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Across the world, democracies are grappling with declining trust, political polarization and questions about how to involve citizens more meaningfully in public decision-making. One response has been the rise of deliberative mini-publics: innovative processes that bring together representative groups of ordinary citizens, selected by lot, to learn, deliberate and make recommendations on complex legal and policy issues. 

In this episode of Group Chat recorded live at the Samara Centre for Democracy, host Sabreena Delhon sits down with Dr. Seána Glennon, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. Dr. Glennon introduces us to the idea of deliberative mini-publics and explores how they are being used globally as a tool of democratic renewal. She discusses Ireland’s internationally recognised Citizens’ Assembly process, which played a pivotal role in shaping the reform of the country’s abortion law following a period of polarisation and political paralysis. Drawing on these experiences, Dr. Glennon turns to the  Canadian context; providing background on Canada’s history as a leader in the “deliberative wave,” she explores the potential of mini-publics to tackle the most complex and divisive issues across the country, and digs into Alberta’s “referendum on a referendum.” 

Resources: 

• Alberta’s separation bid: How Canada’s next political crisis could come from within - Dr. Seána Glennon
• Canada's Indigenous Constitution - John Borrows
• Indigenous Spheres of Deliberation - Martin Hebert, The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy
• Group Chat Listening Party Guide - Samara Centre for Democracy