Canadian International Council (CIC) branches offers its members speakers' programs, study groups, conferences, and seminars.

The CIC has its roots in 1928, in the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA), when it was founded by Sir Robert Borden.

In 1932, Escott Reid was appointed as the Institute's first full-time National Secretary and began organizing annual study conferences where ideas could be exchanged.

CIIA leaders and Canadian officials worked to encouraged nationalist forces in India, China, and Southeast Asia that sought to reject colonial rule and Western dominance.

[4] In October 2007, Jim Balsillie (the former co-CEO of the Canadian information technology company Research In Motion ('BlackBerry') initiated the formation of the CIC as a partnership between the CIIA and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), a think tank based in Waterloo, Ontario, that works on global issues, in order to create a research base on Canadian foreign policy similar to the American Council on Foreign Relations and the United Kingdom's Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Applying expert and fact-based research to complex issues is the essential foundation for creating effective policy.

This project, called "Renewing Our Democratic Alliance" facilitated the mutual learning of best practices between inclusive democracies facing shared challenges to the rights of their citizens.

It was a deliberative poll of a large, representative sample of Canadians from all walks of life to articulate the nation's preferences on Canada's foreign policy priorities for the 2020s.

The results will provide an indication of the level of support the broader Canadian electorate would have for global engagement if fully exposed to the issues at stake.

This initiative is meant to bridge the gap between policy makers and Canadians from all walks of life to identify how Canada should engage the world.