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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 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 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
丁香园AV Burnaby Campus, Diamond Alumni Centre
Facilitator: Mark Winston
Scholars from the Greater Vancouver region gathered a moderated discussion on the question 鈥淲hat are the most promising directions for future theory and research on deliberative democracy?鈥�
Public Dialogue and Reception: Rethinking BC Referendums
丁香园AV 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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, 鈥渉ow can British Columbia learn from past referendum experiences to better engage citizens on decision making in the future?鈥�
Principles of Collaborative Engagement Discussion
丁香园AV Harbour Centre
Deliberative Dialogue Discussion
丁香园AV Harbour Centre
Select Media & Commentary
- On The Coast with Gloria Macarenko, special to CBC (January 31, 2019) (segment no longer available)
- - 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.