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Cet article présente une analyse de la distribution spatiale des investissements en innovation du gouvernement du Canada dans diverses régions et collectivités du pays. La démarche proposée consiste à exploiter les données ouvertes du Programme de divulgation proactive des renseignements du gouvernement du Canada. Au total, 39 419 entrées valides représentant 10,8 milliards de dollars de subventions et de contributions octroyées de 2018 à 2020 sont analysées. À l’aide de statistiques descriptives, nous comparons les montants octroyés dans les provinces, les grandes agglomérations urbaines et leurs zones d’influence. Nous montrons notamment que les plus grandes métropoles du pays attirent la plus grande part des investissements en innovation par habitant. En dehors des métropoles, le soutien public à l’innovation est plus faible et cette différence par rapport aux métropoles est statistiquement significative. Ces observations ont des implications pour la recherche sur l’attraction d’investissements publics en innovation dans les écosystèmes entrepreneuriaux des milieux ruraux., This paper presents an analysis of the spatial distribution of the Government of Canada innovation investment in various regions and communities across the country. The proposed approach uses open data from Canada’s Proactive Information Disclosure Program. A total of 39,419 valid entries representing $10.8 billion in grants and contributions awarded from 2018 to 2020 are analyzed. Using descriptive statistics, we compare the amounts granted in the provinces, large urban agglomerations, and their respective influenced zones. In particular, we show that the country’s largest urban centers attract the largest share of investment in innovation per capita. Outside large urban centers, public support for innovation is relatively weaker and this difference compared to larger urban centers is statistically significant. These observations have implications for research on attracting public investment in innovation to entrepreneurial ecosystems in a rural environment.

Ce mémoire vise à mieux comprendre les débats politiques concernant la participation des peuples autochtones à la prise de décision en matière de développement du territoire et des ressources dans le contexte de l’évaluation d’impact au Canada. Si l’évaluation d’impact est perçue comme un mécanisme au sein duquel se matérialisent les droits autochtones (dont l’obligation de consulter de la Couronne), les principaux acteurs de ces processus (gouvernement fédéral, promoteurs des projets et groupes autochtones) ne semblent pas s’entendre sur la signification et la portée des normes en matière de participation autochtone, en particulier sur le consentement préalable, libre et éclairé (CPLE). Par une analyse du discours de ces intervenants dans le cadre des travaux parlementaires menant à l’adoption de la Loi sur l’évaluation d’impact (2019), cette recherche révèle trois conceptions principales de la place des Autochtones dans les processus de prise de décision de l’évaluation d’impact : procédurale, partenariale et fondée sur l’autodétermination. Ce mémoire met aussi en évidence d’importantes différences en ce qui concerne les attentes face au modèle de participation et plus spécifiquement sur l’interprétation du CPLE. Ces différences reposent en grande partie sur la façon dont ceux-ci conçoivent l’autorité décisionnelle en matière de gouvernance territoriale au Canada. Pour les intervenants gouvernementaux et autochtones, les conceptions en matière de participation et d’autorité décisionnelle s’appuient sur des fondements juridiques. En revanche, pour l’industrie, la justification de la participation des Autochtones est davantage de nature économique et liée à son impact sur l’approbation des projets., This thesis aims to better understand the political debates regarding Indigenous peoples’ participation in land and resource decision-making in the context of impact assessment in Canada. While impact assessment is viewed as a mechanism through which Indigenous rights (including the Crown's duty to consult) are realized, the actors in these processes (federal government authorities, project promoters and indigenous groups) do not seem to agree on the meaning and scope of Indigenous participation norms, notably regarding free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Through discourse analysis of these actors within the framework of the parliamentary work leading to the adoption of the Impact Assessment Act (2019), this research reveals three main conceptions of the place of Indigenous peoples in impact assessment decision-making processes: procedural, partnership and based on self-determination. This thesis also highlights important differences in terms of expectations regarding the type of participation and more specifically on FPIC interpretations. These differences are largely based on how they conceive decision-making authority in matters of territorial governance in Canada. For the government and the Indigenous actors, notions of participation and decision-making authority are based on legal foundations. In contrast, for the industry, the rationale behind Indigenous participation is rather economic and linked to its impact on project approval.

