page_title: EvidenceNetwork.ca
section_title: Commentaries
hierarchical_section_title: EvidenceNetwork.ca / Commentaries
caption_attribution_description: English: Book cover for the free Creative Commons book by EvidenceNetwork.ca, available at: http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/evidencenetwork/archives/8941
context_page_description: EvidenceNetwork.ca creates media content on public policy topics for publication in the mainstream media and links journalists with policy experts to provide access to non-partisan, evidence-based information. According to their annual reports, they have published hundreds of original articles in every major media outlet in Canada every year since 2011, reprinted over 3700 times across media outlets All of their content carries a Creative Commons license.
  EvidenceNetwork.ca was created under the direction of Dr. Noralou Roos, the Founding Director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and co-founded with Dr. Sharon Manson Singer, professor, School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University. Dr. Shannon Sampert, former Politics and Opinions Editor at the Winnipeg Free Press and academic at the University of Winnipeg edited the project from 2017-2018. Kathleen O'Grady Research Associate at Concordia University was the Managing Editor from 2011-2019. EvidenceNetwork.ca ceased operations as of the end of 2019 but the content and the site remains online under the direction of Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement until at least 2024.
context_section_description: The network of more than 80 scholars dedicated to evidence-based health research and policy direction also regularly publishes commentaries (OpEds) and articles in the mainstream media.  The network has published more than 1200 commentaries and articles in the Canadian press since its inception, and has made all of the articles available for free re-use and dissemination by putting a Creative Commons license on the material. In 2012, the organization published a compendium of their Creative Commons content in an ebook, Canadian Health Policy in the News: Why Evidence Matters.  In 2014, they released a second free ebook collection of commentaries, Making Evidence Matter in Canadian Health Policy.
  A sample of the network's published commentaries includes:
  "Four points about the pending challenge against medicare" by Colleen Flood and Kathleen O'Grady
  "We need to talk about poverty and health" by Carolyn Shimmin
  "Age-friendly communities create a healthier society for everyone" by Verena Menec
  "Social assistance reform can lead to better health for all" by Gary Bloch 
  "Patent protection for drugs should come at a price" by Marc-Andre Gagnon 
  "More health care does not mean better health" by Robert Brown
  "Childhood hunger is a Canadian public health crisis" by Elizabeth Lee Ford Jones
  "Canada Health Transfer changes: The devil is in the details" by Livio Di Matteo
  "The kids aren't all right" by Elizabeth Lee Ford Jones
  "The case against healthcare user fees" by Raisa Deber and Noralou Roos
  "Seniors are not a threat to health care" by Noralou Roos and Nicholas Hirst
  "What aging tsunami? Why some memes are bad for our health" by Alan Cassels
  "Time for Canada to improve our health care performance" by Colleen Flood
  "Preserving medicare means making changes" by Gregory Marchildon
  "North American fads, fallacies and foolishness in health care reform" by Theodore Marmor
  "Our surprisingly expensive pharmaceuticals" by Marc-Andre Gagnon
  "Why the health system is broken" by Marc-Andre Gagnon
  "How we can save our healthcare system without going broke" by Cy Frank
  "Wrestling with big pharma" by Colleen Flood
  "Prescription painkillers on the rise in Canada" by Ann Silversides
  "Defined benefit versus defined contribution pension plans: Why all the fuss?" by Robert L. Brown
  "Time for Ottawa to change course on health care" by Allan Maslove
  "Expanding CPP easier said than done" by Robert L. Brown
  The Director of the initiative, Dr. Noralou Roos has said in an interview, "There are key discussions going on in health policy, and academics typically have that evidence, and it’s important for those discussions in the media to be informed by evidence as much as possible."
caption: Book cover for the free Creative Commons book (2013) by EvidenceNetwork.ca, available at: http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/evidencenetwork/archives/8941
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