Knowledge for Canadians:
Transforming Public S&T Services

May 11 and 12, 2005
Camsell Hall, 580 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario

In May 2005, the federal department of Natural Resources Canada, in collaboration with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, held a two-day workshop to increase understanding of what the federal government can do to respond to the changing needs of Canadians with respect to knowledge and information on science and technology (S&T): As we face increasingly complex questions around the environment and sustainable development -- from the risks of natural disasters to the financial viability of renewable energy options, what can the federal government do to better equip society to respond? As we move into what has been called the global knowledge-based economy, what can the federal government contribute to ensuring that Canadians will reap the benefits? And how should the federal government deal with new information and computing technologies that are leading to an explosion in publicly available information on scientific issues, while presenting powerful new means of transforming federal government knowledge and expertise for the benefit of external clients and audiences?

The stimulus behind the workshop was the initiative, led by the Treasury Board Secretariat, to identify how we can we respond to the changing needs of Canadians for government services; more specifically, to investigate how services provided to the public and other external clients by federal science-based organizations can contribute to the pursuit of “service transformation” by the Government of Canada. This question, in turn, may have implications for the scope of these departments’ traditional roles and activities that are centered on providing authoritative science in support of internal government policy and decision-making.

The aim of the workshop was to pioneer some new thinking on these questions. The organizers feel that the workshop accomplished this, but that more discussion and consultation will be needed. The “proceedings” of the workshop, along with a summary of the outcomes, are being presented in the form of this Web site in order allow a wider audience to share in the presentations and discussions.