. Each expert panel-led assessment will provide policymakers with the unbiased, robust evidence they need to make informed decisions on critical issues. This funding is a testament to the trust placed in the CCA’s expertise and proven assessment process, and a validation of the importance of evidence-informed policy in shaping Canada’s future.

As we embrace this success, we also look ahead with a renewed commitment to innovation and responsiveness. For 20 years, the CCA has been known for its trusted and rigorous approach to synthesizing evidence. But as the world becomes more complex and interconnected, the need for accessible, actionable knowledge delivered more quickly has never been greater. That’s why we are reimagining our process to better serve decision-makers across all sectors and levels of government.

This reinvention is not about changing our core values—impartiality, excellence, and independence remain at the heart of everything we do. Instead, it’s about applying those values in new ways to meet the changing evidence needs of decision-makers and expanding our reach and impact. We are charting new pathways to evidence, embracing new technologies, and making our work more visible, understandable, and relevant to a broader audience. We are also making our services more accessible by identifying opportunities for the CCA and prospective sponsors and collaborators to work with philanthropic foundations.??

Whether it’s a province seeking to manage its specific climate adaptation challenges or a non-profit effecting change in a complex and rapidly changing environment, our goal is to provide the insights needed to drive impact.

This vision is encapsulated in the CCA’s new five-year strategic plan. Building on our history of excellence, the plan sets ambitious goals for expanding the visibility, connections, and accessibility of our work. It’s a roadmap for growth, innovation, and impact—one that aligns with the evolving needs of policymakers and society at large. The plan emphasizes collaboration, recognizing that the best solutions often emerge from diverse perspectives and shared expertise. It also underscores the importance of communication, as we strive to make our findings more engaging and actionable for all Canadians.

Looking ahead, I’m excited about the opportunities to deepen our partnerships, explore new areas of inquiry, and continue building on the CCA’s legacy of excellence. I’m particularly grateful to the many volunteers who serve on our panels, Scientific Advisory Committee, and Board of Directors, and inspired by the dedication and expertise of the CCA team, whose passion for unbiased evidence assessment and its potential to inform policy is unmatched. Together, we are poised to make this a transformative year for the organization and the broader evidence-for-policy community.

To our stakeholders, partners, and supporters, thank you for your continued trust and collaboration. Your engagement makes our work possible, and your insights help shape the future we aspire to create. As we embark on this journey, I invite you to stay connected with the CCA? by reading our reports, attending our events, or sharing your ideas and perspectives.

Here's to a happy, prosperous, and evidence-informed 2025!

Tijs Creutzberg, President and CEO

The CCA launches two new projects

Click below to learn more about our upcoming assessments on...

Readings

• How have Toronto, Ottawa, and Waterloo used civic capital to respond to the impacts of disruptive technologies? The Munk School’s Innovation Policy Lab and Research Money each highlighted a recent study by Darius Ornston, David Wolfe, and CCA President Tijs Creutzberg, in Urban Studies. These three areas “use civic capital to leverage new, technological windows of opportunity,” the authors found, “but they do so in very different ways.”
• A new report from the University of Ottawa’s Information Integrity Lab issues a “whole-of-society call to action” to address climate disinformation in Canada. “By combining strong government leadership, rigorous academic research, active civil society engagement, responsible media practices, private sector cooperation, and broad public education initiatives, Canada can build a more resilient society capable of identifying, countering, and ultimately reducing the impact of climate disinformation.”
• Thomas Bailey, a PhD candidate at the University of Ottawa, writes in a new study that graduate-student stipends in Canada fall thousands of dollars short of local costs of living. (The study, available here, has not undergone peer review.) “People who want to study science in Canada have three options,” Bailey says. “Hope for more support from their supervisor, take on big debts, or emigrate.”
• In a new report from the Public Policy Forum, founding CCA president Peter Nicholson writes that artificial intelligence will “power a new era of productivity growth and material prosperity in Canada,” and offers a few focal points for an “AI industrial strategy.”
• The Public Policy Forum also named Elizabeth Dowdeswell, an honouree for its annual Testimonial Dinner Awards. Dowdeswell, a former CCA president and two-time panel chair who served as lieutenant governor of Ontario until 2023, has led an “eclectic public service career that has spanned provincial, federal and international borders and transcended traditional disciplinary lines,” notes her CCA bio. Learn more here.
• On February 4, CIFAR will host a free virtual conversation about mitigating risks associated with advanced AI systems, drawing on work by its own Canadian AI Safety Institute and moderated by The Logic’s Murad Hemmadi. Catherine Régis, co-director of CIFAR’s Canadian AI Safety Institute Research Program, was a member of the CCA’s Expert Panel on Health Data Sharing.