Conference Program

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are poised to have profound practical and ethical implications for the process of decision-making in democratic societies. However, public participation practitioners and the communities we work with are not powerless in the face of these rapid technological advancements. Equipped with a foundational understanding of the technology, a sound ethical framework rooted in the core values long promoted by IAP2, and actionable guidelines, policymakers, P2 practitioners, and AI developers can better support the responsible integration of AI in public participation processes.

During this walk, guided by Jaime Koebel a Nehiyaw/Michif from Lac La Biche from Ottawa with Indigenous Walks, participants will learn about some of the social, political and cultural issues woven into Ottawa’s architecture, landscape, monuments and art.

TBA

This interactive session highlights a case study of facilitation work done in a historically underserved community on Salt Lake City's west side and the unique approaches required to help minority populations reclaim their community identity despite preconceived notions from government agencies.

A moderated conversation among Canada’s ‘Five Levels of Government’ in a casual (‘fireside’) setting enabling audience participation.

Recipients of the 2024 IAP2 Canada and USA Core Value Award for Respect for Diversity, Inclusion and Culture will present their projects.

This workshop will facilitate dialogue between public servants who lead and manage engagement with members of the public, facilitating connections made between participants and the opportunity to exchange best practices on public participation in shaping policies, programs and decisions in the federal government.

TBA

CMHC will host a fireside chat with leading practitioners in participatory design within the housing ecosystem. The conversation will highlight projects that prioritized robust community co-design and governance practices to successfully realize the development of culturally appropriate affordable housing and third spaces in Canadian communities. Come learn how these innovators activated this work for greater impact!

A joint session with engagement consultants for IAP2 USA and IAP2 Canada. More details to come.

Many of us have been well trained to look for what doesn’t work. Ever catch yourself responding to community members’ novel ideas or concerns with “Yes, BUT”, without considering what values, hopes, fears or beliefs are driving it? It’s no surprise – our organizations highly value “problem spotters and solvers”. Yet this can narrow our world so that all we see are our ideas and our ways of doing things.

The 2024 IAP2 USA Organization of the Year presents

The In Plain Sight report (Turpel-Lafond, 2020) addresses Indigenous-specific racism and discrimination in the B.C. health care system and provides twenty-four recommendations to address these systemic issues.

How IAP2 Canada Members Can Be Agents of Reconciliation

This session will explore the approach including guiding principles and engagement activities and outcomes of the Mass Casualty Commission, the public inquiry held to examine the April 2020 mass casualty in Nova Scotia, Canada’s largest mass shooting. Facing challenges including the sensitive nature of the mandate, operating during the Covid-19 pandemic, the increasing distrust in institutions, and the limitations of a legal process, the Commission’s engagement team focused on driving substantive, long-lasting societal change.

At the overall thematic level, this workshop is focused on how Canadian Blood Service is engaging with 2SLGBTQIA+ communities to shape the future of relationships with queer and trans communities, the future of our donors and of patient care through a more inclusive blood system. In terms of sub-themes, the workshop will foster participant learning and dialogue about how P2 sponsors and hosts can take inclusive and equitable approaches to engaging 2SLGBTQIA+ communities as well as other equity-deserving communities, and more broadly, build bridges by rebuilding relationships of trust where there had previously been hurt and mistrust.

This session will review how the City of Durham’s Community Engagement Team has built an accessible repository of resident stories to promote a more responsive and transparent policy-making process. Participants will learn how new AI-supported analysis tools can: 1. help city staff more quickly identify policy-relevant themes from conversations and 2. encourage deeper conversations with community members that help build trusting relationships with the city.

Listening, Learning and Coaching for More and Better Community Engagement. Many engagement professionals are challenged in how to incorporate and solicit the needs of the many in a process. This workshop seeks to leverage the learnings and approaches of coaching and pair it with the IAP2 Core values to launch the concept of the engagement coach.

During this walk, guided by Jaime Koebel a Nehiyaw/Michif from Lac La Biche from Ottawa with Indigenous Walks, participants will learn about some of the social, political and cultural issues woven into Ottawa’s architecture, landscape, monuments and art.

An immersive experience of Parliament Hill and the Royal Canadian Mint: a part of this tour will include an interactive digital experience of Canada’s federal government and will be followed by a tour of The Royal Canadian Mint’s headquarters.

We believe that organizations can benefit from understanding that profit & reputation driven engagement with Indigenous Communities does not support the requirements of the TRC, UNDRIP, or Indigenous Reconciliation. However, if they take a more authentic partnership approach, they can support Indigenous Communities and still profit from business conducted on Indigenous Lands. This develops a stronger, more sustainable future for resource and land development in Canada and the Indigenous Communities.

