Great articles with the case for citizens’ assemblies or the basics of how they work

“Citizen deliberation is the gateway to a better politics” – Matthew Taylor in the Economist
Power to the people – could a citizens’ assembly solve the Brexit crisis? – Leo Benedictus in the Guardian

What makes a Citizens’ Assembly a Citizens’ Assembly?

Deliberative Mini-Publics – Core Design Features – an academic article by the international leaders in the field  at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance

How to Run a Civic Lottery to Select Participants

How to run a Civic Lottery: Designing fair selection mechanisms for deliberative public processes – A guide by MassLBP, Canada’s leader in deliberative processes.

Want to Visit your MP about a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform?

If you would like to visit your MP to share this idea, get in touch so we can give you some guidance! We have a booklet you can take the visit that we can mail to you. Here is a one page summary you can print at home. 

Watch Fair Vote Canada’s webinar with David Farrell who had a leadership role in three citizens’ assemblies in Ireland: We the Citizens, the Irish Constitutional Convention, and the Irish Citizens’ Assembly. 

51 minutes.

Watch Shoni Field, a participant in BC’s Citizens’ Assembly, explain why and how it worked! 17 minutes.

Resources to Learn More

Find below some resources to learn more about citizens’ assemblies. This is by no means an exhaustive list! For up to date links to citizens’ assemblies around the world, go the the “Around the World” page.

For a thorough academic evaluation at the citizens’ assemblies in Ontario, BC and the Netherlands – how they worked at every step, why they worked, lessons learned – we highly recommend “When Citizens’ Decide“.

The Citizens’ Assembly (Ireland). https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/About-the-Citizens-Assembly/Background/

Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform (BC). https://citizensassembly.arts.ubc.ca/

Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform (Ontario). A New Way to Vote in Ontario. http://www.citizensassembly.gov.on.ca/en/default.html

Citizens’ Reference Panel on Pharmacare in Canada (2016). https://www.masslbp.com/journal/citizens-reference-panel-on-pharmacare

The Constitution Unit. Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/uk-and-europe/citizens-assembly-brexit-0

Convention on the Constitution (Ireland). http://www.constitutionalconvention.ie/Convention.aspx

Democracy Co. Nuclear Waste Storage Citizens’ Juries. https://www.democracyco.com.au/our-projects/nuclear-waste-storage-citizens-juries/

Fornier, Van Der Kolk, Carty, Blais and Rose (2011). When Citizens Decide: Lessons from Citizens’ Assemblies on Electoral Reform. Oxford University Press.  http://patrick-fournier.com/d/6612-cours7.pdf

Extinction Rebellion. The Extinction Rebellion Guide to Citizens’ Assemblies. https://rebellion.earth/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/The-Extinction-Rebellion-Guide-to-Citizens-Assemblies-Version-1.1-25-June-2019.pdf

Goodman, Nicole and Kamenova, Kalina (2013). A New Participatory Policy Model: The Edmonton Citizens’ Jury on Internet Voting. Canadian Parliamentary Review. http://www.revparl.ca/english/issue.asp?param=215&art=1530

Government of Australia. Nuclear State-wide Engagement. https://nuclear.yoursay.sa.gov.au/the-program Jury one Jury two

Citizens’ Assembly on Social Care. https://www.involve.org.uk/our-work/our-projects/practice/how-can-we-find-sustainable-solution-funding-adult-social-care

Jefferson Centre. Citizens’ Juries. https://jefferson-center.org/about-us/how-we-work/

MassLBP (2017). How to Run a Civic Lottery. https://www.masslbp.com/resources

McKay, Susan (2019) A Jury of Peers. How Ireland used a citizens’ assembly to solve some of its toughest problems. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/05/a-jury-of-peers/