IDA Canada

IDA Canada, a national coalition of the International Downtown Association, represents organizations across the country that manage Canada's business districts, making them vital places in the nation's identity and key centres of economic wealth. Canadian business neighbourhoods and city cores are varied in form, size and make-up and yet across the country, these business districts play an important role in communities locally, provincially and nationally. The goal of IDA Canada is to unite Canada and lay the foundation of the coalition's Canadian advocacy and research efforts.

National Canadian Network

The National Canadian Network provides engagement opportunities, best practice resources and solutions, and advocacy efforts on national matters related to community building and placemaking.

Engage with your peers across Canada through a virtual onlinecommunity and gain access to Canadian-specific electronic resources, toolkits, and best practices. A tiered approach for engagement withinthe network has been created while transitioning towards full membership with the International Downtown Association (IDA) to capture the passion of placemaking and community building leaders throughout Canada. To see the benefits of the network, click here. If you have questions about becoming active with the National Canadian Network, please contact Ken Kelly.

Ready to connect? Sign in to your IDA account, or create one now to get started.

Current members of IDA can connect now on IDEA Connection, the global online network of place management professionals. Share best practices, exchange ideas, quickly ask and respond to questions, and connect with peers. To login, use your existing IDA credentials.

One National Voice: An Urban Agenda - November 2020 Update: Recovery with Resilience

In response to Minister Freeland's Fall Economic Statement, IDA Canada has released Recovery with Resilience, the brief it sent to the Prime Minister and members of Cabinet. It outlines five key areas of recovery: Community Well-Being; Community Vitality; Urban Mobility; Infrastructure and Entrepreneurship.

Research

We invite you to view research on Quatifying the Value of Canadian Downtowns and The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns and learn about the priorities and strategies of IDA Canada in the Downtown Declaration documents below.

QUANTIFYING the Value of Canadian Downtowns: A Research Toolkit: September 2016

This toolkit is a groundbreaking effort intended to provide a downtown data standard - a common set of data and processes that will help Canadian downtown BIAs/BIDs establish and sustain downtown evaluation and compare progress in downtowns.

The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns Ed. 2: October 2013

The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns is a "living" project and the first of its kind examining 17 downtowns acrossCanada to assess changes in attitudes, perceptions, functionality and performance over time. This project is envisaged to act as a resource for city builders, compiling evidence-based research that illustrates the importance of investing in downtowns. It provides an extensive protrait of the contributions being made by downtown areas across Canada, highlighting innovative approaches to revitalization and efforts being applied across the nation.

Downtowns Canada: A Federal Agenda: October 2015

In advance of the 2015 federal election, IDA Canada mobilized 15 cities across Canada to administer an All Candidates survey. Six cities also hosted Town Hall All Candidate Debates.

2015 Downtown Declaration

This document is a call to action for local busines improvement areas/districts (BIAs/BIDs). municipal, provincial and federal governments and associations, business associations with a focus on urban areas and related groups and individuals with expertise in the areas of economic development, housing, mental health, social policy and municpal infrastruture and funding. It outlines key policies and strategies. The declaration focuses on four key areas: National Infrastructure/Reinvestment; National Social Justice Policy; National Affordable & Social Housing; and Economic Development.