Our very own Amelia Shaw is the interim International Executive Director of IAP2.
She's left some very big shoes to fill as President of IAP2 Canada and will be missed!

http://iap2hq.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/appointment-of-interim-executive.html

Amelia is well known to many in the IAP2 family. She is the immediate President of IAP2 Canada and  a past member of the Board (prior to it being a Federation).  Amelia has been a leader within IAP2 for many years and has many IAP2 achievements under her belt including being a Core Values Award winner.  Amelia has broad experience in the public sector and has recently become certified by the International Association of Facilitators.

On December 7, 2012, an opt-ed piece was published in the Vancouver Sun : Canada needs a new standard of practice for consultations

IAP2 Canada provided a response to the Vancouver Sun:

An op-ed piece just before Christmas (“Canada needs a new standard of practice for consultations,” The Sun, Dec. 6) is particularly relevant, given the rise of the Idle No More movement as well as continuing issues involving land use, resources and infrastructure. The public increasingly demands a “say” in matters that affect their lives, and, as Robin Gregory and Lee Failing state, “trust in authorities is thin” when it comes to the public engagement process.

The International Association of Public Participation (IAP2), dedicated to excellence and continuous improvement in public participation, would like to note that there are many examples of effective public engagement across Canada. These successes have been in a variety of sectors, including government, private sector, not-for-profits, healthcare, municipal infrastructure and renewable energy. 

The 500-plus members of the Canadian Affiliate (IAP2 Canada) practice and promote values, ethics, methods and professionalism that are the key to these successes, helping to ensure wise decision-making and involving the people and organizations who are most affected by those decisions. Project proponents and participants alike invest a lot of time and resources into these processes and they must be done well. 

IAP2 views public consultation as any process that involves the public in problem-solving or decision-making, using the input received to make decisions.  Public consultation provides a means for incorporating the public’s values and interests into projects that affect their lives. Good public consultation provides mechanisms for meaningful input into the decision-making process and shines a light on issues or possibilities a proponent may not have considered. Good public consultation improves decisions.

But before beginning any public engagement, organizations need to consider:

·        Do they know who the stakeholders are and the diverse interests that could be involved?

·        Are the top decision makers interested in hearing opinions that may not substantiate the status quo or their ideas?

·        Are proposals from the public or changes really options and if so, to what extent?

If the answer to these questions is “yes”, then it is time to develop a consultation process that is specific and purposeful.   Three key values to meaningful engagement: authentic; consistent; transparent.  

People need to know that there are many different ways to engage the public in a meaningful dialogue.  IAP2’s principles, ethics and a spectrum of options for public participation can be reviewed on our website, http://www.iap2Canada.ca .  We propose these as a basis for the conversation and consideration as a “new standard of practice for consultations”.

Sincerely,

Amelia Shaw

President, IAP2 Canada

This year’s Signature Event “Pushing Boundaries: What’s Your Edge?” is all about expanding and growing! Answer the following survey by January 20^th and help us build a program that is relevant to you, your colleagues and the practice of P2 in 2013. The input we receive from participants will guide us in selecting popular topics as the foundation for the Signature Event.

It’s a quick survey and the Signature Event program committee appreciates your time and consideration! Thank in advance and watch the Wild Rose website http://www.iap2wildrosechapter.org/ and social networking sites for more information.  Join us in Calgary in the spring for the 2013 Signature Event.

Just in case you missed it here’s the survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XSNLZQP

All the best,

2013 Signature Event Steering Committee

Atlantic Chapter News

Efforts are well underway to get the Atlantic Chapter established. Messages have gone out to more than 70 potential members with an invitation to create provincial collectives and an Atlantic region steering committee. Dialogue is active and ideas for Chapter engagement events are starting to flow from “flash” coffee meetings around town.

Next steps: Planning a teleconference to discuss preparing a Chapter application and Letter of Intent for submission to IAP2 Canada.

