Five-Year Departmental Evaluation Plan 2025-2026 to 2029-2030

June 2025
ISC Evaluation

PDF Version (566 Kb, 25 Pages)

Table of contents

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

ADM
Assistant Deputy Minister
AASB
Audit and Assurance Services Branch
CFRDO
Chief Finance, Results, and Delivery Officer
CFSR
Child and Family Services Reform
CIRNAC
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
DRF
Departmental Results Framework
ESDPP
Education and Social Development Programs and Partnerships
FAA
Financial Administration Act
FNIHB
First Nations and Inuit Health Branch
FTE
Full-Time Equivalents
GBA Plus
Gender-based Analysis Plus
Gs & Cs
Grants and Contributions
ISC
Indigenous Services Canada
LED
Lands and Economic Development
MRAP
Management Response and Action Plan
PMEC
Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee
RO
Regional Operations
SMC
Senior Management Committee
SPP
Strategic Policy and Partnerships
TAG
Treaties and Aboriginal Government
TBS
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
UNDA
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act
UN Declaration
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
UPIP
Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples

Deputy Head confirmation note

I approve the Departmental Evaluation Plan for Indigenous Services Canada for the fiscal years 2025-26 to 2029-30, which I submit to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat as required by the Policy on Results.

I confirm that the following evaluation coverage requirements are met and reflected in this five-year plan:

I will ensure that this plan is updated annually and will provide information about its implementation to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, as required.

Gina Wilson
Deputy Minister
Indigenous Services Canada

1.0 Introduction

This document presents the Five-Year Departmental Evaluation Plan ("the Plan") for Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) covering fiscal years 2025-26 to 2029-30. The development of this Plan adheres to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) Policy on Results (2016) under which the federal evaluation function is called upon to provide evidence that helps the Government of Canada ensure that its spending contributes to results that matter to Canadians. This five-year rolling Plan has been informed by an annual planning exercise that identifies the timing of the individual evaluations.

The primary purpose of the Plan is to help the Deputy Minister ensure that credible, timely and neutral information on the ongoing relevance and performance of planned spending and ongoing programs of grants and contributions is available to support evidence based decision-making.

The Plan also:

2.0 Planning context

In 2016, the Government of Canada committed to the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration)Footnote 1. In 2021, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDA) came into force. The Act affirms that the UN Declaration has application in Canadian law and, among other things, commits Canada to create and implement an action plan to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous Peoples. The 2023-2028 Action Plan outlines the actions Canada must take in partnership with Indigenous Peoples to implement the principles and rights in the UN Declaration and to further advance reconciliation in a tangible way.

Implementing the UN Declaration is central to ISC, to our departmental structure, mandate and enabling legislation. The department supports the implementation of the Declaration through its work on service transfer and closing socio-economic gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and by working in collaboration and cooperation with the Indigenous Peoples it serves. ISC leads or co-leads of 34 of the government's 181 measures, alone or in partnership with other federal departments. These include commitments to working more collaboratively with provinces and territories to improve fair and equitable access to quality and culturally safe health services and advance measures in areas of education, child and family services and economic reconciliation including through meaningful consultation and cooperation with Indigenous partners, organizations and governments.

The need to fully implement the rights enshrined within the UN Declaration and to adopt the UNDA recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, and the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Additionally, the commitment to advance Reconciliation is articulated in the Government of Canada's recent mandate letter: "The new federal Government will continue the vital work of advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples".Footnote 2

In seeking to fulfill the department's mandate, Indigenous Services Canada is working towards fundamental change in how the rights and needs of Indigenous Peoples and communities are met by the Government of Canada, while putting the emphasis on the right of self-determination. Indigenous control over service design and delivery is essential to ensuring high-quality, culturally relevant services - services that ultimately will lead to better socio-economic outcomes for First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals, families and communities. This shift will not happen overnight, but gradual advances in individual program and service areas are necessary to move us forward on this principle. The expectation is that ISC will, amongst other operating principles, recognize and promote Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, as well as collaborating closely with Indigenous Peoples and partners.

2.1 Departmental mandate and vision

ISC's mandate is to work with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to:

  • improve access to high-quality services;
  • improve well-being in Indigenous communities across Canada; and
  • support Indigenous Peoples in assuming control of the delivery of services at the pace and in the ways they choose.

ISC envisions itself as being a trusted partner that respects Indigenous perspectives and supports First Nations, Inuit and Métis in controlling the delivery of high-quality services for healthy, prosperous and thriving communities.

The ISC mandate and vision, inspired by the Department of Indigenous Services ActFootnote 3, and the Department's Strategic Plan, set the foundation for the evaluation function's strategic and operating context and priorities. ISC Evaluation acts as a catalyst for meaningful change as the department and partners work together to reform and re-design programs for improved service delivery and gradual transfer of control of services to Indigenous partners. More broadly, the evaluation function aims to work collaboratively with Indigenous Peoples and organizations to influence and shift ISC's internal, organizational culture in favour of becoming more centered on Indigenous knowledge systems and worldviews.

2.2 ISC Evaluation - Vision

The role of ISC Evaluation is to offer robust, timely and meaningful evidence to help shape and support the re-design of the Department's policies and programs for transformation, and to inform and influence improved service delivery and the transfer of services to Indigenous partners.

ISC Evaluation is transforming its practice to deliver on the following three primary objectives:

  1. Ensure that evaluations are more centered on Indigenous worldviews and knowledge systems through co-development approaches and the integration of Indigenous-designed frameworks and methods.
  2. Explore and implement ways to support Indigenous evaluation capacity and advance Indigenous-led evaluation functions in the context of gradual transfer of services to Indigenous partners and peoples;
  3. Deliver and manage core work on program evaluations and activities further to the TBS Policy on Results (2016) and the Financial Administration Act (FAA).

