Humans of the House: Stories for Civic Engagement

On April 24, 2023, Massey College hosted a conversation about our podcast titled Humans of the House: Stories for Civic Engagement. This event was part of the Massey Dialogues salon series and explored how centring lived experience can enhance representation and participation in our democracy. 

The discussion featured: 

• Sabreena Delhon, podcast host and Executive Director of the Samara Centre for Democracy

• Hannah Sung, co-founder of the podcast production company Media Girlfriends

• Kim Kierans, Senior Fellow and Inglis Professor of Journalism at the University of King’s College 

• Moderated by Nathalie Des Rosiers, former MPP/Ontario Minister and Massey College Principal.

Here are some highlights from the conversation:

“We also wanted to be responsive to what we are hearing because the health of Parliament relates to the health of our democracy, and what happens to our representatives, their experience on the job affects all of us, the people they represent. [...] If we’re not responsive to what we hear, the leaders that we need are to leave, or they’re going to stop stepping forward altogether.” — Sabreena Delhon 

“Authenticity is such a big part of what podcasting is all about because there is so much richness of information in your voice. When you spend thirty, forty, fifty minutes with someone’s voice, you can really get to know who they are, and that’s what we wanted to do.” — Hannah Sung 

“It takes you to a world to which we don’t normally have access to.[...] I think radio is the most visual medium of all mediums, it’s a theatre of the mind, it’s so humanizing and it’s a place for ideas and stories, and I think the podcast series does it exceptionally well.” — Kim Kierans