As governments come to question the necessity and appropriateness of their direct involvement in numerous facets of society, they are looking for ways to better use the capacities of third parties, particularly universities, for the information required to develop policies, legislation, and programs. This general effort to bring the academic community into the life of government is an essential element of the Metropolis Project.

Metropolis seeks to promote evidence-based decision-making in the field of immigration and integration. Evidence-based decision making has become a major federal priority. We expect Metropolis to yield not only reliable and relevant information about immigration but also to serve as an instructive model for the engagement of the external research community in policy-research.

The critical element in policy-research and in evidence-based decision-making is effective communication among researchers, policy-developers and decision-makers. In none of these communities is this emphasized sufficiently. Where Metropolis is breaking new ground, is in its efforts to effect a culture change within government and within universities - a change that brings researchers and policy-makers into active, continual communication. The Metropolis Team acts as a catalyst in stimulating researchers and/or policy makers:

• to identify and clearly structure policy issues;
• to develop an assessment of the research needs associated with various policy issues;
• to communicate policy needs to researchers, creating an interest in policy issues;
• to communicate research findings to the policy community in a useful and effective manner, creating a demand for additional knowledge;
• to use research to make decisions, to inform policy, and to identify emerging issues.

The Metropolis Team carries out its role domestically and internationally through partnerships and innovative arrangements relating both to funding and to the execution of its core functions. The Team will soon be strengthened by the addition of a European arm to share in some of the networking and promotional activities currently executed by Canada. This will allow the Project to grow and facilitate its extension into specific policy-research areas.