Past Projects
The Public Policy Forum has led thousands of roundtables and events and produced hundreds of reports on many key topics since our inception in 1987. This site features reports going back to 2016 as well as our most popular and referenced publications, which you can find here. If there is a specific report you cannot find, please contact us.
Skills Next
As the future of work continues to evolve, so too do the skills that Canadians will need to succeed. Over the summer, the Public Policy Forum, the Diversity Institute at Ryerson University and the Future Skills Centre will release six new reports to identify the most important issues currently impacting skills policymaking. Read key takeaways in each report that will strengthen policymaking and build a strong foundation intended to help support further research.
The Future is Due North
The North is not just symbolic for Canada, it holds a wealth of opportunities that are closely connected to the country's strategic policy priorities. In this series of short papers, experts look at four key issues: climate change, arctic sovereignty, energy and resource development, and reconciliation.
Policy Approaches To Harmful Content Online
Hate that festers without intervention threatens public safety, and has tragic outcomes for the human rights and lived-experiences of all Canadians. Canada has developed a National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence and PPF put on two events to examine the impact of hate and intolerance online, and on approaches to prevention and remedy.
Government Digital Transformation: The Risk of the Status Quo
If Canada's government is committed to becoming digital-first, a focus needs to be on quantifying the risk of maintaining the status quo, as compared to the risks associated with digital transformation. This project aims to find out how risk is being perceived and managed by the government of Canada and governments globally.
Learn moreabout Government Digital Transformation: The Risk of the Status Quo
Digital Democracy 101: Understanding Technology’s Effect on Canada’s Democracy
Many Canadians use digital platforms without fully understanding the technology behind them and how they are changing political culture, democratic participation and trust. Digital Democracy 101 aims to grow Canadians' understanding of new digital technologies and their relationship with the democratic process.
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Finding Solutions to Cyber Harassment Aimed at Women in Political Life
Despite the decades-long fight for increased inclusion and opportunities for women in politics, research shows that women are significantly less likely than men to even consider running for office. When women feel they cannot voice their opinion without fear of retaliation or threat, robust political discourse is inhibited and essential voices are silenced. While stories of online violence directed at women in political life – elected or not – are plentiful, proposed solutions are few, and recourse seemingly non-existent.
Learn moreabout Finding Solutions to Cyber Harassment Aimed at Women in Political Life
Canada Next: 12 Ways to Get Ahead of Disruption
Canada is in flux. Technological, demographic and climate disruption will have a profound effect on the economy, the workforce, democracy, and on public services. In Canada Next: 12 Ways to Get Ahead of Disruption, top policy thinkers suggest how Canadians can not only adapt to change but embrace new possibilities in an age of uncertainty.
Keeping Canada Competitive
Canada needs a clear, new program for competitiveness that accounts for classic economic challenges and a new set of disruptions such as intellectual property, data and labour participation.
Indigenous Women & the Law: Scholars Discuss Education and Indigenous Legal Orders
Over the past 20 years, Indigenous legal orders (laws rooted in the practices of Indigenous societies), have received increased attention from both the academic and legal communities. In an effort to foster Indigenous legal knowledge-building in Canada, the Public Policy Forum hosted a panel discussion in Ottawa in October.
Learn moreabout Indigenous Women & the Law: Scholars Discuss Education and Indigenous Legal Orders
Poisoning Democracy: Countering Harmful Speech and Hate Online
Social media platforms provide unprecedented opportunities for citizens, political candidates, activists and civil society groups to communicate, but they also pose new challenges for democracy. One key problem is the rise of harmful speech online, which can undermine democratic participation and debate.
Learn moreabout Poisoning Democracy: Countering Harmful Speech and Hate Online
Sustainable Finance
The Government of Canada's four-person Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance will travel across Canada to Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary for five half-day roundtable discussions on the importance of sustainable finance. PPF and the Ivey Foundation are organizing these roundtables in partnership with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Environment & Climate Change Canada, RBC Royal Bank and Suncor. The goal of these roundtables is to better understand the importance of factoring sustainability into investment decisions and capital flows, an area which Canada needs to develop relative to its G7 partners.
Reconciliation and Corporate Canada
The Public Policy Forum (PPF) is working with its partners to identify corporate champions of reconciliation. These Canadian champions will help develop a knowledge base which the Canadian government, government partners and corporate Canada can use to implement call to action #92, in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) report. Call to action #92 identifies a number of goals including consent, economic development, equitable jobs, and intercultural training.
Indigenous Changemakers Initiative
As part of her PPF PM Fellowship, Karen Restoule's project will bring together 15-20 highly engaged, Indigenous thought leaders to co-create a vision for what Indigenous nation-building, Indigenous leadership and a renewed nation-to-nation relationship look like—and what is needed to achieve concrete change.
Governance in the Digital Age
About the project In 2016–2017, the Public Policy Forum dedicated its annual Prime Ministers of Canada Fellowship to the idea of “governance in the digital age.” Prime Ministers of Canada Fellow Kent Aitken‘s goal was to explore and explain how the world is changing and how governments are responding. The...
Building a Stronger Canada Through Values-based Sport
The Public Policy Forum, in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, held five roundtables in locations throughout Canada. The goals for these sessions was to raise awareness of emerging issues and deepen our understanding of what values-based sport is; to bring out compelling examples of where values-based sport is already making a difference; to expose the barriers to values-based sport; and to identify the pivotal levers of change, in policy and practice, that will cement values into every aspect of Canadian sport.
Learn moreabout Building a Stronger Canada Through Values-based Sport