Grasp the Landscape: Understand the current scale, spread, and nuances of misinformation and disinformation and their impacts on engagement initiatives. Definitions & Distinctions: Understand the differences between misinformation (false/untrue information shared without intent to deceive), disinformation (false information shared with intent to deceive), and malinformation (truthful information shared to cause harm).

Recipients of the 2024 IAP2 Canada and USA Project of the Year awards present their projects.

Sweeping epidemics of polarization, loneliness, and social fragmentation have dramatically transformed the social context for working with communities. How can our community engagement practices rise to this challenge and cultivate social cohesion? How can they not just solicit input, but also bridge identity-groups and create lasting community connections?

L’équipe Participation du public d’Hydro-Québec offre une session interactive qui vise à identifier des pistes innovantes pour placer la participation publique au cœur de la construction de notre avenir énergétique. La session portera spécifiquement sur le côté incontournable des nouveaux projets de production d’électricité dans les prochaines années, sur la vitesse accélérée à laquelle ces projets devront être déployés pour réussir la transition énergétique, et sur les défis que ce contexte peut représenter en matière de participation publique.

The session explores collaborative intelligence, highlighting the synergy between human (HI) and artificial intelligence (AI) for enhanced facilitation and outcomes. It addresses AI's impact on democratic urbanism engagement, emphasizing three pivotal 'I's: Integration, Insights, and Inclusivity. Real-life examples underscore the need to adapt to "new norms" by leveraging AI while understanding its limitations.

During this update session, learn about the important work of IAP2 International to update the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation. The spectrum was created by IAP2 leaders and launched at the 1999 conference in Banff to serve as a guiding tool for decision makers and engagement practitioners to determine the appropriate level of public impact on decision-making. The Spectrum has since become a primary tool for engagement across the globe, while remaining unchanged since introduction. The International Board of IAP2 has authorized a review of the Spectrum and its role in our practices worldwide to determine if the Spectrum, in its current form, fit for purpose to guide engagement for the next few years and what, if anything, can we do to make the Spectrum even better?

This interactive session emphasizes the importance of integrating children and youth knowledge and perspectives, emphasizing their adaptability, empathy and creativity. Maximum City will introduce an interactive activity following the case studies. Maximum City will share children and youth perspectives completing the same interactive activity offering unique and thought-provoking insights into child and youth thought processes and creativity.

The 2024 IAP2 Canada Core Values Award in Indigenous Engagement recipient presents their project.

In this fireside chat we will have a deep and meaningful conversation surrounding what it means to build relationship and work alongside Indigenous communities and peoples. How can we do this in culturally sensitive ways, and how can we ensure our relationships are strong and mutually beneficial? As such, we will explore a worldview and way of being that allows ourselves to build good relations with all our relations.

Ever worked on an engagement project or facilitated a stakeholder meeting where conflicting or polarizing perspectives kept the project from moving forward? Does building buy-in, trust, and accountability feel like an uphill battle resulting in project delays or loss of key relationships? Looking for innovative strategies to guide you in overcoming these challenges?

The City of Toronto has been reviewing their Official Plan which is a planning document that acts as a road map for land use matters. This review process was named “Our Plan Toronto” to reflect that it was going to be a plan made by and for Torontonians. Throughout, participants shared their thoughts and aspirations for Toronto’s future. The engagement approach was designed to reach equity deserving groups and amplify Indigenous voices through a variety of tactics including phone and email, ArcGIS StoryMaps, youth engagement kits, Community Leaders Circle, Indigenous outreach and meetings.

To do this work well, we need a community and none of us should go it alone. Each of us benefits when we are surrounded by mentors, leaders, inspiring colleagues and friends that push us to be our best selves and also catch us when we fall. Our invitation to you is to come join a conversation. That’s right, a conversation; no slides, no presentations, but rather an opportunity to build a story, our story, together: the story of public and community engagement professionals in 2024.

There is growing recognition of the value of public participation in decision-making and as a core component of open government practices. However, low-quality engagement can cause more harm than good by weakening public trust, increasing polarization or generating misleading data.

In response to this, the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue has been collaborating with the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Open Government team as well as leading practitioners across Canada to develop a Maturity Model for public participation that maps practices across four levels of “maturity” based on the potential for risk or positive impact. The tool aims to support practitioners and governments to conduct risk assessment, set realistic goals within existing constraints and chart a path for ongoing capacity-building.

Join us for the launch of the Maturity Model framework beta-version in this interactive workshop where we will hear from government representatives and practitioners about the potential benefits and challenges of applying a maturity model framework and explore how it can be adapted to diverse contexts and sectors.

Meet with Museum staff to discuss past and current projects and learn about how their processes are evolving. The discussion will be followed by a guided tour.

Join us for a workshop that explores how our engagement practices can be more inclusive of all ages and how centering youth in our engagements can support us in shaping a better, more resilient, and sustainable future. As award-winning youth engagement specialists, CityHive will be tapping into our years of experience and share lessons learned on youth engagement. Participants will walk away with clear examples, tools, and strategies to take back into your own engagement practice.

Transit is not built in a day. It typically takes years – even decades – to plan, construct, and launch transit projects. We know that any new transit system is best planned and constructed with input from the community, but how do you spark community interest and input from the outset of the plan? And how do you gather input and maintain engagement over the many – sometimes difficult – years that it takes to bring the vision to reality?

Les enfants sont dans un rapport de pouvoir inégal par rapport aux adultes. Ils vivent l’espace public, mais leur voix n’entre pas en compte dans les décisions prises pour eux. Or, selon la Convention relative aux droits des enfants des Nations Unies, les enfants ont le droit de s’exprimer sur les enjeux qui les concernent, et d’être pris en considération. C’est donc le rôle des adultes de s’adapter à leur âge pour leur permettre d’exprimer leurs opinions.

A conversation with experts in the field of digital engagement

This session would be an opportunity for Community Engagement Practitioners to come together to discuss the challenges, priorities and shared practices of incorporating Language & Communications Access into the public process. MAPC has been doing research and ongoing work the past two years to better understand the challenge of incorporating language access into the local level in government and public process.

A cross-Canada panel of planners with diverse experience explore the need for more strategic intent in improving the tenor of community dialogue and engagement. The discussion digs into the importance of bringing an empathetic, social justice perspective to City Planning, Housing & Community Development, Reconciliation, and Indigenous engagement projects.

Canadian municipalities are increasingly making significant land-use decisions to address the housing crisis, however, legislated public hearing processes often become performative exercises of public participation that exacerbate societal divisions, increase distrust and disincentive affordable housing development.

Strategic Earth Consulting invites you to discover the power of vulnerability in fostering trust and deeper connection with marginalized communities. As community engagement practitioners, we embrace vulnerability because of its ability to “build bridges and cross divides” (subtheme 5). Inspired by researcher and author Brené Brown, we believe that vulnerability — the emotion that we experience during times of uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure — is a skill that can be learned.

This session will explore Collaborative Engagement as a tool to empower underrepresented and equity-denied communities to have their voice heard in public policy development and lower barriers to participation in public engagement activities. To expand reach and enhance engagement on the development of Metro Vancouver’s solid waste management plan, Metro Vancouver (a regional district in BC) recently trialed an initiative called ‘Collaborative Engagement’: providing support and funding to not-for-profit organizations in our community to engage their networks on Metro Vancouver’s behalf.

Recipients of the 2024 IAP2 Canada and USA Core Values Awards in Creativity, Innovation and Contribution to the Field present their projects

In order to shape the future of engagement, practitioners need to be recognized as professionals. You can build confidence and recognition by attaining your IAP2 professional designation - Certified Public Participation Professional (CP3). This credential effectively documents IAP2’s endorsement of your professional standing, knowledge and skills. And it's a testament to your commitment to excellence in engagement.

Notre recherche qualitative a été menée auprès d’acteurs gouvernementaux et non gouvernementaux, dont les décideurs, les fonctionnaires et des citoyens ayant joué un rôle dans la configuration des instruments numériques. Les constats de recherche notamment leur vécu et leurs perspectives. De plus, notre recherche aborde la question de la variable linguistique et de son influence sur le design des instruments de participation publique (P2) et des politiques publiques qui en découlent, et ce, en contexte de participation numérique. Le format de livraison de l’atelier proposé suggère une mobilisation inclusive et équitable, de sorte à faire connaître les résultats du cas à l’étude, mais également à discuter des diverses expériences et coconstruire ensemble des stratégies qui reflètent cette diversité linguistique de notre société. Enfin, puisque le cas à l’étude se déroule au sein de la ville de Moncton (palier de gouvernement local), il met en évidence le rôle de la P2 (numérique) en contexte de gouvernance publique.

Nova Scotia is in the midst of a historic energy transition, and collaboration with stakeholders, communities and Mi’kmaw partners is essential. This session will explore how Nova Scotia Power is working with communities across Nova Scotia on a project that will enable more renewable energy to be added to the grid and strengthen reliability for customers - the grid-scale battery project.

Construire des ponts, dépasser les clivages: L'atelier explore les mécanismes de mobilisation et de collaboration d'une cohorte citoyenne qui s'avère une avenue intéressante pour aborder des projets polarisants. En favorisant la construction d'une compréhension profonde des enjeux, la promotion de la compréhension mutuelle, et la facilitation d'un dialogue constructif, elle permet une délibération éclairée, contribuant ainsi à surmonter les conflits et à favoriser la collaboration. Rôle de la p2 dans la démocratie: En encourageant la formation d'une cohorte citoyenne, l'atelier demande aux participants un niveau élevé d'engagement et de responsabilité dans la gouvernance.