2.3 ISC Evaluation innovation projects and other priorities

Co-development and co-creation with Indigenous partners

ISC Evaluation is increasingly emphasizing models of co-development and co-creation with Indigenous partners in its evaluation projects. This includes ways to integrate Indigenous evaluation expertise, knowledge, world views and/or Indigenous capacity development at key points in evaluations (planning, methodology, data collections, and development of findings and recommendations, and reporting). In the long-term, the ultimate goal is to support the establishment of Indigenous evaluation functions outside of government.

In this context, ISC Evaluation continues to support three multi-year evaluation innovation projects with Indigenous partners.

Project A: Centering Indigenous Worldviews within Evaluation Frameworks

Commonly used methodologies for program evaluations are often rooted in Western perspectives that do not incorporate the diversity and vibrancy of Indigenous Nations, peoples, cultures, worldviews and knowledge systems. These types of evaluation frameworks do not consider Indigenous worldviews when evaluating federal programming, policy and investment. Evaluation frameworks today need to focus on the importance of capacity strengthening, developing relationships based on respect, trust, humility and reciprocity, and the historical, socio-economic conditions and distinction of nations. The Department supported an exploratory research project entitled Centering Indigenous Worldviews within Evaluation Frameworks, which is a partnership between ISC Evaluation and the Indigenomics Institute. This project has included the development of a framework for an evaluation approach that emphasizes overall community-determined well-being and the primacy of relationships, co-designed processes, and multiple mandates. The project is rooted in a dynamic theory of living that considers the complexity of historical, current and evolving relationships with Indigenous Nations, and calls for evaluation processes to be collaborative, inclusive, community-defined, and culturally relevant. The framework is currently being prototyped in the Evaluation of the Economic Development and Capacity Readiness program with the ultimate goal to achieve stronger, culturally-based economic development programming resulting from the evaluation. The evaluation is expected to be finalized and published online in 2025.

Project B: Strengthening Indigenous Evaluation Frameworks and Practice

ISC Evaluation has partnered with Johnston Research Inc. on an exploratory project entitled Strengthening Indigenous Evaluation Frameworks and Practice which aims to build dynamic evaluation tools that are relevant and appropriate for ISC, Indigenous partners and communities. Rooted in the notion that Indigenous Peoples have embedded evaluation into their worldviews and knowledge systems, this project advances a conceptual framework called Awakening the Journey Vision & Model that attempts to overcome the colonial underpinnings of the typical Western logic models. The Awakening the Journey framework has three pillars (Spirit, Relationships and Process) that support a community-centred understanding of priorities, needs, change and visions for the future over a holistic view of time (past, present, transition/evaluation-phase, and future). In order to learn from experience and improve ISC Evaluation's use of this approach, the evaluation of the Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples program prototyped the Awakening the Journey framework, with its terms of reference, methodology, data analysis and findings being framed by this approach. Data collection for this evaluation took place in fall 2024, during which the evaluation team travelled to communities in eight provinces to meet with Indigenous partners, build community connections, and see and experience on-the-ground initiatives funded by the program. Ensuring the evaluation remains grounded in Indigenous languages, cultures, and values, a pilot translation project has seen high-level evaluation products translated into a range of Indigenous languages.Footnote 4 The final report for this evaluation was approved by the Deputy Minister in January 2025, and will be published on the ISC website in 2025. A condensed, accessible, alternate-format community report with a target audience of community members who contributed to the evaluation is being developed.

Project C: Exploring Video in Evaluation

Another way that ISC Evaluation is co-creating evaluation products with Indigenous Peoples is the "Video in Evaluation" pilot project. While this pilot is in the early exploratory stage, the aim is to integrate Indigenous storytelling into ISC Evaluation's work, ensuring that reports not only present technical findings but also reflect the authentic voices, emotions, and lived experiences of Indigenous communities. In alignment with UNDRIP Articles 11(1), 18, and 31, this project will help to reimagine how evaluation findings are communicated by incorporating video as a line of evidence. By blending Indigenous oral traditions with modern digital storytelling – through Indigenous-led animation and translation – this initiative is expected to enhance engagement, accessibility, and cultural responsiveness in evaluation reporting.

Clustering Evaluations and opportunities to better align with the ISC Departmental Results Framework

The 2023 to 2025 Departmental Results Framework (DRF) provides a program structure that highlights the interdependencies across ISC Service Areas that influence socio-economic outcomes (e.g., the social determinants of health). It provides better alignment for programs that share common objectives, outputs, and recipients (e.g., home and long-term care, infrastructure programs, etc.), improved performance measurement, and a coordinated approach to departmental engagement by Service Area. It also simplifies engagement with the goal of facilitating greater co-development and direction from partners. There is one core responsibility: Indigenous Well-Being and Self-Determination and six Service Areas: Health, Children and Families, Education, Infrastructure and Environments, Economic Development, and Governance.

The full DRF can be found in Appendix A and also in the link Departmental Results Framework 2023 to 2025.

Clustering evaluations is an effective and efficient way to determine how programs work together to achieve results for communities. This approach provides a more holistic view of how a thematic grouping of programs is impacting communities and their overall well-being. This approach also supports Indigenous-designed evaluation frameworks that aim to emphasize holistic opportunities while uncovering systemic barriers across a range of program and service delivery areas. Further, clustering evaluations aligns with the ISC Departmental Results Framework (DRF) that has shifted the organizations results structure from multiple core responsibilities to one singular, holistic core responsibility: "Indigenous Well-Being and Self-Determination".Footnote 5

The update of the DRF and Program Inventory in 2023-24 reduced the number of programs and created an opportunity to recast some evaluations and to take a more systems approach to evaluations. Of note, while changes to the DRF increased the number of authorities from 30 to 37, the number of Programs decreased from 33 to 18. The full alignment of the evaluation plan to the new program structure (DRF) is ongoing and will take a couple more years as there are a number of evaluations underway that were launched prior to 2023-24.

While cluster evaluations require more advanced evaluation skills (e.g., knowledge of systems theory) and require additional time and effort in the planning and co-development phase due in part to the way programs are designed and structured, they also offer economies and efficiencies (e.g., generic theory of change, common data collection tools, strategic recommendations, etc.).

The following cluster evaluations are currently underway:

The Cluster Evaluation of the Family Violence Prevention (FVPP) and Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities Initiative (PSIC).

In the Departmental Results Framework under the "Children and Families" Service Area, one of the overarching programs is "Safety and Prevention Services". In this program there are two subprogram which are covered by this evaluation:

  1. Family Violence Prevention and
  2. Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities Initiative.

The cluster evaluation will explore shared themes and opportunities for these programs and for broader Safety and Prevention programming. The final report will integrate a cluster lens by highlighting cross-cutting findings and providing joint recommendations, in addition to program-specific insights and recommendations tailored to each initiative.

The Cluster Evaluation of Primary Health Care

In the Departmental Results Framework, Primary Health Care covers three sub-programs, i.e. Clinical and Client Care, Community Oral Health Services, and eHealth services. ISC Evaluation has identified them as suitable for a cluster approach. Both Clinical and Client Care and Community Oral Health Services provide primary care to First Nations and Inuit communities while being supported by eHealth services. The evaluation is expected to take a holistic view on how the three sub-programs as a whole provide essential primary care and dental care, which is integral to improving overall health.

The Cluster Evaluation of Home and Long-Term Care

ISC Evaluation has instituted the cluster approach for the Assisted Living sub-program and the Home and Community Care sub-program given their similar mandates, target population and service offerings. The cluster approach will enable the evaluation to look at the continuum of care provided through both sub-programs that evolved separately in different federal departments and are now both within the ambit of ISC.

The following cluster evaluations are planned in the next five years, but have not yet started:

  • Cluster Evaluation of Public Health and Promotion and Disease Prevention
  • Cluster Evaluation of Community Infrastructure
  • Cluster Evaluation of Health Infrastructure Support for First Nations

Crosscutting themes of enquiry in strategic/priority areas

There are a number of lenses which are added to evaluation frameworks that are important for a variety of strategic considerations. These lenses include: service transfer; Gender-Based Analysis (GBA) Plus; Indigenous children and families; climate change; and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Each evaluation is assessed at the scoping stage to determine which of these lenses apply and are relevant in terms of assessing results and program outcomes.

Service Transfer: One of the primary goals of ISC is to support Indigenous Peoples in assuming control of the delivery of services. ISC Evaluation has an important role to play in terms of informing program change and re-design that supports the transfer of control. As such, ISC evaluations are including standard lines of enquiry in all program evaluations that assess progress towards service transfer; barriers and opportunities to service transfer; and perspectives on service transfer readiness.

GBA Plus: GBA Plus provides a rigorous method for developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating initiatives to provide equal outcomes, with an emphasis on inclusiveness and reaching those marginalized due to a combination of social norms and attitudes; institutional power structures; policies and practices that together can limit access to opportunities.

GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis – a framework for understanding how aspects of a person's identity combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. In doing GBA Plus, many factors should be considered. The needs and experiences of different groups of people are influenced by intersecting parts of their identity, the context they are in and their lived experiences. All federal government organizations are directed to apply GBA Plus as part of all decision-making processes.

ISC Evaluators apply the GBA Plus approach in their work, weaving its processes into evaluations to understand how diverse groups of people may be affected differently by ISC policies and programs. To the extent possible, ISC evaluators are applying an intersectional, distinctions-based lens to the whole evaluation cycle, starting at the design phase, through data collection and analyses, and in the generation of findings and recommendations. For example, in the case of the Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Business Development program evaluation, a distinctions-based lens was applied to the designing of the evaluation Technical Advisory Committee to ensure that representation on the committee reflects the diverse knowledge and experience of partners involved in the program. Indigenous perspectives in research and evaluation typically involve an acknowledgment of intersectionality and differential impacts, and further communications between the Government of Canada and Indigenous partners and communities could illuminate new ways to work these perspectives into departmental GBA Plus processes.

Indigenous Children and Families: Most programming at ISC touch the well-being of Indigenous children and families either directly or indirectly. In the effort to emphasize and adopt more child- and family-centered evaluation approaches, lines of enquiry on the impacts of the programming on Indigenous children and families are systematically added to all ISC program evaluations.

Climate Change: It is well understood that Canada's changing climate exacerbates existing challenges and health stressors for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, including wildfires, flooding, permafrost thaw, changing wildlife patterns, and diminishing access to traditional food sources. ISC Evaluation seeks understand how climate change has impacted program delivery and the achievement of outcomes and whether any measures were taken to mitigate the effect.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act establishes a framework for aligning Canadian laws and policies with the rights affirmed in the Declaration, requiring the federal government to take measures to ensure its implementation. As a cross-cutting theme in ISCs evaluations, the Act will be examined in relation to departmental programs, assessing how they uphold Indigenous rights, support self-determination, foster respect, and build meaningful partnerships with Indigenous Peoples. Evaluations will consider factors such as the co-development of program materials, the role played by Indigenous Peoples in program administration and governance, and whether programs reflect culturally appropriate approaches. This lens is being piloted in the evaluation of the Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) Program.