If you would like to help out, please let us know! Contact Alan Timberlake at 902 4248784 or timberaj@gov.ns.ca

BC Chapter

It has been a great fall out here on the west coast. On October 25th IAP2 BC hosted a well-attended social with Vince Verlaan from HB Lanarc-Golder. Vince led a dynamic and thought provoking conversation on "Sustainability, Social Learning and Public Participation" to a jam packed room!

The IAP2 BC executive has been busy hosting training, planning and addressing governance issues including drafting a new training policy for the Chapter and creating a volunteer role description for a Training Coordinator position.

On November 22nd IAP2 BC held its AGM. We shared stories, experiences and laughter while updating members on the activities of the past year. In 2011 the Executive reported that BC membership had exceeded 100 people. This year the Member Services Coordinator reported that membership had exceeded 170 people.

We were sorry to announce the resignation of Caryl Harper from the Executive due to family reasons. We were pleased that another member from Victoria, Lisa Moilanen, has stepped into the role of Partnership Development Coordinator. We were equally pleased to welcome Carolina Quintana-Kohut as Training Coordinator for the Chapter. The AGM also marked the establishment of three new committees: a Member Services Committee that will expand services to members including social media communication; a Program Development Committee to provide support in organizing events; and a Partnership Development Committee that will build relationships and the profile of IAP2 BC.

In January the Executive will be conducting its annual strategic planning for the Chapter, and finalizing the details for several spring socials, training events, and the full day Spring Symposium planned for May 16, 2013. We welcome members from across Canada to check out our website and if you are visiting British Columbia please join us; we look forward to welcoming you.

Exciting Opportunities for Great Lakes Members

Interested in putting some volunteer energy into helping guide the newly formed Great Lakes Chapter's future? The time to act is here. Set your calendars for December 6 when nominations open for elections to the Great Lakes Chapter Executive Committee.

Some responsibilities include:

·         providing professional and social networking opportunities to our members.

·         working with a fun and engaging group of like-minded professionals in choosing opportunities for member benefit.

·         staying current with P2 best practices to ensure quality and timely topics are available for events.

Time commitment:

·         Board orientation and planning session(s).

·         teleconferences every two months, or as needed (1 hr long).

·         emails and telephone calls in between, as needed.

Key Dates:

December 6 - January 10 - Call for Nominations

January 11 - February 1 - Voting

February 5 - Results Announced

Early March - First Meeting of the Executive Committee

Think about it. We'd love to have you involved!

If you're interested or have questions, please contact Brent Bullough, Chair of the Nominating Committee, at bbullough@dillon.ca. We'd love to have you involved!

Wildrose Chapter

Announcing Wildrose Chapter’s 2013 Signature Event

The Wildrose Board invites you to join us next spring at the bi-annual Signature Event entitled “Pushing Boundaries: What’s Your Edge?”. To be held in Calgary, Alberta, this year’s conference is all about expanding and growing! Come join us and dedicate a couple of days exploring your P2 boundaries and limits, understanding them and then having the courage, resources and skills to push past. We hope over the course of the event you find your P2 potential!

Dates and specific locations will be announced shortly but stay tuned as we intend to use our new crowdsourcing tool to get your ideas for conference programming, speakers and content.

Engaging with Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)

As part of a BSR-sponsored series of events called Building Shared Value in a Complex World, BSR held a Free, Prior, and Informed Consent Workshop for Extractive Companies in London on June 19, 2012. Representatives from the mining, oil and gas, and financial services sectors discussed current thinking surrounding FPIC and, more specifically, its application to interactions with Indigenous peoples.

Engaging with Free, Prior, and Informed Consent Report summarizes the major discussion points from the Workshop; raise awareness regarding FPIC principles and their relevance to corporate performance; highlights the major challenges, opportunities, and high-level implications facing companies that want to adopt best practices related to stakeholder engagement and risk management; and, invites companies to embrace the concept of FPIC by integrating its principles into their stakeholder engagement management plans (SEMPs).

