CES Annual Newsletter: Issue 3, April 2005
Editor’s Words
Much has happened since our last newsletter was published in June 2003. The President’s Report will provide a summary of our activities since that time. Details of these activities will be described in Program Updates. The next provincial election will be held in May 2005, together with a referendum on BC’s electoral reform. Find out what’s at stake. Plus more… about web blogs as a new Civil Society Development, and a reflective piece on the value of dialogue.
If you are interested in helping us compile future newsletters, please contact the editor at the civiced@vcn.bc.ca. Feedback about this newsletter can be sent to the same email address.
Inside this issue:
- President’s Report
- Civil Society Development: Weblogs as Civic Participation
- Program Updates: Understanding First Nations
- Program Updates: ACT for Youth
- Program Updates: Study Circle Pilot Project
- 2005 Provincial Election & Referendum on Electoral Reform
- Dialogue and Active Citizenship
President’s Report (2003 and 2004)
In the summer of 2003, CES developed a new program called Active Citizenship Training (ACT) for Youth and delivered it to about 40 participants in the SUCCESS Youth Leadership Millennium Program. Training was offered again in the summer of 2004, also to participants of the YLM Program.
2004 was the year for federal election. We organized a forum in which political commentators discussed issues relevant to the election. On election day, we operated a Chinese hotline to answer questions from voters. More than 200 callers used the service. During the campaign, board members were invited on radio to call for voters to exercise their right and explain the importance of participating in the election.
In 2004, we experimented with the Study Circle, in which a small group of citizens engaged one another in learning and discussion about a specific issue in society. The pilot project was completed, but its continuation will require new resources beyond what CES currently possesses.
In November 2004, CES responded to a survey by the Canadian Ethnocultural Council (funded by Elections Canada), which analyzed barriers faced by ethnic groups in elections. Due to our experience in voter education, we were invited to submit a response.
The CES website continued to be updated with new information and resources. For example, we created a resource page for the 2004 federal election, and now has one for the 2005 provincial election. Both pages can be found in the Resources section of the CES website.
I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to our accomplishments in the last 2 years.
Michael Yue, President
Civil Society Development: Weblogs as Civic Participation
One form of civic participation is to openly express one’s thoughts about society. While we are all protected by the freedom of speech in a democratic system, not everyone has access to public channels of expression for their thoughts to be known. At best, we may occasionally write to the newspapers, call a radio program, or post messages on an internet forum. And then there are the odd chances of being interviewed in a survey. But in the end, we can’t really say that we have a regular platform to make our ideas known, not to mention having some influence on society.
Enter the weblog (or blog), a website structured like a journal, that allows practically anyone to publish his/her thoughts to be read online. Creating a blog is much easier than creating a normal website. Using a structured platform, you can easily produce a “chronicle of your intellectual development” — as frequently as you would like to. Weblogs are also used by groups of people with similar interests or values to exert their presence and influence. Check out Blogs Canada (www.blogscanada.com) to learn more about blogs.
Program Updates: Understanding First Nations
CES started the first Understanding First Nations program in the summer of 201 In 2003, the program took a special turn when 14 Ontario youth (Visions Youth) joined 10 BC youth in a 1-week excursion to experience the cultures and history of the BC First Nations people. They visited the Burrard Indian Band in Vancouver (Tsleil-Wantuth Nation) and the Xatsu’ll Heritage Village in Williams Lake (Great Secwepemc Nation). They also attended a special workshop on the BC treaty process.
One youth wrote that “this project was very beneficial to me in many ways, as I learne to respect my own culture and the importance of preserving it. I have also realized taht life is not about material things and we need to appreciate all that we have because it can easily be taken away.”
This summer, CES will work with Visions Youth to conduct a youth exchange program. The program is sponsored by SEVEC (Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada) with funding from Exchanges Canada. BC youth will have the opportunity to learn more about the First Nations in Eastern Canada, while their Ontario peers will visit BC. Exchanges Canada is a Government of Canada program taht provides financial assistance to young Canadians who participate in an exchange.
You can contact Mabel Tung at mabeltung@canada.com if you want to find out more about this program. You can read a detailed chronicle of the 2003 program on our website.
Program Updates: ACT for Youth
In the summer of 2003, CES delivered a series of training sessions for the SUCCESS outh Leadership Millennium (YLM) Program. The series, called ACT (Active Citizenship Training) for Youth, was designed to introduce youth to the concept of “active citizenship” through interactive learning, including workshops, interviews, presentations, and reports.
The participants learned from a simulation game, where they role played as selection panelists to choose the Winner of an Annual Active Citizenship Award. They were responsible for establishing the criteria for assessing the nominees, compiling profiles of the nominees (through face-tofact interview), presenting the profiles to the whole panel, and voting democratically to determine the final winner.
