CMNS 261 Finding Public Policy Documents Sylvia Roberts sroberts@sfu.ca 778-782-3681

Policy: Definition …an overall plan embracing general goals and procedures and intended to guide and determine decisions.    The Penguin English Dictionary .(2000). Retrieved 04 February 2006, from xreferplus. http://www.xreferplus.com/entry/1163851 .

Public policy changes initiated by… Political parties (election promises) International treaties Government departments responding to environmental influences, e.g. technology Interest groups such as consumer or trade associations Expert bodies

Public policy documented in… Legislation: bills, statutes, regulations Committee reports, proceedings, evidence Record of debates (Hansard) Annual reports & budgets for ministries, government agencies Position papers by ministries, NGOs, industry associations, think tanks, etc. Policy manuals Case law

Event Document Legislation introduced Debate in parliament 2nd reading Referred to committee 3rd reading Senate Royal assent In force Specific aspects regulated 1st reading bill Hansard record of debates Committee report 3rd reading bill Possible amendments Annual statutes Order in Council Regulations

Public policy research Both primary & secondary sources are important in understanding public policy Ask yourself: What’s the subject of the policy? What jurisdiction is responsible: federal, provincial, municipal / local? Is the policy based on law or some other authority? What documents express this policy?

Primary sources Crucial in defining policy Primary public policy documents produced and distributed by government departments & agencies, legislative bodies, courts Documentary research into public policy involves records of Intended policy Implementation & interpretation of policy Review of policy

Secondary sources Provide background for in-depth analysis Provide clues to help identify primary documents Examples: Monographs & research reports Academic journal articles News articles Reports from think tanks & policy institutes Position papers produced by interest groups (industry, NGOs, consumers, professionals)

RESEARCH TIPS CHRONOLOGY: trace policy issue not document READ the policy document Follow the research guides Take good notes as you go AND follow leads for chronology & interest groups Talk to librarians if you encounter difficulties Use citation guides for government documents

How to find policy sources? START by reading your policy document Note significant groups, events and documents, especially: Government (ministries, agencies, committees) Interest groups, researchers, lobbyists (witnesses, submissions) Legislation, law cases, policy papers Significant events and dates

Branches of Canadian Gov’t Our Country, Our Parliament Legislative (Parliament, elected members, law-making) House of Commons Senate Executive (government, decision making, management) Cabinet (ministers) Federal departments Judicial (Federal courts)

Legislative branch documents Bills (proposed legislation) Statutes (legislation that’s been passed) Regulations (specific aspects of statutes) Committee reports Minutes & evidence of committee meetings Hansard (record of Parliamentary debates)

Finding legislative documents Parliamentary web site Pending legislation (bills): LEGISinfo Committee business via Senate or House of Commons pages Choose committee Choose session of parliament Search the text of the Debates of the House of Commons in Hansard Library of Parliament Legislative summaries Use secondary source (specialized encyclopedias, indexes, articles) to find relevant legislation by topic

Executive branch documents Position papers Program reports Studies Proposed budgets Task force & Royal Commission reports Annual reports & other administrative materials

Finding executive documents Search Government of Canada, to identify key gov’t agencies concerned with this topic Continue by searching/browsing web sites for these specific ministries or government agencies Use the Canadian Research Index to identify gov’t reports and policy papers by topic Look for references to gov’t bodies and specific policy documents in academic literature and news articles

Judicial branch (Law reports) Law reports are published judicial decisions e.g. CCH Canadian Ltd v. Law Society of Upper Canada Use secondary sources specific to legal materials to identify case reports by topic: The Canadian encyclopaedic digest, western, The Canadian Abridgement Digests Index to Canadian Legal Literature You can also find references to case law in academic literature and news articles

Interest groups Legislation & government policy is influenced by consultation with constituents / citizens and with interest groups Interest groups may focus on a single issue or represent a specific political perspective on many issues

Interest Groups may represent: Activists NGOs Cultural perspectives (language, religion) Demographic perspectives (disabilities, seniors, poverty) Professionals Consumers Citizens Think tanks Trade unions Bureaucrats Industry

Identifying Interest Groups Begin identifying stakeholders for your policy issue by looking at list of witnesses and submissions in your policy document Supplement this with individuals or groups named in secondary sources (e.g. news) and on association web sites

Identifying Interest Groups’ Positions Go to the Parliamentary web site to find Committee proceedings, minutes and evidence Look for publications by or about these groups on the web, such as: position papers listserv discussions letters to government Use news sources to search for articles that mention or quote them

Other national policy documents Government structures or their view on a policy issue may differ from Canada You can use government portals to search for documents BUT it’s easier to identify a related document by searching secondary sources (news or article indexes, web searches) THEN search for specific document using the name