Walking Consultations: moving public engagement beyond opinions

“…we need to build in engagement that allows people to do just that – to learn and to change their views - rather than processes that just harden existing positions. We must literally allow people to move – and a good start to that is getting them physically moving,”  says Lorne Daniel.

Walking Consultations - moving public engagement beyond opinions, written by Lorne Daniel of Rethink Urban, speaks to the idea that the best engagement is engagement that allows people to interact, learn from one another, and learn from the environment. In this article, Daniel identifies a number of dynamics that develop through gathering people in diverse clusters to walk through the urban areas that are being discussed.

Small steps beyond the standard build better working relationships with Aboriginals

Across Canada, there is much debate about the Crown’s duty to consult and accommodate Aboriginal rights and interests in the context of mining and resource development. While the debate is important, above and beyond what the courts may decide and what provincial governments and the federal government may do, mining developers who want to have longer term successes need to think seriously about their consultation, accommodation and relationship-building with Aboriginal communities.

Read the Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum article  to learn about three small steps proponents can take to build better working relationships with Aboriginals.

The Promise and Problems with Online Deliberation

This 2011 working paper by National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) member Laura Black of Ohio University’s School of Communication Studies is a 50-page paper focusing on digital media’s usefulness and limitations for deliberation. It provides an overview of how online media can be used for real citizen deliberation, and is accompanied by an infographic that can be downloaded and shared.

Spinning Gold: The Financial Returns to External Stakeholder Engagement

This paper, coming out of the Wharton School in Pennsylvania, was developed to look at the gold mining sector where strong stakeholder conflict resulting from the social and environmental consequences of mining and its association with corruption has led to costly delays and disruptions in project development and execution.

The authors build an empirical argument for the enhancement of financial valuation of physical assets through increased cooperation and reduced conflict with stakeholders. The analysis was undertaken using a data from gold mines belonging to publicly traded firms over a 15 year period.

Read the full paper 

On November 7th & 8th, 2012 Strategy Institute will be hosting its 2nd Annual Innovations in Public Consultation & Engagement Summit in Toronto.

Visit http://www.publicconsultationcanada.com to register and view the agenda.

As a supporter at this event, IAP2 is extending a special 20% discount to you to attend the event.

Use VIP Code IAP20 when registering and save 20% off the regular rates. (Note: this offer is only available to those who have NOT yet registered and cannot be combined with any other promotions)

The event is designed for professionals working on development, planning and energy projects necessitating consultation, mediation and general management of relations with the public and other stakeholders.

·         Build trust for projects with environmental and social impact.

·         Develop policies through collaborative decision-making processes.

·         Address public apathy through participatory planning and development.

·         Support meaningful engagement initiatives under time and resource constraints.

Take this opportunity to network with your peers and build relationships with public and private sector leaders in areas ranging from urban development to energy conservation.

For more information, contact Strategy Institute at 1 866 298 9343 ext 200 or customercare@strategyinstitute.com

Emerging chapter members met in Halifax on September 30 to share news and ideas for chapters. The meeting was well attended – about 20 members – all with great ideas and valuable input. Thanks to all who took the time to attend and share.

Please direct questions or comments about the Chapters to:

Amy Hennessy
Chapter Liaison Committee Chair
604-576-7363
amy.hennesssy@fortisbc.com

Atlantic Chapter

We have volunteers to start up an Atlantic Chapter - Alan Timberlake (Halifax) is leading this effort. If you would like to help, please let us know!

BC Chapter

The BC Chapter is hosting an evening social event October 25. If you know of any fellow Public Participation practitioners who would be interested in learning more about the chapter, please invite them to join us and enjoy a complimentary glass of wine or ice cold beer and a few hot and cold hors d’oeuvres.

We are also very happy to have Vince Verlaan, Manager of Community Engagement & Facilitation at HB Lanarc, a Member of the Golder Group of Companies joining us. Join Vince for a few “deep thoughts” on how creative engagement and effective facilitation are a key component of making the transition to a more sustainable world. Drawing from numerous project experiences and the literature on social learning, organizational change, and social innovation, this presentation will spark discussion and identify opportunities to move the practice of public participation ahead.

