Newsletter
In this edition
- Meeting the Moment: Reflections on Evidence, Change, and the Road Ahead
- EVENT: Do We Actually Know Where Canada Stands on Science Culture in Today’s World?
- ICYMI: CCA Recently Announced Two New Projects
- Join the CCA Board of Directors at a pivotal moment for evidence and public policy in Canada
- In the News
Meeting the Moment: Reflections on Evidence, Change, and the Road Ahead
For many, new years are less about fresh starts than about clearer sightlines. They offer a chance to pause and see patterns that were hard to recognize while living day to day. Right now, those patterns—technological acceleration, information overload, misinformation firehoses, and growing pressure on public trust—are converging in ways that are reshaping how we understand ourselves, how policy is made, and how evidence must serve it.
In a world where trust in knowledge institutions is increasingly fragile, Canada’s approach to evidence and decision-making is central to its credibility, influence, and standing both domestically and globally.
Over the past year, I’ve had numerous conversations with policy-makers, researchers, and leaders across sectors. What strikes me is not a lack of information or good ideas but quite the opposite. We are living through an explosion of data, analysis, and opinion. The challenge is making sense of it all, under pressure, and in ways that lead to decisions people can trust.
This is where institutions like the CCA matter.
The CCA exists to do something deceptively difficult: to turn abundant information into usable understanding. The work of our panels is to interpret disparate analysis, synthesizing multiple forms of evidence, stress-testing it through multidisciplinary expert deliberation, and presenting it in ways that clarify trade-offs rather than obscure them. In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, that role becomes more, not less, important.
The past year has been a pivotal one for the CCA. The federal government’s commitment through the Strategic Science Fund provides the stability needed to do the work that we do. But stability, if it’s meaningful, should enable evolution. And evolution is precisely what this moment demands.
Policy questions today are faster-moving, more interconnected, and more global than those of even a decade ago. They cross jurisdictions and sectors, intersecting with technologies that evolve in months, not years. That means that to remain useful, knowledge institutions must adapt how they work without compromising independence, rigour, or trust.
It also means grappling directly with AI—not as a replacement for expert judgment, but as a tool that, when carefully governed, can strengthen it. AI has extraordinary potential to accelerate access to research, and scan vast bodies of literature. Used well, it can expand what’s possible in evidence synthesis and help decision-makers see the landscape more clearly and more quickly than ever before.
But AI also makes clear that evidence alone does not make policy. Context, judgment, ideas, and values all influence policy decision-making. Large language models can summarize, cluster, and offer predictions—but they struggle to weigh values, interpret uncertainty, or understand how decisions land in lived realities. Without careful oversight, AI can mislead, flatten nuance, amplify bias, or create a false sense of certainty.
Last year, I also had the opportunity to connect with leaders in Canada’s philanthropic community, several of whom share a deep interest in strengthening the role of evidence in addressing complex challenges that have a tangible impact on Canada’s people, communities, environment, and economy. These conversations have reinforced the value that foundations can bring alongside governments, supporting long-term, cross-cutting work, fostering collaboration across sectors, and helping sustain thoughtful inquiry in areas where the policy questions are evolving quickly.
I see real potential in mobilizing a broader range of resources around common goals for Canada. This is not about changing the CCA’s role or mandate but about complementing public investment with partners committed to the public good and to evidence-informed decision-making. By aligning government, philanthropy, experts, and institutions around shared priorities, we can expand the reach and impact of independent evidence and help ensure Canada is well equipped to navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead.
What gives me confidence is the community behind this work. The CCA’s impact rests on the volunteers who give their knowledge and experience, the partners who engage in good faith, and the staff who translate complexity into clarity. Together, they represent a uniquely Canadian model of evidence in service of the public good.
It’s a conversation I look forward to continuing with partners in Canada and beyond.
president@cca-reports.ca
Do We Actually Know Where Canada Stands on Science Culture in Today’s World?
More than a decade ago, the CCA examined science culture in Canada, and we were doing reasonably well. Since then, the context has shifted profoundly. AI now shapes how people encounter information, misinformation spreads faster than facts, trust in institutions is under pressure, and the role evidence plays in decisions affecting Canada’s health, safety, and prosperity is under increasing scrutiny.
New discussion papers from Actua suggest that science culture today is about much more than literacy, awareness, or interest. It’s about who participates in science, who benefits from it, how trust is built, and how evidence is understood and used in real-world contexts.
Why this question matters now
If science culture underpins Canada’s ability to navigate complex and global challenges like climate change, public health and emerging technologies, then understanding its current state matters. Without a shared, contemporary picture, it’s difficult to know what’s working, where gaps may be widening, or how science is shaping everyday decision-making across the country.
Actua’s revisiting of these questions pushes us to rethink both definitions and measurement—a reminder that yesterday’s indicators may no longer capture today’s realities.
Join in and continue the conversation on Tuesday, February 3 at 1 p.m. ET, when Suzi Loney, Research Director at the CCA, will join a panel of colleagues at a CSPC-hosted webinar to explore how science culture in Canada is evolving.
CCA recently announced two new projects: Enhancing Canada’s Geodetic Infrastructure and The State of Citizen Science in Canada.
At the CCA, our Board plays a critical role in safeguarding independence, strengthening impact, and ensuring our work remains relevant in a fast-changing policy environment. We’re now seeking new Board members and are particularly interested in hearing from individuals with philanthropic leadership experience and those with senior-level federal government backgrounds.
