The genesis of policy narratives from the perspective of the report: The case of police oversight in two Canadian provinces

In Canada, the provinces of Quebec and British Columbia recently reformed (in 2013 and 2011 respectively) their investigative mechanisms for police officers involved in serious incidents, an area of public policy historically resistant to change. Each time, public inquiries occupied an important place in the debate. This article uses two sets of reports as an entry point to better understand, in a long-term perspective, the contribution of these inquiries to change. It shows that they are part of a process of the institutionalization of ideas that has led to the emergence of public policy narratives favorable to change in terms of police oversight. The article has two parts. The first highlights a collective process that results in the assembly of statements defining the problem and the legitimacy of a solution. More generally, it also shows how the reports are themselves part of the writing styles that influence subsequent writings. The second part highlights the way in which two reports complete this process by offering comprehensive public policy narratives and briefly describes how these were taken up in the framing put forward by the actors mobilized in favor of change.