Date: October 25, 2012
Time: 5:00PM-7:00PM
Location: Blue Horizon Hotel
1225 Robson Street, Vancouver

October is a busy month with several public participation courses offered here in BC.

Canadian Trainer Collective

Planning for Effective P2: October 22 & 23

Communications for Effective P2: October 24

Techniques for Effective P2: October 25 & 26

**In addition to the above noted courses, Canadian Trainers Collective will be offering courses in 2013. For further details please go to: Canadian Trainers Collective Training.

October is a busy month with several public participation courses offered in BC. Check out our training calendar on our website for details.

Great Lakes Chapter

The Great Lakes Chapter has now submitted its Letter of Intent and Work Plan to become an official Chapter of IAP2 Canada! This submission is the result of input from local members and much work by the current steering committee. If you’re interested in reviewing these materials, please visit our chapter website at www.iap2canada.ca/greatlakes. In anticipation of acceptance, the Chapter will be calling for nominations for executive committee positions (President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Members at Large) later this year. Elections will take place early in 2013, followed by a transition to the new executive. Do you know someone with the ideas and energy to further the goals of IAP2 locally? Maybe you do. Please consider joining the organization at this formative stage. Elections will be formally announced at a networking event being planned for late November in Toronto. Please watch for details.

The Great Lakes Chapter will be presenting about IAP2 at the upcoming Strategy Institute session in Toronto on November 7 and 8. For more information, please visit www.strategyinstitute.com. Stop by and visit us at the IAP2 booth!

The Great Lakes Chapter has also started a research subcommittee. The subcommittee aims to link research and practice through active involvement from our members by looking at best practices, current and past research projects and local case studies. Research needs statements will also be published when applicable to stimulate research on practical or theoretical problems in all subfields of public participation. The subcommittee is open to academic researchers and students as well as practitioners. For more information and to get involved, please contact Sherif Kinawy through our chapter e-mail address.

Got questions? Want to get involved? Get in touch - greatlakeschapter@iap2canada.ca

Praries Chapter

Congratulations and welcome to our newest emerging chapter – The Prairies Chapter (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Northwestern Ontario)!

 We tip our hats to Michelle Holland and her steering committee: Brock Feenstra, Cathy Hummelt, Krista Stobart, Kristen Kent, Lindsay Weedon, David Marsh, Somia Sadiq and William (Bill) Henderson.

The Prairies’ Chapter Application and Letter of Intent were approved by the IAP2 Canada Board of Directors in Halifax on September 30, 2012. The Chapter will focus on training and networking, and will be reaching out to government and industry, as well as other sectors.

 If you would like to connect with the Prairies Chapter, please contact Michelle Holland at michelle@mhollandconsulting.com

St. Lawrence Chapter

We’ve also had great news about the St. Lawrence Chapter – several members in Quebec have stepped up to help revitalize the Chapter. Members helping with the St. Lawrence chapter are: Brenda Pichette (Ottawa), Jacques Benard (Montreal), Janis Crawford (Montreal), Marie Anick Liboiron (Ottawa) and Isabelle Lachance (Montreal). If you know any of these folks or would like to help out, please let us know! Brenda Pichette bap@sympatico.ca or (613) 826-0450

IAP2 values its membership and has been able to do great things in the past year for our members! We are excited about the current happenings with IAP2 Canada including our ongoing events and the 2012 North American Conference!

Your membership gives you access to:

• Job postings
  
• Webinars on P2 hot topics from across North America
  
• IAP2 Canada's Mentorship Program
  
• Networking and professional development opportunities
  
• Regular industry newsletter updates
  
• The latest P2 trainings, events and conference announcements 
  
• and more!
  

Spread the word.

