2024 Healthy Democracy Forum- Proceedings
Thank you to everyone who participated in AMO's inaugural Healthy Democracy Forum and all who are visiting this page for more information on the event.
Over 2 days, October 19-20, AMO in partnership with the Toronto Metropolitan University, hosted municipal leaders, staff and associations, community leaders, researchers, academics, campaign organizations and others. Participants engaged in conversation focused on strategies and opportunities to address challenges local communities are experiencing related to equity and diversity in local leadership, people running for council, voter turn out, harassment and bullying and the challenges of leading and engaging locally. You can now access presentations and speeches below.
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
Healthy Democracy Project Welcome
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