NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: policy development, public policy, homelessness

Objective(s): To produce a list of existing data characteristics or analysis methods that can be modified to address the unique barriers and opportunities for data-based policymaking in the NWT. This list is intended to identify best practices for conducting evidence-based policymaking in data-scarce environments like the NWT.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5633. This research project is intended to produce a list of existing data characteristics or analysis methods that can be modified to address the unique barriers and opportunities for data-based policymaking in the NWT. This list is intended to identify best practices for conducting evidence-based policymaking in data-scarce environments like the NWT. This research will begin with semi-structured individual interviews of government employees in territorial social service departments, such as Housing NWT, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Health and Social Services, and Education, Culture and Employment. These four GNWT departments have been selected for study as they provide the majority of the territory’s services to support homeless and housing-precarious individuals. Housing NWT operates the majority of the territory’s housing programs, including the public housing, the Homelessness Assistance Fund, Homeownership Initiative, and supports for home maintenance and repairs. Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Social Services (NTHSSA) operates and sponsors many of the territory’s day shelters and heads the Mental Health Action Plan that offers support to vulnerable individuals. Additionally, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) supports the operation of emergency overnight shelters and offers unemployment supports to unhoused individuals. Finally, for the purposes of this research, the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs (EIA) has been included instead of the Department of Justice, as EIA offers many relevant oversight and support services to the aforementioned programs and services. Additionally, through the use an established personal and professional network, EIA is made more accessible for research by the PI. Further, this research will include semi-structured interviews of federal employees in related departments, including Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). These departments have been selected for their roles in housing program delivery and support in the territory, and for their accessibility for research. However, additional departments may be included in this research project, as contacts make themselves known and available. To the extent possible, these interviews will be conducted in person and include employees of all levels (front line to executive). If necessary, some interviews may be conducted electronically, either over phone, Microsoft Teams, or email. These interviews will be largely open-ended to facilitate an enriched discussion about the current practices for data analysis and ideas for reforming evidence-based policymaking in the NWT. The results of these interviews will inform a structured integrative literature review of the academic, professional and grey literature on policy analysis with the limited data available in rural and remote regions. The literature review will provide an overview of the knowledge base to critically examine and potentially conceptualize concepts to expand the theoretical foundation of the research subject as it develops. This literature review will be considered complete once the point of saturation is reached—when no new thematic data emerges, and it appears that all of the data areas have been appropriately explored. This data will be analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis to identify the assumptions, meanings, patterns and themes embedded in the text. The coded findings of this analysis will be used to address the primary research questions of this project, informing the list of characteristics that should be considered in the analysis of policy data in rural and remote regions. In accordance with interview best practices, the PI will take these findings back to interviewees to discuss their thoughts, corroborate the research’s findings with their experiences, and explore the practicality of implementation. Finally, to test these findings, the PI will compile a dataset of policy documents on NWT homelessness plans, programs and policies from 2000 to 2022. The PI will then conduct an analysis of the effectiveness of homelessness programming in the territory using the list of characteristics developed. This final step will allow the PI to assess the feasibility and usefulness of applying these research findings in policy analysis. Once complete, the PI will conduct focus groups with interviewees, organized by corporate hierarchy rather than department, to corroborate any findings with their insights. The proposed research was shared with the Cabinet Secretariat in the GNWT Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs to obtain the GNWT's support by sharing the project plan, purpose and objectives in advance to address any potential concerns and suggestions. As such, the proposal was subject to internal review at the Deputy Minister level. A letter of support was obtained from the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet to support the application to the Carleton Research Ethics Board A. As the research is conducted, it will be regularly shared with participants to corroborate the findings. At the end of the study, this research will be provided to participants and the Deputy Ministers of their respective departments for their consideration. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: July 01 - December 31, 2023