黑料社

History was made in Canada when, on April 17, 2024, the Federal Government announced a National School Food Program and Policy, committing $1 billion over five years, to fund the expansion of school food programs in all provinces and territories. The case study will examine the decades-long work of the school food movement in Canada, and the unique combination of ingredients - public discourse, community engagement, program development, organizing and mobilizing - which led to this spectacular policy success. Focusing on this process Debbie Field and David Kraft will reference other social movements for change, outlining a conceptual framework to understand and analyze potential pathways to success/failure, and introducing some practical tools relevant to participating in the development of any social movement for policy change. Class time will be divided between lectures, discussion and workshops.

Instructor: Debbie Field & David Kraft

This case study will use the mass murder of 11 people at prayer inside Pittsburgh鈥檚 Tree of Life synagogue as a way to examine the causes, consequences and possible response to gun violence in the United States. The instructor is David Shribman, who lives three blocks from the synagogue and who as executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette organized and supervised the coverage of the tragedy, which won the Pulitzer Prize. The emphasis of the case study is to understand the origins of gun culture in the United States and to examine the resistance, through Constitutional arguments and cultural, historical and political factors, to curtailing the availability of weapons.

Instructor: David Shribman

This case studies will provide insights into how a multinational enterprise goes about government and other stakeholders鈥� engagement to protect its interests and strengthen its positioning vis-脿-vis major government procurement opportunities, in a globally competitive and highly contested industry.

The students will learn about how global trends can feed into local considerations and decisions, and how international trade obligations interact between them and constrain margins of maneuver for government decision-makers.

Through the case study, the students will be able to learn from a real-life example of a successful advocacy campaign to increase domestic content on a rail transit project, bucking a growing trend in the country towards less local preferences. The students will receive a first-hand account of how legal arguments were combined with imperatives to level the playing field for domestic firms, to achieve the campaign goal. Key learnings will include how to mount and implement a complex stakeholder engagement strategy, and how to combine public and private interventions for maximum impact. Comparisons will also be drawn between government procurement in the civil infrastructure sector, in which the case study is situated, and defense procurement which is shaped by additional strategic and national interest considerations for nations. Further, we will examine through this parallel, how differences in international trade obligations could be determinant for nations鈥� decisions and behaviors.

Instructor: Pierre Pyun

This case study provides an insider鈥檚 view of Stakeholder engagement an influencing in a high-stakes business environment.听听听At its core is Russia鈥檚 steadfast refusal to provide airworthiness certification to Canadian- and Brazilian-made Regional Jets and their US-made Aero-engines.听听This refusal was a blatant attempt to preserve the Russian market for an indigenous RJ in development (the Sukhoi SuperJet). Important context for the case study includes Russia鈥檚 ongoing but as-yet incomplete accession to the WTO and Sukhoi鈥檚 own attempts to market and sell its aircraft internationally.听听We will explore how a group of MNCs from Canada and other countries devised and managed a sophisticated stakeholder engagement campaign at the highest international levels, seeking to change this Russian policy. 听

Instructor: Michael McAdoo

Major projects can have major impacts on the economy, the environment and the people living nearby. In order to assess those impacts and to determine if they are in the public interest, the Government of Canada relies on the framework set out in the Impact Assessment Act. The process to decide whether an approval should be granted has been the subject of significant policy and political dialogues. What projects should be subject to a federal impact assessment? What factors should be considered? How long should the process take and who should decide? How should governments balance economic development with environmental impacts? How should the process address the concerns of Indigenous Peoples and local communities?

This case study will examine the genesis of the current federal impact assessment process and explore the real-time policy choices facing the Government of Canada as it responds to a recent Supreme Court of Canada opinion finding the legislation to be unconstitutional. Students will learn about nationwide protests against lost environmental protections that lead to a political mandate to change major project assessments at the federal level. They will explore policy development through the lens of an expert panel, a government response and a legislative process that led to over one hundred and eighty amendments to proposed legislation. The case study will conclude with an examination of a recent Supreme Court of Canada opinion that found the Impact Assessment Act to be unconstitutional and it will explore the options available to the Government of Canada as it presents new legislation to Parliament for consideration. This case study provides a real-life example of how political mandates become law and some of the tools that can be used to engage Canadians in the development of the laws that impact their lives.

