Here’s what you need to know about Citizens’ Assemblies

Citizens’ assemblies are hitting the mainstream of Canadian politics. Last week in a letter to Trudeau (en français), Jagmeet Singh remarked on the failures of our first past the post system to deliver fair and proportional representation to Canadians. Citing politicians’ inability to agree on a new voting system – exemplified most prominently by Trudeau’s failure to adopt the outcome of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform – Singh voiced his support for citizens to make this decision instead.

But citizens’ assemblies are a new topic to many of us. Aside from Ontario and BC’s citizens’ assemblies on provincial electoral reform, many Canadians don’t have much experience or knowledge of how they work. But with the concept gaining popularity across Europe and the UK, it’s a good time to learn how we can use them more widely here in Canada to drive progress on contentious issues.

Typically, citizens’ assemblies are formed by governments through randomly selecting anywhere from a few dozen to around a hundred citizens to gather for weeks or months to deliberate on a tough policy issue. Assembly facilitators bring in experts to speak to the members of the assembly, giving them time to learn and discuss the various dimensions of the issue. Following deliberation, the members then produce a set of recommendations to deliver to government or a parliamentary committee set up to process the results and synthesize them into real policy.

Adding these types of processes to our existing decision-making system can have a multitude of benefits: balanced inclusion based on gender, race, socio-economic background, and geographic region brings a range of voices to the discussion of issues; the interests of citizens can be legitimized through the forum of an assembly, providing an alternative to voting when attempting to influence policy-making; and the deliberative and expert-informed process increases the likelihood that policy outcomes are more solidly rooted in evidence, rather than in the demands of party politics and election cycles.

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Recent Events

We held our first ever Graphic Design Workshop on Wednesday, October 28, with over 50 people attending! The principles of design were discussed as well as how to make a meme. The workshop was recorded and is publicly available on Fair Vote Canada’s YouTube page.

 

 


Upcoming Events

Letter-Writers’ Drop-In – Thursday, November 26, 7-8:30 pm EST

Writing letters to the editor may sound intimidating, but it’s much easier than you think — anyone can do it! More and more people have been joining us to write letters in recent months and we’re delighted that an average of about one per month is published. Click here to see some of our recent letters.

If you’d like to join us in writing letters, save the date and click here to register for our next Writers’ Drop-In.


Building bridges outside our community

Fair Vote Toronto is looking to grow our community by building relationships with other groups and organizations. If you volunteer with or are a member of such a group, please let us know! We’d love to chat with their team and see how Proportional Representation could help them achieve their goals.

We’re also looking to be more inclusive and representative of our community. Let us know if you’d like to learn more about Proportional Representation or want to be involved in our outreach or volunteer efforts!


fair vote toronto proportional representation electoral reform canada volunteer rendezvous

New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, after winning a landslide election victory, invited the Green Party to join the Labour Party in an agreement which gives the Greens two ministerial roles. During the campaign she promised to “govern for all New Zealanders and reach as much of a consensus on all issues as possible.” Looks like she’s keeping the promise. New Zealand uses a mixed member proportional electoral system.