Ongoing engagement and Indigenous evaluation capacity

Engagement approaches can be expected to vary by evaluation project as some programs have well-established engagement protocols with national Indigenous organizations, regional Indigenous organizations, Indigenous technical/manager working groups, and communities while others do not. ISC Evaluation works with individual programs to determine best approaches for engagement while at the same time is exploring opportunities with Indigenous experts in the evaluation community and/or the private, academic and not-for-profit sectors. ISC Evaluation is also exploring the adoption of distinctions-based evaluation approaches, which would require tailoring evaluations to explore the unique operating environments for some Programs (e.g. urban versus rural differences) and discussions with national Indigenous organizations are ongoing.

In general, ISC Evaluation has a number of engagement practices that enable and advance Indigenous evaluation involvement:

  • Including Indigenous external members in the ISC Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee (PMEC), which is chaired by the Deputy Minister.
  • Establishing working groups or advisory committees that include internal and external subject matter experts and community members. The main purpose of these working groups is to ensure evaluations are undertaken in a culturally responsive and appropriate manner, and they produce meaningful findings that are oriented on Indigenous worldviews and perspectives;
  • Developing meaningful relationships with Indigenous professional organizations to leverage their sectoral expertise in specific evaluations;
  • Budget permitting, ISC Evaluation travels to Indigenous communities for engagement and data collection rooted in ceremony, respect, and reciprocity, as defined by each participating community;
  • Hiring Indigenous-led evaluation consulting firms where possible;
  • Working with partners to achieve high Indigenous/community representation in data collection activities (focus groups, surveys, informant interviews) while taking into consideration Indigenous principles of data sovereignty;
  • Seeking guidance from Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers throughout the evaluation journey, where possible;
  • Bringing Indigenous partners to co-present to the PMEC at critical stages of the evaluation;
  • Delivering presentations to Indigenous partners and other collaborators to support development of / participation in / sharing of findings from evaluations; and
  • Actively recruiting Indigenous evaluation employees.

Corporate advice and management practice

The ISC Evaluation Branch provides ongoing advice to support the development of Treasury Board Submissions and Memoranda to Cabinet. This ensures that evaluation evidence is represented and used appropriately and that plans for future evaluations are properly referenced. The Branch also provides high level commentary and advice on the Department's Performance Information Profiles. The Branch provides annual input into the Departmental Plan, the Departmental Results Report, as well as into the corporate risk and business planning processes. ISC Evaluation participates in the annual TBS Capacity Survey Report, is currently planning for the next Neutral Assessment, and while ensuring federal standards are met with respect to evaluation practice management.

ISC Evaluation's Management Response and Action Plan (MRAP) process and tracking tools are strong and continue to evolve. The interactive database ISC Evaluation developed to store and structure detailed data for each MRAP continues to provide aggregate information on the status of MRAPs from a departmental, sector, or program level and for different aspects of the MRAP (such as recommendations, action items, and timelines). ISC Evaluation works closely with programs to develop sound and robust measurable MRAPs which are updated on a quarterly basis and tabled at the ISC PMEC at least once each year. This database helps ISC Evaluation monitor progress made in addressing evaluation report recommendations and to ensure commitments are met and program improvements are made. Further, the Department's Results Delivery Unit (Risk and Management Practices) has found this tool helpful for its own tracking and reporting needs (tracking MAF, Risk mitigation action plans, Management Practices activities, etc.).

In terms of publishing evaluation reports, the Branch's Practice Management team improved the approval and posting process significantly in recent years and dedicated resources to ensure timely and high-quality publications. The team improved the reporting style guide that informs evaluators of requirements for documents to be published on the departmental website and it upgraded the templates for evaluation reports and other documents to make the approval process more efficient.

ISC Evaluation is focused on improved evaluation services, including requirements to comply with its standards while enhancing relations with its clients. Thus, the Branch's Practice Management Team developed a Service Standard that identifies the level of service that clients can reasonably expect to encounter under normal operational circumstances. These Standards are part of ISC Evaluation's ongoing commitment to quality client service. With respect to departmental senior managers and their sectors, the Standard includes relevant components that will facilitate communication and help ensure their needs for information on program results are met.

Finally, the approval processes are being improved as the Evaluation function benefits from the Department's new, stand-alone PMEC meetings, enabling ISC Evaluation to seek timely approvals on a vast array of documents pertaining to the extensive, evaluation-based work undertaken by the Branch. The PMEC meetings are planned to be held at least three times a year.

3.0 The year in review

3.1 Progress achieved in 2024-2025

Four (4) evaluations were completed and approved:

  1. Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples (September 2024)
  2. Mental Wellness (December 2024)
  3. Evaluation of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (Horizontal – ESDC) (December 2024)
  4. Environment Public Health Services (February 2025)

Six (6) evaluation reports were published (ISC Evaluation Reports, and Summary Reports) and are available on the departmental website.

  1. Evaluation of the Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Business Development Program
  2. Evaluation of the Healthy Child Development Program
  3. Evaluation of the Contaminated Sites On-Reserve (South of the 60th Parallel) Program
  4. Evaluation of the On-Reserve Housing Program
  5. Evaluation of the Education Facilities Program
  6. Evaluation of the Other Communities Infrastructure Program

Seven (7) new evaluation projects were launched with the Evaluation Terms of Reference being presented and approved by the PMEC:

  1. Evaluation of ISC supports to the Implementation of the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families (Dec 2024)
  2. Evaluation of Post Secondary Education (Dec 2024)
  3. Cluster Evaluation of the Home and Long-Term Care Program (Dec 2024)
  4. Evaluation of the Family Violence Prevention Program (FVPP) and Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities Initiative (PSIC) (Sep 2024)
  5. Cluster Evaluation of Primary Health Care (Clinical and Client Care and Community Oral Health Services) (Jun 2024)
  6. Evaluation of Strategic Partnership Initiative (SPI) (June 2024)
  7. Evaluation of the Indigenous Governance and Capacity Program (Apr 2024)

By the close of the 2024-25 fiscal year, there were 24 active evaluation projects.

