IN-DEPTH: Privy Council Office runs psychological unit to shape Canadians’ behaviour

Canada’s Privy Council Office (PCO) has a behavioural science unit established under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that quietly shapes public policy and influences citizen compliance through psychological experiments and data modelling.The Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU), which bases its framework on a UK government initiative and tools issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), has quietly pioneered its approach to behaviour change using psychology, economics and social sciences for years — but its role became most visible in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The IIU conducts behaviour-modifying trials and public “challenges” that test government communication strategies and incentives to encourage compliance with government objectives. According to an IIU summary of its first two years on its website, the government spent more than $720 million on “outcomes-based funding programs” and ran at least 10 behavioural trials aimed at altering public response. .On the heels of its COVID-19 psy-op, the IIU in its 2023 annual report lists “Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge and the Clean Tech Impact” as top projects.Further IIU literature calls to influence Canadians’ perspectives on “climate action,” immigration, “inclusion” (as per the government’s DEI — diversity, equity, inclusion initiatives) gender ideology, indigenous issues, “engaging women” into the military and “misinformation and disinformation.”“We are interested, in particular, in the change in socioeconomic and environmental outcomes that are directly attributable to an intervention,” wrote the IIU’s Kiran Toor in a blog in December 2022. That year, the unit had 30 live “challenges” on everything from public health, housing and infrastructure and food waste reduction, to clean technology and deep space food and healthcare, wrote Toor. In November 2022, the unit’s Katie Harper in a blog questioned, “Is there any optimal way to communicate about climate change to inspire pro-climate action?” The article goes on to explore all the different ways the government can use positive or negative emotions to impact Canadians’ views on “climate action.”.Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the PCO commissioned monthly “COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring” polls of thousands of Canadians, tracking shifts in attitudes and behaviours to optimize messaging, according to Access to Information files obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter in June 2023. The IIU’s own website boasts it operates on a WHO framework. “From April 2020 to November 2021, Impact Canada led the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Behavioural Insights (BI) Tool on COVID-19 in the Canadian context,” it states. The Snapshot Monitoring surveys “enabled deep insights about how the views and behaviour of citizens are changing over time in tandem with the progression of the pandemic,” said an internal memo — though it remains unclear whether participants were aware their responses were part of a broader behavioural science initiative. “An academic advisory committee with expertise in infectious disease, behavioural science, public health and epidemiology provides ongoing feedback.”“Combating the rampant spread of misinformation and disinformation is currently one of the critical priorities in the government’s response with deep and increasingly complex behavioural roots.”Unlike academic research, which requires participants’ informed consent, the federal government’s use of behavioural trials appears to circumvent those ethical norms entirely..Matthew Mendelsohn, Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet and architect behind the Impact Canada initiative, openly advocated for the government’s pivot toward outcomes-based policy and behavioural science.In a 2018 article published in Medium announcing the IIU, Mendelsohn described the unit as a “Centre of Expertise” supporting government departments in deploying “behavioural insights” alongside innovative funding and partnership models to “get better results for Canadians in priority areas.”In February 2021, the Toronto Star reported the IIU, described as Ottawa’s “nudge unit,” quietly investigated how Canadians feel about “vaccines, public health and who to trust.” The outlet further noted the unit was mentioned in passing by Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer at the time.“Some of the studies are actually carried out by the Privy Council Office, where there is a behavioural insight team,” said Tam at a February 5 briefing. “The intention for Canadians to get the vaccine is actually quite high and I think has improved since we started the vaccine campaign itself.”“We have to work with the internet and social media companies and that has been happening with Facebook, Google, YouTube and others.”“(A scientific experiment has) produced surprisingly speedy and widespread results over the past year. It happened in the realm of behaviour science — and ordinary citizens were the laboratory subjects,” wrote the Star. “Who would have … predicted that citizens could be persuaded to turn their lives upside down, wear masks and isolate themselves from their families and friends for months on end?”.The outlet directly told its readership that if they were reading the article, which is in a “mainstream” publication — they are more likely to accept the vaccine, while those that get their news “through social media will be more wary of the vaccine.” “I know we’re asking a lot,” Trudeau said in early April 2020, before anyone “knew just how much COVID-19 would force Canadians into behaviour change on a grand scale,” reported the Star, noting “the behavioural scientists have mostly been operating under the radar.”“Reams of behavioural data is being collected by government throughout the pandemic, on everything from people’s general emotions about COVID-19 to their willingness to get vaccinated.”The notion of a behaviour insights unit likely draws on a 2010 cabinet team established in the UK — nicknamed “the nudge unit” after a book on behaviour change called Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. Sunstein went on to chair a “behavioural insights in COVID-19 management” advisory group for the WHO during the pandemic era. Officials inside the behaviour unit told the Star at the time “Canada has made the most comprehensive use of the WHO tool, creating a chronicle of behavioural ups and downs throughout the COVID-19 crisis.”.The Snapshot Monitoring panel "regularly" surveyed a group of about 2,000 participants about “which people they trust to provide information.”“If you’re going to nudge the population in one direction or another, after all, it’s crucial to know who should do the nudging,” quipped the Star. The group found Canadians are more likely to trust public health officials over politicians or the media — hence why unelected officials like Tam suddenly became household names during the pandemic. .Looking forward to the PCO’s 2025–26 Departmental Plan, the IIU continues to play a pivotal yet behind-the-scenes role in the areas of “Agricultural Methane Reduction, Housing Supply, Indigenous Clean Energy Transition, Oil Spill Response, Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, Lunar Water Purification and marine spatial planning.”“New or expanded challenges and outcomes-based funding approaches with federal partners include supporting workplace equity, harassment and violence prevention (and) agricultural producer mental health,” wrote Prime Minister Mark Carney in the PCO’s plan. The IIU’s “applied behavioural science model will continue to inform higher impact policy development, program interventions, and government communications in key areas including health and well-being, climate resiliency and energy efficiency.”Despite its growing influence across multiple policy areas, few Canadians are aware of the IIU’s reach — or the extent to which their behaviour is being subtly shaped by design.

IN-DEPTH: Privy Council Office runs psychological unit to shape Canadians’ behaviour

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