During our Refer-Two-Friends promotion, we invite you to refer someone you know… a friend, co-worker or partner to join IAP2 Canada. If you refer at least two members who join IAP2 Canada, you’ll receive 50% off your 2013 renewal!  

IAP2 Canada, the Wild Rose Chapter, and the BC Chapter are co-presenting two new courses to help you and your organization increase your engagement skill, create a culture of engagement and increase your engagement credibility.

Developed and delivered by internationally acclaimed P2 specialist and trainer Anne Pattillo of New Zealand, these courses (Building an Engaging Organization and CRED!) will be offered in Calgary (December 13, 14 and 17) and Vancouver (December 6,7 and 18).  Anne is known for bringing powerful ideas to her training participants using humour, community engagement expertise and her unique business knowledge and experience. Get ready for some new ideas and a new way of thinking about how stakeholder engagement is integrated into the way your organization does business!

More about Anne:

A consultant and facilitator with over eighteen years’ experience, Anne first formed her business in 1989. She now leads a team of specialised consultants on projects for some of the most dynamic organisations in New Zealand and Australia.

Anne is well recognised in every area of her expertise, from her insightful strategic and leadership work across the government sector to the creation and delivery of an extensive range of specialised, tailored training and development programs for more than fifty Australasian businesses. She also has a reputation for her high level corporate mentoring work with New Zealand leaders, and has been celebrated for her unique ability to influence organizational culture and performance. Transformation is what moves Anne; her generous belief in possibility underpins her approach and fuels those around her to transform organizational life; to create exciting futures out of all that’s possible.

Course handout

Link to Anne’s biography and website

Public participation is alive and well in Nova Scotia. Most P2 activity happens relative to government or government agency activities at the local and provincial levels but there are also frequent public participation projects happening in the wind energy and mining sectors, aquaculture industry, construction and engineering industry, and power transmission and generation.

The Province of Nova Scotia has many public consultations underway at the moment – everything from wind farms and hydroelectric power to cosmetology regulations. The Government of Nova Scotia is working very hard at the moment to develop and improve its internal P2 capabilities through a new Public Engagement Support Unit within the Office of Policy and Priorities in the Treasury Board. Tyler Knowlton, the Chief Public Engagement Strategist, and his team will be attending the Halifax conference so you’ll have the chance to meet and chat with them.

The Halifax Regional Municipality is very active in public participation on an almost continuous basis. One of the more current “hot topics” in local P2 in Halifax involves public engagement around the construction of the new Nova Centre, a publicly and privately-funded convention centre and office tower complex being built in the heart of the city. Local public participation guru, Tim Merry of Myrgan Inc., has assembled a team to engage Haligonians in a dialogue about their vision for this massive infrastructure project. Tim and his team have a reputation locally for running creative and positive engagement projects, including the public engagement work leading up to the design and construction of the new Halifax Public Library. Conference delegates can learn about this project in a session on October 2 entitled, “It takes a community to build a library,” hosted by Library CEO, Judith Hare, and they can see the new library under construction in the heart of the city.

In addition, 2012 is a municipal election year for Nova Scotia, and in Halifax, most of mayoral candidates are talking public engagement in their platforms. Some are even employing some unique engagement techniques in their campaigns. Businessman and style consultant, Fred Connors, has posted a chalk board graffiti wall on the outside of his business on which passersby can leave messages about their hopes for a better Halifax.

I hope when people come to Halifax for the IAP2 North American Conference in October they also take some time to check out the Common Roots Urban Farm (CRUF) in the centre of the city. The farm came about through public participation, and hundreds of community members have been volunteering at the farm in this first year of operation to get it up and running. Recently, CRUF ran a contest to solicit design proposals from community members for an information Kiosk. There were nine excellent designs submitted, and over 1,000 community members participated in selecting the winning design.

So, as you can see, there’s lots of P2 action in Halifax and Nova Scotia, some of it in places we might not typically expect. When you’re in Halifax for the IAP2 North American Conference in October you’ll have lots of opportunity to speak with local people about all the tremendous P2 creativity here.