Impact = Content x Influence: Evaluation, evidence and policy in Canadian Government contexts

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Publication TypeResearch BriefAbstractThis paper is based on a presentation I was invited to give on aspects of Canadian policy and evidence infrastructure to open the ‘Evidence and Policy’ symposium. To contextualise my remarks, I would like you to know this about me. I have been a program evaluator for more than 30 years, largely inside, or for, the federal government of Canada. I have also worked for one provincial government and several not-for-profit organisations in Canada. I have spent pretty much all my working hours developing and providing empirical evidence and fact-based advice to these organisations. My perspective is of an evaluation practitioner. That said, the invitation to speak at the symposium gave me an opportunity to stop and think about evidence-based policy-making and whether and how it is used in Canada, particularly in the federal government - the environment I know best. Now that we have established my pedigree, I would like to make three points in this talk. First, there is no such thing as evidence-based policy-making, anywhere. Second, the Canadian infrastructure for evidence-based policymaking is complex. Third, in the dynamic of policy-making, although evidence is only a small part of the equation there are factors that can increase the likelihood of evidence use.AuthorGauthier, B.Publication CollectionNorthern Institute Research BriefsAlternative CollectionEvaluative Voices BriefIssueEV01CopyrightNorthern Institute, 2016PublisherNorthern Institute, Charles Darwin UniversityPlace of PublicationDarwin