News & Updates

Decisions that impact the public should not be made in isolation. Public participation is about engaging with the public during the decision-making process, benefiting from their diverse range of ideas, views, and concerns, and using that information to make better decisions.

Here are 6 reasons to enroll in IAP2 Canada’s Certificate in Public Participation.

1. Broaden your spectrum of understanding and provide current and practical tools for meaningful and effective public participation.

2. Enhance your professional credibility and open up new career opportunities in the field of public participation. 

3. Bringing a new level of expertise to your organization and improving the quality of your public engagement initiatives.

4. Learn how to increase engagement and inclusion for all people including racialized groups, Indigenous peoples, and other groups who are more likely to be overlooked, identifying a wide range of ideas, views and concerns.

5. Engage in better decision-making that reflects public interests and values making it easier to communicate, implement, and understand the process, decisions, and impact.

6. Build capacity for collaborative decision-making over the long-term by improving relationships and increasing trust between decision-makers and the public.

What’s different about IAP2 Canada’s NEW Certificate in Public Participation? 

IAP2 Canada’s Certificate in Public Participation builds on the foundations of public participation training and best practices from around the globe to provide participants with approximately 30 hours of specialized training in public participation and engagement.

We’ve taken the best of stakeholder and engagement training from around the globe to create the new certificate program. The training explores best practices, how to design meaningful public participation and engagement, and how to apply this knowledge in your work.

Who should participate?

P2 practitioners are a diverse community of professionals, citizens, academics, and decision-makers who are committed to involving the public in decisions that affect them. 

The IAP2 Hosted Certificate in Public Participation course bundle is recommended for:

• New and emerging practitioners beginning their journey in public participation and engagement

• Experienced P2 professionals, as a way to demonstrate your commitment to best practices and ethical standards in public engagement.

• Anyone involved in engagement projects in all levels of government, private industry, utilities, environmental agencies, community organizations, not-for-profit and education providers who would like to understand and deliver meaningful engagement in a Canadian context.

Find out more!

Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a common interest, set of ideas, or concerns and come together to support each other, interact, and learn together.

These communities are a great way to meet others working in public participation and engagement, extend your networks, learn from others in your profession, and share ideas and issues. Members can share resources, experiences, stories and tools and build their skills and knowledge in their particular industry.

At IAP2 Canada, we currently have 4 communities of practice available to our members:

• Equity, Diversity, Inclusion

• Indigenous Engagement

• North American Energy Sector

• Young Professionals Network

Many engagement practitioners work alone or in small groups, so these groups can provide members with valuable encouragement, support, development, and a sounding board.

Find out more!

Decisions that impact the public should not be made in isolation. Public participation is about engaging with the public during the decision-making process, benefiting from their diverse range of ideas, views, and concerns, and using that information to make better decisions. 

IAP2 Canada’s Certificate in Public Participation builds on the foundations of public participation training and best practices from around the globe to provide participants with approximately 30 hours of specialized training in public participation and engagement.

Why should you participate?

1. Broaden your spectrum of understanding and provide current and practical tools for meaningful and effective public participation.

2. Enhance your professional credibility and open up new career opportunities in the field of public participation. 

3. Bringing a new level of expertise to your organization and improving the quality of your public engagement initiatives.

4. Learn how to increase engagement and inclusion for all people including racialized groups, Indigenous peoples, and other groups who are more likely to be overlooked, identifying a wide range of ideas, views and concerns.

5. Engage in better decision-making that reflects public interests and values making it easier to communicate, implement, and understand the process, decisions, and impact.

6. Build capacity for collaborative decision-making over the long-term by improving relationships and increasing trust between decision-makers and the public.

Who should participate?

P2 practitioners are a diverse community of professionals, citizens, academics, and decision-makers who are committed to involving the public in decisions that affect them. 

The IAP2 Hosted Certificate in Public Participation course bundle is suitable for:

• New and emerging practitioners beginning their journey in public participation and engagement

• Experienced P2 professionals, as a way to demonstrate your commitment to best practices and ethical standards in public engagement.

• Anyone involved in engagement projects in all levels of government, private industry, utilities, environmental agencies, community organisations, not-for-profit and education providers who would like  to understand and deliver meaningful engagement in a Canadian context.