The nominees were active citizens who have had much contribution in their fields of interest and commitment. About 40 participants were divides into work teams of 3-4 members each (with the support of team coaches and SUCCESS youth leaders), responsible for planning and conducting the nominee interviews, and presenting nominee profiles to the whole group. In the end, each participant had the opportunity to cast a vote to determine the final winner.
A year later in the summer of 2004, the same program was delivered to SUCCESS YLM youth. Tim Lai, an undergraduate Journalism student from the University of Carlton (Ontario), took on the role of chief facilitator.
This year in 2005, we would like to invite other young adults to help with this program. Contact Michael Yue (myue@infinet.net or 604-771-7227) if you would like to be involved in the ACT for Youth program. You can read a detailed chronicle of the 2003 program on our website.
2005 Provincial Election: Vote on General Election Day
A Provincial General Election will be held on May 17, 2005. This time, voters will cast TWO ballots: one of an MLA and one for the Referendum on Electoral Reform (more about the referendum in the next section).
You can register to vote if you are:
- 18 years of age or older, or will be 18 on General Voting Day;
- A Canadian citizen; and
- A resident of BC for the past 6 months
Elections BC has merged the federal and provincials list. This means that if you were registered to vote in the 2004 federal election, you are no on the provincial voters list. You can find out if you are registered using one of the following methods. 1. Go online at www.elections.bc.ca 2. Call Elections BC at 1-800-661-8683 You can download a Voter Information Guide at http://www.elections.bc.ca/reg/voter.reg. htm. *Only 55% of eligible votes cast their ballots in the 2001 provincial election.
Referendum on Electoral Reform: BC-STV
On General Election Day (May 17, 2005), BC voters, while choosing their MLAs, will also have an opportunity to decide if they want to adopt a new electoral system called BC-STV (BC Single Transferable Vote).
Last year, Vancouver voters went to the poll to decide if they wanted to adopt a new municipal electoral system. This time, we are doing it for the whole province. In 2004, the BC Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform (www.citizensassembly.bc. ca), a body composed of 160 randomly selected BC citizens, worked diligently to learn about the different electoral systems in the world, conducted province-wide consultation, and finally recommended a new system called BC-STV for voters to decide.
According to the Final Report of the Assembly, BC-STV is a proportional representation system, making it very different from the current system of First- Past-The-Post (FPTP). In FPTP, we select one MLA to represent each constituency. BC now has 79 MLAs representing 79 constituencies. In each constituency, the candidate who receives the highest number of votes will win and become the MLA. The party that has the highest number of MLA seats will form the government. In this system, the number of MLA seats won has no inherent relationship with the number of votes received by the party.
In the new BC-STV, single-member constituencies will be merged to form multiple-member constituencies. We will select 2 to 7 MLAs in each constituency. Due to the design of BC-STV, it is expected that there will be a stronger inherent relationship between the number of MLA seats won and the number of votes received. This is known as “proportional representation”. In theory, the larger is the number of MLAs in a constituency, the higher is the chance of proportional representation.
Like in any referendum, there is now a YES and a NO camp to campaign for influencing voter decision. CES has conducted a workshop and a debate to educate the public about the electoral reform. The CES website has useful links to the 2 camps and other learning resources about electoral reform and STV. Visit www.civiceducationsociety.ca/ Provincial%20Election%202005.htm.
Dialogue and Active Citizenship
We engage in conversations all the time, but “genuine dialogue” is scarce these days. We often seem to lack the adequate time or willingness to engage one another in a meaningful dialogue, whereby deep thoughts and ideas are exchanged. We tend to focus more on getting something done than on understanding why and how we do things.
We have many questions in our minds, but we tend to seek simple answers. We often lack the patience to dig deeper into issues that face us, hoping that complex issues can have simple resolutions.
A healthy civil society needs an active citizenship that not only acts, but also seeks dialogue. Without genuine dialogue, citizens will act from their own perspectives, without considering the needs of others. In an increasingly diversified society, dialogue between citizens is the best way to ensure that deep, mutual understanding exists before actions are taken.
To ensure continuous dialogue, an environment conducive to this purpose must exist. In the last CES newsletter, I made reference to the idea of the Study Circle, a method of dialogue. Developing and implementing such a mechanism will require resource commitment from both government and community. We will try to look for the necessary resources to make this happen.
But there are many other possible mechanisms for citizen dialogue. We welcome suggestions from you. If you have any great ideas of enhancing dialogue between citizens, please contact me at myue@infinet.net or 604-771- 7227. Michael Yue, CES President
