Since we began in 1995, CPRN has played a leadership role in public involvement in Canada. Our mandate is to bring citizens' voices and values into public policy decisions and to foster greater civic literacy and engagement. We build support and capacity for public involvement among public policy-makers, politicians, practitioners, and the public. We work to add knowledge to this field by undertaking, fostering and disseminating research in collaboration with researchers and practitioners. Our work is inspired by the belief that engaging the public leads to better policy outcomes and a stronger democracy.

CPRN has undertaken a number of large scale deliberative citizens' dialogues [e.g. Future of Health Care in Canada, Canada's Future, the Long-term Management of Used Nuclear Fuel in Canada, National Youth Dialogue and Summit], provided support and expertise on public involvement initiatives to various government, non-profit and private entities and commissioned or undertaken research to further the theory and practice of public engagement. As we move forward, we learn from these experiences, contributing further knowledge to the field in both practical and theoretical ways.