AMO’s inaugural Healthy Democracy Forum on October 19 and 20, 2024 welcomed 154 participants for three comprehensive conversations including:

• 25 elected officials
• 28 municipal staff
• 35 young people
• From 31 municipal organization
• And 82 different organizations overall

The topics explored by panelists, speakers, and through interactive workshops included:

• Diverse Representation Matters: a conversation about how to support and attract candidates, especially from underrepresented communities. Included a deep dive into original AMO research into the barriers to running for local office and a discussion about how to connect and raise the visibility of the various types of organizations already doing the work on the ground.
• Engaging Youth in Local Democracy and Elections: an interactive exploration of how local councils and elected officials can better engage young people in municipal government facilitated by Apathy is Boring.
• Accelerating Local Democratic Engagement: an immersive day of presentations and workshops about how to respond to local democratic challenges in positive and productive ways. AMO launched its Local Democracy Accelerator and Democratic Engagement Solutions Bank.

Learn more about the Forum and connect with resources shared with the first report generated from the collective experience and insights from a unique group of expert presenters and local democracy champions.

 

2024 Healthy Democracy Forum Report Back

 

You can also access the presentations and speeches below.

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Day 1—Saturday, October 19- Diverse representation matters

Opening Remarks

• Robin Jones, AMO President (Remarks)

Healthy Democracy Project Welcome

• Jasvinder Sandhu, Chair, Healthy Democracy Project Advisory Group; Former Councillor, Town of Oakville; Founder and Principal, SLPC Law; children’s author (Remarks)

Mapping the experiences of diverse candidate running for municipal office in Ontario 

Speaker:

• Kofi Hope, Co-Founder, Monumental Projects 

Supporting Ontario’s municipal candidates

Moderator:

• Petra Wolfbeiss, Director Membership Centre, AMO (Remarks)

Speakers:

• Amanda Kingsley Malo, Founder, PoliticsNOW 
• Jordan Simmons, Co-Founder, Nominee 
• Colleen James, Councillor, Region of Waterloo; Founder and Principal Consultant, Divonify

Workshop #1

Understanding the Ontario candidate support ecosystem

How can we leverage collective experience and resources?
What are the gaps (geographic or otherwise)?
How might we fill the gaps?

How to raise the visibility of candidate support organizations.

Speaker:

• Melissa Durrell, Founder, Waterloo Campaign School; former Councillor, City of Waterloo; CEO an Chief Strategist of Durrell Communications 

Workshop # 2

How can we collaborate to increase the visibility of the network and its resources?

How do we build from the We All Win campaign and continue to recruit more people from diverse communities to run for office?
•    what are the channels we can use?
•    what are the barriers?
•    who are trusted voices?

Closing Reflections

• Chi Nguyen, Executive Director, Equal Voice 

Day 1—Saturday, October 19, 2024 (Youth Day)- Engaging youth in local democracy and elections

 

Apathy is Boring presentation: Engaging Youth in Local Democracy and Elections

 

Healthy Democracy Project Welcome

• Natasha Salonen, Mayor, Wilmot Township

Civics & municipalities 101

Focus group 1 – The Why

• Barriers to youth civic engagement

Focus group 2 – The How

• Systemic and surface level solutions

Youth and political involvement

Speaker:

• Senator Bernadette Clement, Government of Canada 

Focus group 3 – The What

• Using youth leadership to help municipalities become youth allied

Focus Group Discussion Wrap up

Closing Reflections

• Henry Khamonde, Healthy Democracy Project Intern

 Day 2—Sunday, October 20, 2024
Accelerating local democratic engagement: convene, prototype, energize

Opening Remarks

• Petra Wolfbeiss, Director, Membership Centre, Association of Municipalities of Ontario. (Remarks)

Healthy Democracy Project Welcome

• Senator Bernadette Clement, Government of Canada (Remarks)

Prototypes to solve democratic challenges—AMO releases new research

Speaker:

• Stewart McDonough, Healthy Democracy Project lead, AMO

Experimenting with local democracy in Grey Highlands

Speakers:

• Dave Meslin—Bestselling Author of Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up; Grey Highlands Municipal League 
• Nadia Dubyk, Councillor, Municipality of Grey Highlands

Launching AMO’s Local Democracy Accelerator

Speakers:

• Jerry Koh, Principal Consultant, Nice Futures; former Director of Systemic Innovation and MaRS Solutions Lab
• Stewart McDonough, Healthy Democracy Project Lead, Association of Municipalities of Ontario

AMO launches Democratic Engagement Solutions Bank

Speaker:

• Chris Erl, Researcher, Toronto Metropolitan University’s Democracy Engagement Exchange

Experimenting in municipalities Reaching for Power through collaboration

Speakers:

• Daniela Giulietti, Director of Public Affairs, YWCA Hamilton Communications 
• Tammy Hwang, Councillor, City of Hamilton

Workshop #1

What is your vision for democracy in your community? What are the challenges in the way of that vision and what are the assets your community can access to address those barriers?

Workshop # 2

How do we select solutions to take advantage of community assets and target the barriers to our democratic vision? How do we surround solutions with community partners and externally experience and expertise?

Measurement and evaluation for democratic initiative

Speaker:

• Michael McGregor, Associate Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University

Workshop # 3

What types of data will we be able to collect through this work that will help us learn and see if we've made progress?

Closing Reflections

• Rawlson King, Councillor, City of Ottawa