Practice Management Activities saw the Branch:

  • Review of over 60 policy/budget documents
  • Review 18 Program Information Profiles (PIPs)
  • Track and report on 15 active MRAPs, comprising 36 recommendations and 115 action items

4.0 The five-year plan

4.1 Scope of work

One of the consequences of the formal creation of ISC was a broader scope of work and increased workload because of the additional programs for which the Department is now responsible. For example, the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) was transferred from Health Canada to ISC. With this transfer, fourteen programs were moved to ISC. Further, with the ISC and CIRNAC enabling legislation in July 2019, five programs were transferred from CIRNAC to ISC. In total, 19 programs were added and the resulting impact to the ISC Evaluation workload was significant, approximately doubling the number of programs to be evaluated.

At ISC there is a broad range of programs and services, similar to what would be delivered by a province or territory. This means that the scope of the evaluation work covers a wide breadth of sectors including health, children and families, education, economic development, infrastructure and environment, and governance. As such, the evaluation work at ISC necessitates a multidisciplinary team with an expansive radius of expertise across many subject areas.

4.2 Program Structures

As mentioned above in Section 2.3, efforts to fully align the evaluation with the DRF (ISC program structure) is ongoing and will continue going forward.

As in previous evaluation planning cycles, and since the introduction of the new DRF in 2023-2024, the number of evaluations exceeds the number of programs in the Program Inventory. This is because there can be a number of distinct sub-programs that are included under larger program areas. There are some sub-programs that have their own funding authority, which could alone support the rationale for a separate evaluation and identify improvements that might otherwise be lost in a larger evaluation. There are also a number of evaluations at the sub-program and sub-sub program levels that are well underway and will be transitioned into cluster evaluations in the future. In some cases sub-program and sub-sub program evaluations will continue to be necessary as determined during consultations with Senior Management during the evaluation planning process.

It continues to be the case that a one-to-one relationship between the authorities listed in the Main Estimates and the Program Inventory of ongoing programs of grants and contributions deemed a 'Program' by the Department exists in very few instances. A number of programs draw on multiple grants and contributions; and conversely, there are grants and contributions that contribute to multiple programs. This Plan has been developed using the Treasury Board's Interim Guide on Results, which was updated most recently in August 2018, where there is the recognition that a 'program' of grants and contributions can cut across two or more programs in the Program Inventory and the relationship is not always one-to-one. This structure has presented the Department with some challenges in ensuring evaluation coverage for all authorities because of the segregation of a single authority over multiple programs with different evaluation timelines.

4.3 Evaluation planning methodology

The planning methodology is a multi-step process that begins with a review of the previous year's planning approach to update the steps where necessary and to review all relevant guidance and planning documents, such as the current Departmental Plan and Treasury Board commitments.

The plan is assessed for alignment with the DRF and maps each evaluation project to one of the six ISC Service Areas (the exception being federal horizontal evaluations). Appendix A presents the entire Program Inventory for ISC by service area.

The Plan is also expected to align with the Department's Risk-Based Audit Plan, which is prepared by the Audit and Assurance Services Directorate (AASD). The AASD is part of the Audit and Evaluation Sector of CIRNAC and it serves both CIRNAC and ISC. As has been past practice, consideration is given to timing audits and evaluations in a way that does not overburden programs. A crosswalk of the Plan was also conducted with the ISC Corporate Risk Profile.

Each evaluation included in the Plan has been further assessed as to the type of evaluation required based on the review of Financial Administration Act or Treasury Board requirements and stakeholder consultations, as well as noting whether it is a horizontal or non horizontal evaluation.

  • According to Section 42.1 of the Financial Administration Act, government departments and agencies must review, at least once every five years, the relevance and effectiveness of each ongoing grants and contributions program. Credit for evaluation coverage is granted upon deputy head approval of an evaluation report. Evaluation planning is conducted with that requirement in mind, reviewing the last fiscal year in which a program was evaluated, and scheduling completion and approval of the program evaluation five years later. Note that programs that are not funded through voted grants and contributions are not subject to the Financial Administration Act requirements.
  • However, as per the Policy on Results (Section 2.5), programs with five-year average actual expenditures of less than $5 million per year can be exempted from Section 42.1 and do not need to be evaluated every five years. Guidance from Treasury Board Secretariat states the five-year average is to be calculated on three years of actuals (Public Accounts) and two years of planned spending (Main Estimates). These calculations were conducted as part of the planning process to inform that evaluation schedule.

ISC Evaluation conducted individual consultations in April-May 2025 with ISC senior management on the draft five-year schedule of evaluations to obtain their input on priorities for their respective sectors and on the timing of evaluations. Their input was synthesized and considered as part of the finalization process for the five-year schedule. The following senior management offices were consulted:

  • Senior ADM Regional Operations
  • Associate ADM Regional Operations
  • Senior ADM First Nations and Inuit Health Branch
  • ADM First Nations and Inuit Health Branch Regional Operations
  • A/ADM Jordan's Principle and Inuit Child First Initiative
  • Chief Finances, Results and Delivery Officer
  • ADM Child and Family Services Reform
  • ADM Lands and Economic Development
  • ADM Education and Social Development Program and Partnership
  • ADM Strategic Policy and Partnerships Sector
  • ADM Communications
  • ISC Chief Audit Executive
  • ISC Chief Data Officer
  • ISC Chief Information Officer
  • ISC HR Director General
  • ISC Legal Executive Director

4.4 Planned spending

Based on the Main Estimates, total planned spending for 2025-26 is outlined in the table below according to the Department's Service Areas.