Cette recherche étudie la logique institutionnelle et la connectivité performative des messages officiels publiés par les institutions fédérales canadiennes (IFC) sur leurs sites web officiels, en adoptant une approche communicationnelle (CCO). Dans le contexte d’une politique numérique impulsée par le gouvernement Trudeau depuis 2015, qui tient compte de la présence des citoyens sur les plateformes socionumériques, cette recherche analyse la logique institutionnelle des IFC et la visibilité des individus et des collectivités humaines présentifiés dans les messages institutionnels. L’analyse thématique de publications institutionnelles sur le web montre que les IFC transmettent des messages qui constituent une logique dominée par la pensée traditionnelle et néo-institutionnelle. Elle désincarne les communications institutionnelles, qui ne parviennent pas à appliquer le principe de connectivité performative recherché par les directives fédérales des communications sur le web., This research focuses on the study of the institutional logic and performed connectivity conveyed by official messages of the Canadian federal institutions (CFI) on their official websites through lenses of organizational communication approach (CCO). Since 2015, the Canadian federal government established a new digital communication policy in order to take into account the interactivity and active involvement of individuals and publics as they are increasingly using these digital platforms to communicate with institutions. Our thematic analysis of messages published on CFI websites highlights the dominant traditional and neo-institutional logic of IFC, which obscures human visibility, disincarnates organization and fails to apply the principle of performed connectivity pursued by the official federal communication policy and guideline.

Governments worldwide are releasing data into the public domain via open government data initiatives. Many such data sets are directly relevant to environmental science and complement data collected by academic researchers to address complex and challenging environmental problems. The Government of Canada is a leader in open data among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, generating and releasing troves of valuable research data. However, achieving comprehensive and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) open government data is not without its challenges. For example, identifying and understanding Canada’s international commitments, policies, and guidelines on open data can be daunting. Similarly, open data sets within the Government of Canada are spread across a diversity of repositories and portals, which may hinder their discoverability. We describe Canada’s federal initiatives promoting open government data, and outline where data sets of relevance to environmental science can be found. We summarize research data management challenges identified by the Government of Canada, plans to modernize the approach to open data for environmental science and best practices for data discoverability, access, and reuse.

The papers in Policy Perspectives on First Nation Issues provide a unique and timely snapshot of some of the most pressing policy issues facing Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Government of Canada and all Canadians. Written as part of the Masters of Public Administration (MPA) or the Professional MPA (PMPA) at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University, the student authors conducted in-depth research, going far beyond their course requirements. Most of the papers were written for a Directed Reading Course; one paper was written for a Masters Research Project; and one was written out of interest in the issue. The papers were supervised by Don Drummond and Bob Watts with support by Dr. Rachel Laforest, MPA Program Director, and were edited by Ellen Kachuck Rosenbluth. The inspiration for the essays was the importance of current discussions between First Nations and the Government of Canada on a Government-to-Government relationship, a new fiscal relationship and closing socio-economic gaps. The papers were informed by those discussions and the background challenges that led to the discussions. In turn, it is hoped that this collection might ultimately support the process with the aim of improving the well-being of Canada’s First Nations people.

When Ed Fast, Canadian Minister of International Trade under Stephen Harper, announced the largest advanced manufacturing contract in Canadian history on February 14, 2015, it was spun as a political masterpiece. A brilliant economic achievement on paper, the 14-year, $14.8 billion deal promised to directly benefit 500 Canadian companies, and continue an important trade alliance with a strategic partner. This single contract was projected to keep 3000 Canadians employed for the next 14 years, primarily in London, Ontario where the General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS-C) manufacturing plant is located. The only catch was that the deal was to manufacture a military weapons system, namely Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs), and the ‘strategic partner’ was the repressive theocracy of Saudi Arabia. Canadians have long been ambivalent (perhaps unaware) about their country’s participation in the global arms trade. It is easy to welcome the jobs and capital provided by military exports, and such deals have proven critical to Canada’s military industrial base by sustaining and subsidizing military production. On the other hand, the presence of Canadian military goods in conflict zones around the world has cast a dubious shadow over the industry and its governmental enablers. Since the Second World War, Canadian exports have found their way directly or indirectly to both Iranian and Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq War, the American forces in Vietnam, the apartheid-era government in South Africa, the British forces in the Falklands/Maldives conflict, Israeli forces in Lebanon, the governments of El Salvador and Honduras during the insurrections, and now Saudi Arabia during the current regional instability. In 2016, largely due to the LAV deal, Canada became the second-largest exporter of military goods to the Middle East. The Canadian policy of pursuing economic advantage through military export has always conflicted with its political and ideological commitment to human security and global development, but rarely has the discordance been so jarring. This paper will analyze three recent attempts to justify the LAV deal to the Canadian public through a press release, an op-ed, and a declassified memorandum. It will use the structure of the press release as an organization framework, and highlight the historical premises behind the arguments made in each document. In doing so it will show that the current Liberal government is misrepresenting the scope of its ‘restrictive’ weapons export policy, in practice transforming the policy into a convenient rhetorical shield rather than a rigorous evaluation. It will further show that the government is primarily concerned with the economic implications of the Saudi-LAV deal, secondly with the strategic consequences, and only thirdly with its military export and human rights commitments.

