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Canada’s Evidence Institutions

Crowdsourcing Canadian infrastructure for evidence-informed decision-making institutions

This page is a listing of institutions, agencies, organizations and partnerships that are part of Canada’s infrastructure for evidence-informed decision-making. As a starting point, it includes a number of examples of capacity-building organizations and multi-sector partnerships that are successfully learning and sharing what works to help improve outcomes for people in their communities. These examples came up during our work on the Evidence that Works paper. We present this information to the evidence community to help advance the effort of mapping Canada’s evidence landscape, and welcome additions and corrections to it.

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Institutions

BC Centre for Employment Excellence

Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD)

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)

Canadian Observatory on Homelessness

Centre for Effective Practice

Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services

Community Safety Knowledge Alliance (CSKA)

Deyohahá:ge – The Indigenous Knowledge Centre

Evaluation Exchange Network for Mental Health and Addictions

First Nations Information Governance Centre

Gambling Research Exchange Ontario

Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES)

Mental Health Research Canada

Ontario Centre of Excellence for Children & Youth

PolicyWise

Research Impact Canada

Social Research and Demonstration Corporation

BC Centre for Employment Excellence (division of SRDC)

Focus
  • Employment, particularly for minority groups
Funding
  • Ministry of Social Development and social Innovation
  • Funding ended, the Centre closed in May 2017
Evidence Resources
  • “Knowledge Clearinghouse” – open, centralized point of access to CFEE’s research, best practices that passed evaluations, etc.
  • Also provides informational webinar series on select topics
Standards of Evidence
  • Various methods: RCTs, developmental evaluation with participatory approach
  • Rigorous, may vary with partners and projects
Partnerships
  • Projects often have partnerships, uses pilots and experimental interventions

Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD)

Focus
    Social development, well-being
Funding
  • Not explicit, presumably from their fee-for-service offerings such as the Community Data Program and the Community Data Consortium
Evidence Resources
  • Specializes in social, economic, labour market, and demographic statistical and analytical research
  • Many research reports are available online
  • Strength-in-numbers infographic, fact sheet, and brief series
  • Community Data Program – repository of local data
  • Provides “community analytics” a fee-based custom data analysis and products, including neighbourhood profiles and community atlases
Standards of Evidence
  • Seems to rely heavily on customized datasets from Statistics Canada
  • Tries to collect data at the most local level, such as neighbourhoods, to perform more in-depth or flexible analysis
Partnerships
  • Community Data Consortium: network of local organizations focused on implementing a specific public service goal; members get access to CCSD data
  • Ottawa Design Collaboratories: innovation, design thinking, design process drawing from all three sectors

Canadian Observatory on Homelessness

Focus
    Homelessness, housing, youth and LGBTQ homelessness, etc
Funding
  • Originally SSHRC-funded project out of York
Evidence Resources
  • Homeless Hub – online repository/resource for many actors with a wide range of content/info
  • Hub Solutions: social enterprise operated by COH that helps partners conduct their own research/evaluations
  • “Find a researcher tool”
  • Self-care tips for front-line staff, training programs & toolkits
Standards of Evidence
  • Offers guides for research methodology but it’s not explicit if/how they vet articles/research that is posted on the Hub
  • Evaluation: “the outcomes star” seems to be promoted
Partnerships
  • Dozens of partnerships with various levels of government, community organizations, advocacy groups, etc.
  • Connects academia with front-line service providers, community leaders, policymakers
  • Many pilot projects, focuses on knowledge mobilization & evidence-based tools for front-line staff

Centre for Effective Practice

Focus
    Healthcare, translating policy into practice
Funding
  • Varies by project
Evidence Resources
  • Offers many services: research, design, implementation, evaluation
  • The Well: tools & resource depository
  • Clinical tools and resources for service providers
  • Open, multimedia tools
Standards of Evidence
  • Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE) II instrument
  • Helps third parties with evidence/dataset evaluation
  • Content on The Well goes through rigorous process of assessment & review of evidence
Partnerships
  • Located within UofT’s Dept of Family & Community Medicine
  • Long list of partners including professional associations and service providers
  • Strong connection with ON Ministry of Health & L-T Care

Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services

Focus
    Education, social services, healthcare
Funding
  • Co-sponsored by the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Education
Evidence Resources
  • Ten Minute Window video series (similar to TEDTalk), Noon Hour Colloquium
  • Research reports
Standards of Evidence
  • Published report titled “Evidence-based Principles to Guide Collaborative Approaches to Evaluation: Technical Report”
Partnerships
  • Wide range, local partners such as distress centres, youth and family service providers, provincial family and child services/ministries

Community Safety Knowledge Alliance (CSKA)

Focus
    Community safety
Funding
  • Government-supported NFP
Evidence Resources
  • Publishes the Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being
Standards of Evidence
  • Journal is peer-reviewed, acknowledges there is little empirical social science to ensure validity, replicability, or sustainability of innovative policies/practices à tries to fill this gap
Partnerships
  • Founding members are Government of Saskatchewan, Motorola, Sask Health Quality Council, Sask Association of Chiefs of Police, U of Regina, U of Saskatchewan

Deyohahá:ge – The Indigenous Knowledge Centre

Focus
    Experience of Indigenous peoples, impacts of colonization, trauma, outstanding government obligations, Canadian history
Funding
  • Not explicit
Evidence Resources
  • Repository of Hodinoso:ni material
  • Knowledge Guardians – Elders who are knowledgeable in the Hodinoso:ni history, cultural and language fluency, etc
Standards of Evidence
  • Not explicit
Partnerships
  • Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic

Evaluation Exchange Network for Mental Health and Addictions

Focus
    Mental health and addictions
Funding
  • Not explicit, assume funding is through CAMH, which receives funding from ON government and donations
Evidence Resources
  • Ontario-wide survey name EENet, “7th most useful source of evidence about mental health and substance abuse, 8th most used source of evidence”
  • Creates rapid reviews, evidence briefs, infographics, and more
Standards of Evidence
  • Includes many forms of knowledge: research, professional expertise, lived experience of people & families, cultural & traditional knowledge
  • Hosted a webinar about Social Network Analysis, what makes good evidence, etc à found scholarly journals are considered more trustworthy than useful and even less utilized
Partnerships
  • EENetConnect: an online forum with over 8,200 stakeholders
  • Locate in the Provincial System Support Program at CAMH

First Nations Information Governance Centre

Focus
    Core responsibility is the development and administration of national First Nations survey initiatives with Regional Partners.
Funding
  • Government of Canada
Evidence Resources
  • First Nations Regional Early Childhood, Education and Employment Survey Report
  • First Nations Regional Health Survey (2008/10) Report
  • First Nations Regional Health Survey (2015/16) Report
Standards of Evidence
  • Statistics Canada survey
Partnerships
  • Regional Partners include: the Alberta First Nations Information Governance Centre,the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba (Nanaandawewigamig),the Chiefs of Ontario, the Union of New Brunswick Indians,the Dene Nation (Northwest Territories), the Union of Nova Scotia Indians, the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Service Commission, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, the Council of Yukon First Nations , and the First Nations Health Authority (British Columbia).
  • Statistics Canada
  • Health Canada
  • Employment and Social Development Canada

Gambling Research Exchange Ontario

Focus
    Gambling, responsible policies
Funding
  • Until 2015 was a research funder à $40m for 413 projects
  • Now funded by ON Ministry of Health & L-T Care
  • 2016 budget: ~$2.4m
Evidence Resources
  • Evidence Centre – info repository, includes datasets, grey literature, research summaries, 2000-2013 research projects before GREO evolved from OPGRC
Standards of Evidence
  • Not explicit
Partnerships
  • Evidence exchange program – stakeholders submit policy/practice questions, GREO provides BN/research report or systematic review with most current evidence available

Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES)

Focus
    Healthcare, population health and health care delivery, drug safety, mental health…. Etc
Funding
  • Core funding from ON Ministry of Health & L-T Care
  • Individual scientists compete for peer-reviewed grants from federal agencies (e.g CIHR) as well as provincial and international funding bodies
  • Independent NFP, no private sector funding
  • 2017 budget: ~$15.8m
Evidence Resources
  • Applied Health Research Questions (AHRQ) – Ontario organizations can submit research questions to ICES, HOWEVER, all requests must be approved by an ADM or senior manager from the requesting organization
  • ICES publishes atlases, reports, journal articles, infographics, and other multimedia content
Standards of Evidence
  • ICES’ research is highly regarded, however their standards of evidence are not published anywhere on the website
Partnerships
  • Federal government: Canadian Institute for Health Information, Health Canada, Statistics Canada
  • Provincial government: Health Quality Ontario, ON Min of Children & Youth Services, ON Min of Transpo
  • National, provincial, and local organizations (lots on website)

Mental Health Research Canada

(Predecessor: Ontario Mental Health Foundation)

Focus
    Mental health
Funding
  • Fundraising and donations
Evidence Resources
  • Website has a research database, however it appears empty and/or just not working
  • Transition from Ontario Mental Health Foundation to Mental Health Research Canada took place in April 2018, it appears the organization/website is not yet established enough to provide resources/informations
Standards of Evidence
  • Peer review
Partnerships
  • Has provided $34m to fund 332 researchers over a decade
  • Partners with individuals and organizations that possess funding but lack expertise to research mental health issues

Ontario Centre of Excellence for Children & Youth

Focus
    Child and youth mental health
Funding
  • Ontario Ministry of Children & Youth Services
  • Services are free of charge, though they have a disclaimer about requiring an investment of time and some financial resources
  • Occasional grants
Evidence Resources
  • Resource hub: collection of evidence-based tools and resources
  • Open access
Standards of Evidence
  • Varying levels of rigour
Partnerships
  • Annual partnership agreement with lead agencies in each of Ontario’s service areas
  • Connection with CHEO? (grants)

PolicyWise (NFP corp)

Focus
    Early childhood development, child & youth wellbeing, family & community capacity building
Funding
  • Combination of fee-for-service (contracts with cost recovery fee) and government of Alberta funding
  • Total budget 17/18: $7.59m
  • Manages grants on behalf of the Ministry of Children’s Services and external partners
Evidence Resources
  • Data Lab and SAGE (Secondary Analysis to Generate Evidence)
  • SAGE isn’t necessarily “open” – researchers must submit a data access inquiry and request
Standards of Evidence
  • Evaluation Quality Assurance Framework
  • Living document
  • All evaluation projects submitted to and managed is guided by this framework
  • (Unsure what this actually consists of)
Partnerships
  • Government of Alberta, community agencies, education institutions, national and international organizations
  • Website provides long list of stakeholders and partners

Research Impact Canada

Focus
    Wide range: youth criminal justice, homelessness, food networks, gambling, mental health…
Funding
  • SSHRC
  • Hosted by York at a “Knowledge Mobilization” initiative
Evidence Resources
  • “Research Snapshots” – translate academic research that has been published in peer-reviewed articles into plain language summaries
  • Links to research, webinars, events, tools
Standards of Evidence
  • Evaluation committee creates tools to assess and articulate the impact of research from member universities
Partnerships
  • Network of universities dedicated to maximizing the impact of academic research for the public good & policy development

Social Research and Demonstration Corporation

Focus
  • Education (K-12, postsecondary, adult), employment, income security, community capacity, health, youth at risk, career development and LMI, social finance, housing policy and homelessness
Funding
  • Government departments and agencies at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, school boards, foundations, and NGOs
Evidence Resources
  • SRDC prioritizes both knowledge mobilization and capacity building, disseminating best practices and lessons learned from a range of research projects, and promoting and supporting evidence-based policy making and the appropriate use of experimentation within government and the social sector.
Standards of Evidence
  • SRDC is a leader in demonstration projects that rigorously test innovative policies and programs, employing a full range of evaluation techniques including methodologies like randomized assignment.
  • It also engages in projects support by a full range of other approaches such as behavioural economics, predictive analytics, impact assessment, and program evaluation.
Partnerships
  • Works cooperatively with governments, industry associations, educational institutions, trainers, service providers and program participants