Upcoming core training courses hosted by IAP2 Canada

We’ve created the following options for IAP2 hosted training opportunities to allow for flexibility of schedule and the level of our learners.

IAP2 Hosted - Certificate in Public Participation Course Bundle - for Level 1 Practitioners  

• March 21, 2023 – April 14, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 14, 2023

We recommend the IAP2 Hosted Certificate in Public Participation (for Level 1 practitioners) course bundle for:

• New practitioners beginning their journey in public participation and engagement

• Anyone involved in engagement projects, who wants to understand and apply the fundamentals of meaningful and effective public participation and engagement

Not yet ready to pursue the certificate program as a bundle? 

IAP2 Canada hosted courses are also offered individually throughout the year. Our upcoming core courses include:

IAP2 Hosted - Fundamentals of P2 and Engagement 

• March 21 & 22, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 14, 2023

IAP2 Way in Challenging Contexts 

• April 4 & 5, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 14, 2023

Designing P2 and Engagement

• March 27-30, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 14, 2023

Applying Methods

• April 17-20, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 22, 2023

If you're not sure where to start your learning journey for the IAP2 Canada Certificate in Public Participation, take a look at our learning pathways.

View all upcoming training

Did you know you can still register to access more than 35 on-demand sessions at your own pace through the 2022 IAP2 North American Conference (NAC) Digital Experience? 

The 2022 IAP2 NAC offered 3 days of live programming during the in-person conference that featured sessions by thought leaders from across the public participation and engagement landscape. 

Get ready to expand your skill set, gain insights and spark inspiration in your public participation and engagement practice.

Member Pricing

$400 plus taxes

Non-Member Pricing

$550 plus taxes

Did you attend the 2022 NAC in person?

Don't forget! All in-person full-conference registrants have on-demand access to the conference recordings with their registration.  

Virtual Hub Login

Meet our new co-chairs of the EDI CoP. In the coming weeks, the co-chairs will be working with the IAP2 Canada operational team to plan the schedule, topics and speakers of the EDI CoP for the upcoming year.   

Tanushree Pillai is an anti-racism educator, DEI facilitator, and communications consultant who speaks six languages. Tanushree has more than a decade of experience in communications, and has been doing EDI work in various capacities since 2016. Her professional, lived, and educational experiences in EDI are a strong part of her identity.

Dorsa Jalalian is a passionate urban designer, project manager, and community engagement specialist with over 8 years of public participation experience in the Middle East and North America. Dorsa’s lived experience and strong belief in diversity, equity and inclusion has led her to advocate for designing inclusive cities through community engagement and to initiate EDI conversations in her industry.

Stay tuned in the coming months for the launch of this Community of Practice to sign up for this educational topic. 

Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are key priorities for IAP2. The goal being that EDI CoP participants come away feeling that they have gained knowledge and networks to help them advance their own careers, and that they have had the opportunity to share in order to assist others.

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Rencontrez les co-présidents de la nouvelle communauté de pratique sur l'équité, la diversité et l'inclusion

Rencontrez nos nouveaux co-présidents de la CdP EDI. Au cours des prochaines semaines, les coprésidents travailleront avec l'équipe opérationnelle de IAP2 Canada pour planifier le calendrier, les sujets et les conférenciers de la CdP EDI pour l'année à venir.   

Tanushree Pillai est une éducatrice en matière de lutte contre le racisme, une animatrice de l'IDE et une consultante en communication qui parle six langues. Tanushree a plus de dix ans d'expérience dans le domaine de la communication, et fait du travail d'ÉDI à divers titres depuis 2016. Ses expériences professionnelles, vécues et éducatives en matière d'EDI constituent une part importante de son identité.

Dorsa Jalalian est un designer urbain passionné, un gestionnaire de projet et un spécialiste de l'engagement communautaire avec plus de 8 ans d'expérience de participation publique au Moyen-Orient et en Amérique du Nord. L'expérience vécue de Dorsa et sa forte croyance en la diversité, l'équité et l'inclusion l'ont amenée à plaider pour la conception de villes inclusives par le biais de l'engagement communautaire et à lancer des conversations sur l'EDI dans son secteur.

Restez à l'écoute dans les prochains mois pour le lancement de cette communauté de pratique et inscrivez-vous à ce sujet éducatif. 