With a population of 35 million people spread over a vast area, Canada is a highly decentralized federation. Provincial governments have most of the responsibility for the governance, organization and delivery of health services although the Government of Canada has an important role in maintaining high level standards for universal health coverage through the Canada Health Act as well as pharmaceutical regulation, health research and data collection. With 70% of total health spending financed by federal, provincial and territorial governments, most are used to provide universal access to hospital and physicians services as well as more targeted coverage for prescription drugs and long-term care. In the last decade, provincial and territorial governments have focused on reorganizing their regional delivery systems and improving the quality, timeliness and patient experience with acute, chronic care and primary care medical services. While Canada's system of universal coverage for Medicare has been effective in providing deep financial protection, the narrow scope of coverage has resulted in gaps in coverage and equitable access.

In 2002, Canada ratified the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. Nearly a decade later, it released its first National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, designated a government-led task force, and approved a budget specifically allocated for human trafficking initiatives and programming. The main objective of this thesis is to determine the kind of approach the Government of Canada has implemented to address the issue of international sex trafficking into Canada, to determine whether anything is exempted or neglected from this approach, and to explore what this could mean for victims of sex trafficking. I use a qualitative narrative analysis of the Canadian government’s publications on the issue of human trafficking including policy, programming, and research-related documents. The findings reveal that Canada has implemented an approach which emphasizes the safety and security of the country which is indicative of a narrative that frames international sex trafficking as a threat. These findings further reveal a negative impact of such framing on trafficking victims. In employing an approach which prioritizes the safety and security of the state, Canada neglects the notion that human trafficking violates a person’s human rights, overlooks a consideration of the root causes of trafficking, and under-prioritizes the notion of ‘victim’ despite the phenomenon continuing to produce new victims each year in Canada.

Government of Canada communications professionals work in an increasingly challenging environment, characterized by an intrusive 24/7 media cycle, a frenetic pace of evolving communication technologies, layered accountability requirements, political tension, and waning public trust. Scholars call on professional communicators to help rebuild public trust, which is intrinsic to a healthy democratic government. The Three-dimensional Model for Transparency in Government Communication developed by Fairbanks, Plowman and Rawlins (2007) serves as the theoretical framework for investigating the Government of Canada’s approach to transparent citizen-focused communications from the perspective of communications professionals. The model’s adaptability to the Government of Canada context is tested through 23 qualitative semi-structured interviews with Government of Canada senior communications advisors, managers and executives. The data is analysed using constant comparative thematic analysis. The findings demonstrate that Government of Canada communicators strongly value transparency. Furthermore, the key components of the transparency model – communications practices, organizational support and provision of resources – encapsulate the factors that influence the practice of transparent citizen-focused communications by the Government of Canada. The study concludes by offering recommendations for future research and practical applications.

As the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative celebrates its 15th anniversary, the Government of Canada (GC) celebrates its 10th year of making information easier to find. The Government of Canada officially adopted the Dublin Core as its core metadata standard for Web resource discovery in 2001. Soon the Government of Canada started to develop domain-specific metadata beyond Web and resource discovery to meet wider information needs. Supported by standards and other policy instruments, rapid metadata developments were made in the areas of records management, Web content management, e-learning, executive correspondence and geospatial data. The Government of Canada actively participated in the DC-Government Working Group, and organized its own event, the Canadian Metadata Forum in 2003 and 2005. More recently, the Government of Canada has adopted an enterprise information architecture (EIA) approach to metadata, within a larger information management strategy. The Government of Canada now has plans underway to develop other metadata domains, registries and repositories, its own namespace facility, and a vast awareness campaign to brand metadata as the “DNA of Government”., DC-2010 : International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications, 20-22 October 2010, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA