- About
- People
- Shared Learning
- What We Do
- Consulting Services
- Services
- Dialogue in Action
- COVID-19 and Public Health: The Faith and Spiritual Leaders Dialogue Series
- Framework for Diabetes in Canada
- Burnaby Business Recovery Task Force
- CleanBC Job Readiness Workshops
- Perspectives on Reconciliation
- Your Voice. Your Home.
- Establishing a Chinese-Canadian Museum
- Citizen Dialogues on Canada’s Energy Future
- Clients and Partners
- Get in Touch
- Knowledge & Practice
- Beyond Inclusion
- Dialogue & Engagement Resources
- Dialogue Dispatch Newsletter
- International Climate Engagement Network (ICEN)
- Strengthening Canadian Democracy
- Talk Dialogue to Me Podcast
- Initiatives
- Signature Events
- Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue
- Award Recipients
- 2021/22: Reimagining Social Justice and Racial Equity with adrienne maree brown
- 2019/20: Climate Change and Human Rights with Sheila Watt-Cloutier
- 2017/18: Peace, Pluralism and Gender Equality with Alice Wairimu Nderitu
- 2015/16: Climate Solutions with Tim Flannery
- 2013/14: Reconciliation with Chief Robert Joseph
- 2011/12: Twelve Days of Compassion with Karen Armstrong
- 2009/10: Widening the Circle with Liz Lerman
- 2005: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Right to Health with Mary Robinson
- 2002: Environmental Sustainability with Maurice Strong
- Nomination Details
- History of the Award
- Award Recipients
- Bruce & Lis Welch Community Dialogue
- 2022: Facing the Flames: New and Old Ways of Co-Existing with Fire with Joe Gilchrist and Paul Hessburg
- 2021: All My Relations: Trauma-Informed Engagement with Karine Duhamel
- 2019: Power of Empathy with Kimberly Jackson Davidson
- 2019: Rethinking BC Referendums with John Gastil
- 2017: Strengthening Democratic Engagement with Valerie Lemmie
- 2015-16: THRIVE! Surrey in 2030
- 2014: Citizen Engagement and Political Civility with Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer
- 2013: Building a Culture of Participation with Dave Meslin
- 2012: Riots and Restorative Justice with Dr. Theo Gavrielides
- 2011: Growing Out of Hunger with Will Allen
- 2010: The Age of Unequals with Richard Wilkinson
- Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue
- Consulting Services
- News
- Give
RETHINKING BC REFERENDUMS WITH JOHN GASTIL
The 2019 Bruce and Lis Welch Community Dialogue featured Dr. John Gastil, Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Penn State University, as a guest speaker for Welch Community Dialogue to share his expertise on deliberative democracy and group decision-making.
About John Gastil
Dr. John Gastil studies political deliberation and group decision making across a range of contexts. His work on the Citizens’ Initiative Review has helped evaluate an exciting new form of public deliberation that should improve initiative elections. His Jury and Democracy Project has investigated, and hopefully helped vindicate, the jury system as a valuable civic educational institution. His work with the Cultural Cognition Project in demonstrating the ways in which our deeper values bias how we learn about issues and form opinions. Professor Gastil has integrated some of the best research in his primary fields of study in two books. Political Communication and Deliberation uses the idea of public deliberation as a way to organize the wider study of political communication, and The Group in Society presents an Embedded System Framework for integrating research on group communication and behavior. He teaches courses on Democratic Deliberation and Group Communication.
Events
January 31, 2019
Academic Roundtable on Deliberative Democracy
SFU Burnaby Campus, Diamond Alumni Centre
Facilitator: Mark Winston
Scholars from the Greater Vancouver region gathered a moderated discussion on the question “What are the most promising directions for future theory and research on deliberative democracy?”
Public Dialogue and Reception: Rethinking BC Referendums
SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
Facilitator: Shauna Sylvester
Electoral reform. Harmonized Sales Tax. Transit funding. The last few years have seen British Columbians participate in an unprecedented number of referendums. The result has frequently been increased political and regional division, confused voters, and a platform for extreme ideas. In the time of fake news, ideological biases, and the rapid spread of misinformation, voters often have difficulty finding relevant, reliable, and concise information to help them assess the policy issues that appear on their ballots. Is there a way to consult the public without divisive rhetoric and poor-quality public discourse? And when is a referendum an appropriate tool to do so?
Dr. Gastil shared his research on the Oregon’s Citizens Initiative Review as an example of engaging citizens in a deliberative process. More than 100 people joined the dialogue to share their experience in the past referendum and thoughts on how to improve BC’s referendum process.
October 24, 2019
Stakeholder Breakfast: Improving Referendums in BC Roundtable
Delta Downtown Suites
Facilitator: Shauna Sylvester
Thirty decision-makers, influencers, and stakeholders with direct experience in past BC referendums got together to tackle the question, “how can British Columbia learn from past referendum experiences to better engage citizens on decision making in the future?”
Principles of Collaborative Engagement Discussion
SFU Harbour Centre
Deliberative Dialogue Discussion
SFU Harbour Centre
Select Media & Commentary
- On The Coast with Gloria Macarenko, special to CBC (January 31, 2019) (segment no longer available)
- Conversations that Matter: Honesty in Referendums - with Stu McNish (January 31, 2019)
ABOUT THE BRUCE AND LIS WELCH COMMUNITY DIALOGUE
Exploring critical community issues through dialogue, this annual programming engages the community at large with the academic community to explore innovative approaches to local issues through cross-sectoral dialogue.