Table 1: ISC total planned departmental spending (2025-2026) by Service Area
Service Area 2025-2026 planned spending
Health $8,122,188,969
Children and Families $6,692,629,874
Education $3,984,431,667
Infrastructure and Environments $5,074,308,171
Economic Development $298,786,204
Governance $658,189,408
Internal services $323,942,564
Total $25,154,476,857
Source: 2025-26 Main Estimates. Figures include the following expenditures: salary; operations and maintenance; capital; grants and contributions funding; and the costs of employee benefit plans. Figures exclude statutory funding.
ISC Service Areas are used at a departmental-level and are not part of or included in the Main Estimates for 2025-26.

4.5 Coverage

The planning process has identified 48 discrete evaluation program or sub-program projects for the department over the next 5 years. ISC Evaluation is clustering evaluations to take a systems approach to impact, which has resulted in 40 evaluation projects:

  • 26 program and sub-program level evaluations are planned to meet mandatory evaluation requirements, including fulfilling evaluation commitments specified in TB Submissions and addressing requirements of the FAA.
  • 9 horizontal evaluations are on the schedule that will address initiatives across multiple departments and organizations. ISC is a partner department in these horizontal evaluation projects.
  • 5 cluster evaluations capturing 13 programs or sub-programs

These evaluation projects will cover 99% of planned departmental spending from 2025-26 to 2029-30. Departmental planned spending includes salary, operations and maintenance, capital, statutory payments and the costs of employee benefit plans, as well as grants and contributions funding. The remaining <1% represents the Statutory, Legislative and Policy Support to First Nations Governance sub-program that is not being evaluated, as well Internal Services ($323,942,564).

Table 2: Planned Coverage of Planned Spending
Fiscal year Departmental spending Percentage coverage Number of evaluation projects
2025-26 $6,067,237,622 24% 13
2026-27 $12,957,929,102 52% 11
2027-28 $494,547,838 2% 2
2028-29 $4,034,213,317 16% 9
2029-30 $1,275,072,392 5% 5
Total $24,829,000,271 99% 40
Source: 2025-2026 Main Estimates

ISC also covers 100% of its voted grants and contributions amounts.

Table 3: Planned coverage of grants and contributions
Fiscal year Voted grants and contributions (Gs & Cs) amount Percentage coverage voted Gs & Cs Number of evaluation projects
2025-26 $4,261,018,897 20% 13
2026-27 $11,134,301,436 53% 11
2027-28 $468,245,478 2% 2
2028-29 $4,865,940,946 23% 9
2029-30 $366,380,822 2% 5
Planned Evaluation
Sub-Total		 $21,095,887,579 100%  
Exempt &
No Planned Evaluation
Sub-Total		 $180,207 0%  
Total $21,096,067,786 100% 40
Source: 2025-2026 Main Estimates

4.6 Resources

The Evaluation Branch has the following planned expenditures for 2025-2026 to deliver on the commitments made in the Plan.

Table 4: Evaluation Branch – planned expenditures
Expenditure type 2025-2026 (Budget)
Salaries $4,373,187.44
Operations and maintenance $642,629.29
Grants and Contributions $0.00
Full-time equivalents (FTEs) 36
Source: Strategic Policy and Partnerships Sector, Business Management Unit

Human resources

Previous evaluation planning exercises have consistently noted the risks to delivering on the Plan because the FTE complement was not sufficient given the complexity and volume of the work involved. Beyond the human resources required to deliver on planned evaluations, there are also significant requirements and pressures from a practice management perspective (such as tracking and monitoring of Management Response Action Plans, input into TBS Submissions and Memoranda to Cabinet, TBS planning, reporting, publishing requirements, secretarial support for PMEC, etc.). Furthermore, attracting and retaining evaluation talent is a challenge across the federal evaluation ecosystem. At ISC, evaluators must be multidisciplined given the breadth of evaluation subjects and also must have strong Indigenous Cultural Competencies because engagement with Indigenous partners is essential for all the work it does.

To help address these challenges, the ISC evaluation function underwent a benchmarking and organizational review (relative to other federal evaluation functions) to determine the optimal level of resources required to meet federal, departmental, Indigenous partner expectations. In early 2024, the ISC Evaluation function transitioned to a Branch status, which included additional executive support. This transition has had a significant impact on its overall ability to deliver on its Plan and has created a more mature, responsive, and productive evaluation organization for the department. It has also helped tremendously in addressing and alleviating persistent resource and workload pressures.

Financial resources

In previous planning cycles, the ISC Evaluation benefited from a sufficient level of operational and maintenance resources to cover contracting, travel, Indigenous engagement, and meeting professional evaluation and other operational standards. However, due to recent budget restrictions, ISC evaluation will be adapting its approach and introducing a variety of efficiency measures and planning assumptions to mitigate these ongoing budget pressures (see the "Implementing the Plan" section below).

4.7 Implementing the Plan

Throughout this Plan a variety of planning challenges have been highlighted such as the complexity and volume of the work, the integration of clustering methodologies and alignment with the DRF, the necessary time it takes to ensure evaluations are Indigenous-centered, and recent budget restrictions. ISC Evaluation is taking all possible steps to mitigate those challenges while placing emphasis on meaningful relationships with Indigenous partners and creating internal operational efficiencies and synergies as appropriate.

In this context, below are some general planning assumptions and priorities that underpin the implementation of the plan.

Co-development and collaboration with Indigenous partners: ISC Evaluation will continue to actively engage with Indigenous partners as much as possible to ensure their perspectives and world views are reflected in evaluation deliverables. This includes developing and implementing ways to engage with Indigenous representative organizations and experts so that First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples can contribute their knowledge and experience throughout the evaluation process. This highlights the recognition that evaluations should address issues important to Indigenous communities, looking at immediate progress and long-term results, and ultimately supporting the department's unique mandate on advancing self determination, improving the delivery of services and the gradual transfer of services to Indigenous partners.