Instructor: Jesse McCormick

In the era of the internet, fake news, misinformation, and disinformation have emerged as global threats to social cohesion and democracy. A pressing policy challenge of our time is responding to the challenges posed by false and misleading information being pushed into the information environment by malicious and nescient actors. Over an intensive one-week course, students will act as junior policy analysts for the Canadian federal government faced with tackling this challenge. They will become familiar with the policy context and existing initiatives responding to the threat posed by mis and disinformation. They will meet with their manager, incorporate relevant policy considerations into their proposed plan of action, and draft a briefing note. The course will combine readings and case materials with one 鈥渇ireside chat鈥� and one oral briefing roleplay. This will give students an opportunity to engage with a real-world scenario and to apply their learning to formulate policy recommendations on combating misinformation and disinformation.

Instructor: Aengus Bridgman

International public policy makers continually manage trade-offs among often-competing principles in complex and highly politicized environments. United Nations officials working in situations of violent conflict around the world are faced with daily decisions on how to balance political vs. humanitarian priorities, short- vs. long-term objectives, and expedient vs. principled solutions. Each decision has life and death implications for those affected by conflict, for the effectiveness of the United Nations, and for the viability and legitimacy of multilateral approaches to managing violence and alleviating suffering. This seminar examines the competing principles at play in international complex emergencies, and the processes by which international public policymakers manage decision making in delicate and dynamic political and humanitarian environments. Looking across a series of historical and ongoing violent conflicts around the world, the course will examine how universal principles come into contact with real-world situations and imperatives. For example, the course will analyse how public policy makers balance trade-offs between the universality of human rights versus sovereignty, and humanity versus neutrality. The course will delve into the management of institutional interests and reputation as a consideration in public policy making and address innate tensions between the universal principle of state sovereignty and the mandate of many international organizations, including the United Nations, to pursue specific normative objectives.听Using a participatory approach, participants in the seminar will actively engage with the processes for managing these trade-offs, including stakeholder management and consultation, transparency and public engagement, moral and ethical reasoning, and internal debate and decision-making. In so going, the seminar aims to equip participants with an understanding of nuance and complexity in international public policy making; the skills to manage complex operational, ethical, and political questions in highly charged and morally laden situations; and practical expertise applying these skills to a broad variety of real-world scenarios of international public policy, including international aid and development, trade and economic assistance, and international diplomacy and negotiation.

Instructor:听Dirk Druet

This case study is about a novel policy initiative designed to address homelessness 鈥渦pstream鈥� through prevention strategies that protect access to adequate and affordable housing. Inadequate housing is a pervasive and persistent policy problem with no single cause or entry point for solving it. Canada occupies the lowest position among G7 countries in terms of housing units per 1,000 residents, while municipal authorities bluntly warn of a 鈥渉umanitarian crisis. Quebec alone has almost 6,000 visibly unhoused people, most of whom are in Montreal, and thousands more are living in hidden homelessness or other unstable housing situations. The Quebec Homelessness Prevention Policy Collaborative is a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral policy collaborative launched in 2021 by Montreal鈥檚 Old Brewery Mission and 黑料社. It examines policy options for Qu茅bec and catalyzes law reform through rights-based, people-centered approaches. The case study will give students real-time insights into building and sustaining a multi-sectoral policy initiative: topics include the initial conceptualization and design of the collaborative, the creation of partnerships and research streams, knowledge co-creation, communications, and outreach strategies. During the week, students will hear from key members of the Collaborative, including practitioners, academics, and civil society leaders.

Instructor: Pearl Eliadis