TERMS OF REFERENCE

The IDC provides a forum for discussing Metropolis’ horizontal research priorities and
strategic directions. It is the primary federal mechanism for communicating information about
all Project activities and developments to a broad cross section of federal officials. (The primary audiences of Metropolis are those with policy and research functions, but program and regional staff are also target audiences for Metropolis research.)

It is also the principal body tasked with developing partnerships among stakeholders as well as developing the content of the national conferences. The IDC will make recommendations to the NMC on knowledge transfer/mobilization plans provided by Domain Leaders and Priority Leaders.

It is composed of Director-level or designated representatives of all of the federal departments and agencies that fund the Metropolis Project along with other key federal ministries, including at least one policy unit and one research unit representative. Quebec’s ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (MICC) (The MICC has participated on the IDC since the outset of the Metropolis Project, in recognition of the role that the Government of Quebec plays in immigration issues. Other provincial governments participate in the governance structures of the local Centres and occasionally by videoconference in the IDC meetings. In this phase of Metropolis, all provincial governments may request observer status.) and the Metropolis Centres have observer status on the IDC. Where possible, participation will also include researchers from the Centres and regionally based federal policy-makers.

Each member of the IDC will provide an annual knowledge transfer/mobilization plan that details their organizational structure, the key audiences and opportunities for making use of Metropolis within their own organization, as well as proposed knowledge transfer/mobilization activities they would like to undertake within their organization. This will assist the Secretariat in developing an annual knowledge transfer/mobilization report on Secretariat activities that will be submitted to the National Metropolis Committee every December of the funding period.

Meetings are held at the call of the Chair (appointed by the Metropolis Secretariat), generally every three months for a minimum of four meetings a year. When possible, meetings will be hosted by members of the IDC to facilitate participation by a wider range of policy-makers.