public participation

The first face to face meeting of the 2011-12 IAP2 Canada Board took place in Calgary on February 11, 2012.  Calgary was a logical choice as four members reside here (Anne Harding, Karla Reesor, Noreen Rude and Gale Simpson).  Other Board members travelled from Vancouver (Amelia Shaw), Winnipeg (Tiffany Skomro), Ottawa (Ian McCallum) and Halifax (Geoff Wilson – also president of IAP2 International).  The main focus of the meeting was for the Board to work through the Strategic Plan for 2012-13.  With this Board set to change at the April 25 Annual General Meeting, we want to be sure we have our Strategic Plan in good working order to hand over to the new Board at that time.  It was great to host our first elected Board here and show them some Calgary hospitality.  The next face to face meeting will be in Halifax in late Sept. to coincide with the First Annual North American IAP2 Conference.

Jan moderated a Citizen Engagement Panel discussing this critical issue facing all municipalities at this conference, hosted by the City of Edmonton. Panelists included: City of Edmonton Councillor Don Iveson;  Alan Bolstad of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues; Judy Piercy, Managing Director of CBC Edmonton; and Susan Meunier, City of Edmonton Office of Public Involvement. 

The CTC recently worked with a municipality to develop and deliver a customized course for their Communications staff.

IAP2 Wild Rose Chapter and the CTC co-sponsored a Wild Rose Café presentation by two representatives from the City of Edmonton - Michelle Chalifoux, Public Involvement Project Manager and Susan Meunier, Office of Public Involvement.

This education and networking session provided an opportunity for participants to learn more about the City of Edmonton public involvement “Involving Edmonton Policy and Framework”.

“Exploring Issues that Matter” was the focus of the Synergy Institute session designed and led by the CTC’s Gay Robinson at the 2011 Synergy Alberta Conference in Red Deer. 

The annual Synergy Institute sessions are designed to build community capacity for stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution. At this year’s session Gay provided participants with the opportunity to discuss issues of importance to their communities and synergy groups; and to build the skills to deal with these issues.

In June, Jan worked with Fiona Cavanagh in the Centre for Public Involvement to design and facilitate the Citizen Planning Circle that was convened to provide input to the Mayor’s Task Force on Sustainable Communities.

The Citizen Planning Circle was made up of a group of 13 men and women of diverse incomes, ages, backgrounds and experiences who came together for three meetings in June 2011 to discuss issues facing Edmonton’s mature neighbourhoods, to refine and extend those issues, and to envision possible solutions to them. 

A Wild Rose Café education and networking event featuring Fiona Cavanagh of the Centre for Public Involvement was held in Red Deer in conjunction with the IAP2 Wild Rose Board Retreat. Several IAP2 members from Central Alberta joined Wild Rose Board members for a lively discussion about the role of the Centre.

All members of the CTC participated in the very successful IAP2 Canada Affiliate Inaugural Charter Event and AGM in Toronto in June. 

This event was the culmination of several months of intense effort by the IAP2 Canada Transition Board and IAP2 members across Canada.  CTC members Gay Robinson (Treasurer) and Jan Bloomfield finished their terms on the IAP2 Canada Transition Board, and Gale Simpson was elected to the first official IAP2 Canada Board as Treasurer.