Citizen Engagement in Practice - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 55

sought to engage a variety of communities often not included, such as
homeless people, street kids, new Canadians, low-income mothers, senior
citizens and First Nations. Study circles or discussion groups were used as
the mechanism for engagement. Seventy one of these took place. The dura-
tion of the consultation was about six months.
The consultation was initially proposed in 1994 when there was grow-
ing public concern regarding the perceived threat to long-established
healthcare policy and principles. The Federal Government announced that
it would engage in extensive dialogue in relation to health and health care
in Canada by setting up a national Forum for this purpose. The stated
mandate of the Forum was “ to involve and inform Canadians and to advise
the federal government on innovative ways to improve our health system

and the health of Canada's people ” (Wyman et al. 1999). Public opinion

showed that many Canadians welcomed such involvement although there
was some strongly expressed opposition and negative criticism. Twenty-
four members were recruited to the Forum, “ including economists, health
policy analysts, physicians, health care providers, lawyers, academics,
business people and community activists. These individuals were all held
in high esteem, and their collective credibility silenced much of the anti-
Forum sentiment in the initial months of their tenure ” (Wyman et al.
1999). Funding of $12 million was provided for the Forum to carry out its
mandate over four years and report back to the Prime Minister.
The initial work of the Forum defined objectives and established the
framework for dialogue structured around four areas: values ; striking the
balance ; determinants of health ; and evidence-based decision-making .
In addition to carrying out reviews and research themselves, members of
the Forum launched a major citizen engagement exercise to involve indi-
vidual Canadians, organized groups and key stakeholders. The Forum deci-
ded to use a 'study circles' approach to support the engagement process. The
approach uses structured, facilitated and in-depth discussions to promote
mutual understanding and knowledge sharing, to encourage people to con-
sider each other's viewpoints in a non- confrontational manner. This deci-
sion was based on the premise that citizens have a responsibility not just to
give their views on important matters of policy but to be informed on is-
sues relevant to policy making. Accordingly, a way of developing the capac-
ity of citizens to contribute effectively in complex policy deliberations was
needed. The study circles or discussion groups afford citizens the opportu-
nity to engage in exploration of complex policy issues. Prior to participating
in a study circle, interested individuals were asked to register in advance and
to commit to approximately nine hours of time, over two to three sessions.