L'équité, la diversité et l'inclusion (EDI) sont des priorités clés pour AIP2. L'objectif est que les participants à la CdP sur l'EDI repartent avec le sentiment d'avoir acquis des connaissances et des réseaux qui les aideront à faire progresser leur propre carrière, et d'avoir eu l'occasion de partager afin d'aider les autres.

Engaging the public as a project is being developed is one thing; but how to track the engagement and monitor it over time is still an issue. A tool for helping to guide more effective community engagement planning took one of the top honours in the 2022 IAP2 Canada Core Values Award and has now received top honours from IAP2 International.

IAP2 International announced yesterday, at the IAP2 Australasian conference in Melbourne, Australia that the Conference Board of Canada received the IAP2 International Research Award for their project “Empowering Communities to Monitor Major Projects in Impact Assessments”, in which an Engagement Indicators Playbook was developed. The Board’s researchers recognized a need for a tool to help plan and sustain public participation and Indigenous engagement processes, in view of the growing influence of gender, equity, Indigenous reconciliation, climate action, and sustainability on engagement. 

The Playbook, its guidance, and its indicators, were developed through an iterative and participatory research process led by a research team, Colin Brown, Marta Bristow, Gillian Kerr, and Twiladawn Stonefish, from May 2021 to February 2022.

Learn more at https://www.conferenceboard.ca/focus-areas/sustainability/community-engagement-indicators

The award winners represent best practice in the field of public participation and serve as model of excellence for others to emulate. Winners and finalists are recognized for their contributions to the field in the areas of indigenous engagement, community development, health, infrastructure, environment, disaster and emergency services as well as for their creativity, innovation and inclusion. This is a testament to the tremendous expansion, professionalism, and impact of our field of expertise.

Finalists for the ’best of the best‘ international awards were gathered from entries submitted by IAP2 Regions in Australasia, Canada, and United States.

Source: International Association for Public Participation (IAP2)

How can digital and hybrid approaches support engagement when participants are polarized? We have all learned that power, privilege, and the inability to understand one another’s perspectives are key challenges for engagement today.

Risk-averse organizations might turn away from public engagement for fear of contentious online discourse, or lean into highly controlled digital strategies with flat surveys and limited conversation spaces; but many are leaning into the challenge to build digital and hybrid engagement spaces that are dynamic, equity-minded, welcoming, and creative.

Hear from experienced digital engagement practitioners about strategies and tools for bringing diverse voices into conversations and offering opportunities for consensus, while supporting safer/welcoming spaces for a divided public.

Thanks to 76 Engage and The HiVE, this webinar is free for all.

Technology Lead Sponsor

Technology Sponsor

Join us November 10 from 12-1pm Eastern / 9-10am Pacific!

Register Now

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Joseph Thornley is founder and CEO of 76engage. He currently leads the 76engage development team and assists governments at the national, state and local levels to design, build and run effective online engagement initiatives. Prior to founding 76engage in 2015, he founded Thornley Fallis Communications in 1995v and 76design in 1999. He is a past Chairman of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms and founding Director of IAP2 Canada’s National Capital Region Chapter.

Elizabeth Thornley designs and builds online engagement experiences aimed at providing the public and stakeholders with meaningful input and opportunities.

She has worked with local, provincial and federal governments.

Sophia Robison is an urban planner and advocate for community engagement for The HiVE & Social PinPoint. Sophia works to build a community of best practice in public engagement, particularly around the use of digital technology. Previously, Sophia worked in local government, notably with the City of Pittsburgh's Department of City Planning where she created the City’s first Public Engagement Guide and implemented that program across more than five City Departments. She created the City’s engagement response to the pandemic, EngagePGH, a digital one-stop-shop for all things public engagement for City residents.

Ose Akinlotan is the Neighborhood Planning Manager for the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. She serves as the department’s Equity Liaison and has project managed master plans in the City’s Hill District and Hazelwood neighborhoods, as well as creating an educational series for City residents about city planning. She has navigated community engagement throughout the pandemic using various in-person, hybrid, and digital engagement tools. Ose earned a Master’s of Geography and Environmental Planning from Towson University and a bachelor’s in history from The Morgan State University. Before moving to Pittsburgh, Ose worked for the City of Dubuque, Iowa’s Planning Department and the Iowa DOT.