Continuing to address the backlog: ISC evaluation has been working to resolve the number of evaluations that have been delayed beyond the five-year review cycle. As previous Evaluation Plans have articulated, the Department inherited evaluations from the shared evaluation function with CIRNAC, the move from Health Canada of FNIHB and the impact of COIVD-19 on evaluation activities. The increasing complexity of evaluations also contributed to the backlog of evaluations that are overdue. The evaluation function developed and implemented a "backlog" strategy in 2022 to map out a path towards completing a number of evaluations that are overdue. The strategy has been to adopt a risk-based and balanced approach. With the mandated and important emphasis on co-development and service transfer and the expanding scope of evaluations, the backlog can be expected to persist for a couple of more years.

Being flexible and adapting to emerging priorities: The Plan aims to align resources, work and systems to improve evaluation deliverables and results that ensures the pace, scope and costs of evaluations are planned, monitored and controlled. However, the Plan is also meant to be flexible and allow for adaptation as priorities change and new trends and risks emerge.

Strategic scoping of evaluations: There has been an expansion of evaluation scope in program evaluations over the past few years (i.e., the application of multiple lenses), which has added complexity and time needed to develop and refine questions, gather data, analyse results and synthesize findings. Going forward, all newly launched evaluations will take a more strategic and risk-based approach and be more centered on priority areas of enquiry.

Supporting the results culture in the department: There continues to be challenges related to the lack of data, the inconsistency of existing data, and gaps in performance information to evaluate ISC programs and services. ISC Evaluation will continue to work closely with the Chief Results and Delivery Officer (CFRDO), Chief Data Officer (CDO), and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) officials to strengthen data quality and availability, support performance measurement, integrated risk management, and ultimately the overall departmental results-based management agenda and culture.

Creating operational efficiencies and fostering continuous improvement of the evaluation function: ISC evaluation has introduced a series of "Efficiency Workshops" to find ways to streamline evaluation processes and procedures. On a practical level, the aim is to actively address the ongoing backlog of evaluation work in a more timely manner and simplify the workflow and associated products (e.g. shorter evaluation reports). On a more strategic level, ensuring Senior Management has the evaluation evidence they need, when they need it and how they need it to make decisions. Maintaining high professional evaluation standards, being laser focused, and introducing innovative approaches (e.g., clustering methodologies) will drive the continuous improvement of the evaluation function while reducing and/or eliminating unnecessary steps that do not bring value added.

Using digital tools and artificial intelligence: ISC Evaluation will continue to employ digital tools in the conduct of its work to help evaluators to manage, code, and analyze qualitative data such as interviews, surveys, and focus group transcripts. These tools are highly effective in helping to identify patterns and themes within the data and also offer visual representations for better collaboration (e.g., digital canvas and sticky notes). ISC Evaluation is also exploring the use of artificial intelligence in its work. While carefully reviewing and assessing ethical considerations, and being transparent in the use of AI in its work, ISC Evaluation is experimenting with AI tools to find ways to automate and revolutionize systems approaches to evaluation analysis and practice.

