Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to an important innovation in the evolution of modern democracy.

As you know, the word democracy comes from the Greek words demos meaning “people” and kratos meaning “rule.” Democracy is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation directly or to choose representatives to do that on their behalf. Our Canadian representative democracy is something we cherish.

On November 19, MP Ali Ehsassi and I invited our fellow parliamentarians to meet with 42 members — randomly selected Canadians from every province and territory — of the 2021 citizens’ assembly who were working with the Department of Canadian Heritage on the effective regulation of social media. The assembly worked with the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression, co-chaired by The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin and Professor Taylor Owen under the direction of Canada’s Public Policy Forum.

To date, we know of 40 citizens’ assemblies and reference panels across Canada dealing with themes as diverse as noise management at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, national pharmacare, public housing, land-use planning, income polarization, municipal amalgamation, electoral reform and mental health.

Increasingly popular internationally, citizens’ assemblies have been used to seek citizen input on issues such as same-sex marriage, fixed-term parliaments, abortion, climate change and other critical issues by countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, the U.K., Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Australia and the U.S.

Former senator Grant Mitchell, with his experience of the deliberative democracy model used by the Ralph Klein government in Alberta in the mid-1990s, extolled its benefits in bringing people together and building consensus on difficult issues. In his speech on my 2020 Senate inquiry on pathways to net zero, he expressed his desire to see citizens’ assemblies employed to address the climate impasse.

Citizens’ assemblies and other deliberative democracy innovations disrupt the typical policy-making sequence by inserting a citizen deliberation step early on between problem identification and policy formulation.

Proponents of deliberative democracy models highlight their power to promote active citizenship; close the gap between elites and the general public; increase trust in government; create more responsive, better supported public policies; and buttress our existing democratic system against trends of populism, pessimism, apathy, cynicism and polarization.

Colleagues, as we senators look to improve our own house in order to better serve Canadians, I know we are also interested in improving the overall democratic system within which we operate.

Honourable senators, giving more Canadians a seat at the table through citizens’ assemblies could be a very healthy thing for our democracy. Wela’lioq. Thank you.