The 2022 IAP2 North American Conference (NAC) offered a unique opportunity to meet, communicate and collaborate with other P2 specialists and champions from across Canada. Our diverse community of professionals, citizens, academics, and decision-makers are committed to involving the public in decisions that affect them.

As the pre-eminent organization for public participation and public engagement in Canada, our conference offers a unique opportunity to meet, communicate with and share stories with other P2 practitioners and champions from across Canada.

Our theme this year is “Connecting with Purpose”: connecting through differences; connecting to achieve diverse representation; connecting with Indigenous ways of knowing; connecting through the screen; connecting with the P2 community.

All of our conference sessions were recorded in Banff and Digital Conference attendees will receive access to the recorded conference sessions in October so you can enjoy them at your own pace later.

Learn more

At the first meeting of the new board, held in September in Banff, Alberta, the officers for the 2022 - 2023 year were appointed. These four individuals constitute the Executive Committee, whose role it is to manage, or supervise, the management of the affairs of IAP2 Canada between board meetings.

Meet our board of directors

By the IAP2 Canada Research Committee

This third installment of key findings from IAP2’s bi-annual State of the Practice survey shines a spotlight on barriers to inclusion in P2 practice in Canada. Lisez la version française

The survey puts particular emphasis on challenges to providing equitable and inclusive engagement for participants whose first language may not be English. While survey respondents indicated it is common (73%) to translate written material into other languages, the ability to provide real-time in-session translation with an interpreter remains rare (common for only 14% of respondents). These results show no reported progress in ability to include real-time in-session translation services since the 2017 survey and no reported change in translation of written materials.

P2 practitioners responding to the survey are commonly making use of partnerships to meaningfully engage with non-English-speaking participants (62.5%), however this is also lower than reports from 2017, when 72% were commonly consulting community associations for the best approach. Respondents identified online materials and web tools (78%) and printed materials (74%) as the most popular tools for engaging with non-English-speaking participants. Tools reported as least commonly used include hands-on activities (24%), virtual site tours (26%), facilitation or consensus building tools (31%), images/videos of sites (32%), paper-based or in-person surveys/questionnaires/polls (33%), and interactive maps or other tools (39%).

Forty-two percent (42%) of respondents indicated it is common to have no support or procedures in place to work with non-English-speaking participants. With the 2016 Census reporting that a slim majority (58.1%) of all Canadians have English as at least one of their mother tongues, this reality does not match linguistic trends in Canada. According to The Canadian Encyclopedia: (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/languages-in-use)

Although French and English are Canada’s only two official languages, the country’s linguistic diversity is very rich. According to the 2016 census, an increased number of Canadians are reporting a mother tongue or language spoken at home other than English or French compared to in previous years. This is in addition to a large diversity of Indigenous languages.

Survey respondents indicate language diversity in social media and online engagement has improved, rising from 30% in 2017 to 43% in 2020. Interviews, surveys, questionnaires and polls in other languages are also more common (now common for 50% of respondents).

Beyond language-related barriers to inclusion affecting P2 participants, respondents noted the following issues:

67% reported issues related to equity in community representation;

• 64% reported barriers to engaging citizens beyond planning;
• 60% indicated lack of public education about the process of P2 creates barriers;
• 57% commonly find communicating technical, financial and other information creates barriers;
• 54% reported barriers to consensus building; and
• 50% identified managing conflict creates barriers.

IAP2 Canada’s Research Committee noted several barriers to participation in the design of the State of Practice survey. Several comments by respondents supported our observations. We also note that while insights about barriers to inclusion related to language can be gathered from the survey, other aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are not. The Committee looks forward to making improvements to future surveys to improve both the experience of participants and the value of the results to practitioners.

IAP2 Canada is here to help you reduce barriers to inclusion in your on P2 practice. Of particular note, the following learning opportunities are available:

• See Beyond Inclusion: Equity in Public Engagement – A Guide for Practitioners produced in partnership with the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue and associated Research Paper.
• The IAP2 Event Calendar regularly includes topics to help overcome barriers to inclusion and members can also access past Webinars, Tasters, and North American Conference Session Rewinds 
• An Indigenous Engagement Community of Practice and Indigenous Awareness Learning Program have been developed to support the P2 Practitioners in their efforts to remove barriers with these rights-holders.