5.0 Five-year schedule of evaluations

Year planned Evaluation title Sector Departmental Results Framework Category Last evaluated 2025-2026 Total planned program spending Launch date Expected DM approval
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan: Phase IV
(Horizontal Evaluation led by ECCC)		 LED Horizontal evaluation 2018-2019  TBD Apr-23 Apr-25
Q1
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Inuit Child First Initiative FNIHB Health 2018-2019 $121,312,648 Dec-23 Dec-25
Q3
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Emergency Management Assistance Program RO Infrastructure and Environments 2016-2017 $196,285,097 Dec-23 Dec-25
Q3
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Strategic Partnerships Initiative (SPI) LED Economic Development 2014-2015 $28,492,954 Jun-24 Jul-25
Q2
2025-2026 Evaluation of Nutrition North Canada Horizontal Initiative
(Horizontal Evaluation led by CIRNAC)		 FNIHB Horizontal evaluation 2019-2020 TBD Oct-23 Sep-25
Q2
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Economic Development Capacity and Readiness Program (less SPI) LED Economic Development 2015-2016 $155,586,244 May-22 Dec-25
Q3
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Grant to Support the New Fiscal Relationship for First Nations SPP Governance Never evaluated $5,841,908 Dec-23 Dec-25
Q3
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Family Violence Prevention Program/ Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities Initiative ESDPP Children and Families 2017-2018 $205,425,792 Sep-24 Dec-25
Q3
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program FNIHB Health 2017-2018 $2,697,007,027 May-22 Mar-26
Q4
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Income Assistance Program ESDPP Children and Families 2018-2019 $1,537,581,450 Mar-24 Mar-26
Q4
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Communicable Disease Control and Management Program FNIHB Health 2014-2015 $201,794,860 Mar-24 Mar-26
Q4
2025-2026 Cluster Evaluation of Primary Health Care FNIHB Health 2018-2019 $375,530,207 Jun-24 Mar-26
Q4
2025-2026 Evaluation of the Post-Secondary Education Program ESDPP Education 2020-2021 $542,379,435 Dec-24 Mar-26
Q4
2026-2027 Evaluation of the Implementation of ISC supports to the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families CFSR Children and Families N/A $810,125,115 Dec-24 May-26
2026-2027 Evaluation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Program ESDPP Education 2020-2021 $3,389,951,171 Feb-25 Jun-26
2026-2027 Cluster Evaluation of Home and Long-Term Care ESDPP
FNIHB		 Health 2019-2020 $412,726,352 Dec-24 Jul-26
2026-2027 Evaluation of Water and Wastewater RO/FNIHB Infrastructure and Environments 2020-2021 $1,330,367,766 Oct-25 Jul-26
2026-2027 Evaluation of First Nations Child and Family Services
(CFS Reform)		 CFSR Children and Families 2024-2025 $3,866,642,113 Jun-25 Nov-26
2026-2027 Evaluation of the Indigenous Governance and Capacity Program RO Governance 2016-2017 $561,773,076 Apr-24 Jan-27
2026-2027 Adapting to Impacts of Climate Change
(Horizontal Evaluation led by ECCC)		 FNIHB Horizontal evaluation N/A N/A Apr-26 Feb-27
2026-2027 Evaluation of Jordan's Principle FNIHB Health 2018-2019 $1,799,737,118 Oct-25 Mar-27
2026-2027 Evaluation of Individual Affairs RO Governance 2021-2022 $52,215,245 Dec-25 Mar-27
2026-2027 ISC-British Columbia Tripartite and Health Transformation Role in Supporting New First Nations Health Governance Structures FNIHB Health 2017-2018 $734,391,146 Dec-25 Mar-27
2026-2027 Evaluation of the Impact Assessment and Regulatory Processes Horizontal Initiative (Horizontal Evaluation led by IAAC) Jointly led by FNIHB
and LED		 Horizontal evaluation 2022-2023 N/A TBD Mar-27
2027-2028 Cluster Evaluation of Healthy Living and Healthy Child Development FNIHB Health 2023-2024 $470,684,621 Sep-26 Mar-28
2027-2028 Evaluation of Transformational Approach to Indigenous Data and the Surveys on Indigenous Peoples Program SPP Governance Never evaluated $23,863,217 Sep-26 Mar-28
2028-2029 Evaluation of Lands Management Sub-Programs LED Infrastructure and Environments 2023-2024 $297,685,928 TBD Sep-28
2028-2029 Evaluation of Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Business Development LED Economic Development 2023-2024 $114,707,006 TBD Mar-29
2028-2029 Horizontal Evaluation of the Renewed Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy
(Horizontal Evaluation led by Health Canada)		 FNIHB Horizontal evaluation 2023-2024 N/A TBD Mar-29
2028-2029 Evaluation of the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Transformation Initiative
(Horizontal Evaluation led by ESDC)		 FNIHB Horizontal evaluation 2023-2024 N/A TBD Mar-29
2028-2029 Evaluation of the Contaminated Sites On-Reserve (South of the 60th Parallel) Program LED Infrastructure and Environments 2023-2024 $90,529,784 TBD Mar-29
2028-2029 Cluster Evaluation of Community Infrastructure (Housing On-Reserve, Education Facilities, Health Facilities
Other Community Infrastructure and Activities)		 RO
 Infrastructure and Environments 2023-2024 $3,159,439,596 TBD Mar-29
2028-2029 Cluster Evaluation of Health Systems Support for First Nations and Inuit FNIHB Health 2023-2024 $371,851,003 TBD Mar-29
2028-2029 Evaluation of the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking 2019-2024
(Horizontal Evaluation led by PSC)		 ESDPP Horizontal evaluation N/A N/A TBD Mar-29
2028-2029 Evaluation of Urban Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy
(Horizontal Evaluation led by CMHC)		 ESDPP Horizontal evaluation N/A TBD 2027-2028 Mar-29
2029-2030 Evaluation of the Mental Wellness Program FNIHB Health 2024-2025 $853,631,489 TBD Mar-30
2029-2030 Evaluation of the Environmental Public Health Services FNIHB Health 2024-2025 $83,522,498 TBD Mar-30
2029-2030 Evaluation of Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples ESDPP Children and Families 2024-2025 $272,855,404 TBD Mar-30
2029-2030 Evaluation of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy
(Horizontal Evaluation led by ESDC)		 ESDPP Horizontal evaluation 2024-2025 $52,101,061 TBD Mar-30
2029-2030 Evaluation of the Miawpukek First Nation Grant Agreement (Indigenous led Evaluation - current agreement under negotiation. Final date is a placeholder) RO Not a DRF evaluation 2022-2023 $12,961,940 TBD Mar-30

Appendix A – Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory

Core Responsibility: Indigenous Well-Being and Self-Determination

Service Area: Health

Program: Public Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Mental Wellness
  • Healthy Living
  • Healthy Child Development
  • Communicable Disease Control and Management
  • Environmental Public Health
Program: Home and Long-Term Care
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Assisted Living
  • Home and Community Care
Program: Primary Health Care
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Clinical and Client Care
  • e-Health Infostructure
  • Community Oral Health Services
Program: Health Systems Support
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Health Planning, Quality Management and Systems Integration
  • Health Human Resources
  • British Columbia Tripartite Health Governance
Program: Supplementary Health Benefits (Non-Insured Health Benefits)
Program: Jordan's Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiative

Service Area: Children and Families

Program: Safety and Prevention Services
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Family Violence Prevention Program (Pathways Initiative)
Program: Child and Family Services
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • First Nations Child and Family Services
  • An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families
Program: Income Assistance
Program: Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples

Service Area: Education

Program: Elementary and Secondary Education
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Regional Education Agreements
Program: Post-Secondary Education

Service Area: Infrastructure and Environments

Program: Community Infrastructure
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Housing
  • Education Facilities
  • Health Facilities
  • Other Community Infrastructure and Activities
  • Water and Wastewater
Program: Communities and the Environment
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Land, Natural Resources and Environmental Management
Program: Emergency Management Assistance

Service Area: Economic Development

Program: Community Economic Development
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Economic Development Capacity and Readiness
  • Indian Oil and Gas
Program: Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Business Development

Service Area: Governance

Program: Indigenous Governance and Capacity Supports
Subprogram / Initiative:
  • Indigenous Governance and Capacity
  • Individual Affairs
  • New Fiscal Relationship: Capacity Building and Engagement
  • Statutory, Legislative and Policy Support to First Nations Governance
  • Transformational Approach to Indigenous Data

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