SFU Centre for Dialogue Identifies Priority Reforms for British Columbia's Democracy

​SFU's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue convened nearly 40 civic leaders and organizations in March 2026 to prioritize recommendations from BC's Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform, which had received input from nearly 1,000 individuals and organizations. Participants identified seven high-impact, implementable priorities — including establishing a non-partisan democratic engagement centre, strengthening civic education, countering election misinformation, and considering a people's assembly on electoral reform. The Centre for Dialogue, which presented to the Special Committee directly, frames the current moment as a rare policy window where public concern and institutional momentum are aligned. For NCDD's network, the initiative demonstrates how deliberative convening can translate broad institutional reform agendas into focused, collectively owned priorities — a model with clear relevance beyond British Columbia.

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British Columbia's democratic institutions are navigating a period of significant strain, marked by rising misinformation, deepening polarization, and declining public trust in civic processes. In November 2025, the BC Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform responded to that pressure by tabling a report — informed by nearly a thousand organizational and individual submissions — containing 36 recommendations spanning civic education, electoral reform, campaign finance, parliamentary governance, and the information environment. Building on that foundation, SFU's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue convened nearly 40 civic leaders and organizations from across British Columbia and Canada in March 2026 to assess which recommendations held the greatest promise and how collective action could advance them. The Centre for Dialogue had itself presented to the Special Committee, contributing an analysis of democratic risks in BC and potential pathways toward renewal.

Through a structured process weighing both potential impact and likelihood of implementation, participants identified seven of the 36 recommendations as priorities. These included establishing a non-partisan centre of excellence for democratic engagement, enhancing public consultation processes, strengthening K-12 civic education, reviewing legislative measures to counter election-period misinformation and hate speech, assigning Elections BC formal responsibility for non-partisan civic education and community grants, evaluating the implications of extending voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds, and considering the creation of a people's assembly to examine electoral reform options. Notably, the Special Committee itself included members from all recognized provincial parties, lending cross-partisan legitimacy to recommendations that might otherwise face immediate political resistance.

The Centre for Dialogue frames the current moment as a genuine policy window — one where public concern, institutional attention, and organizational momentum are converging in ways that rarely align. The prioritization exercise is intended not as a final word but as a catalyst, helping civic organizations, government, and the public identify where coordinated effort is most likely to generate durable reform. For practitioners in the dialogue and deliberation field, the process offers a replicable model: using structured group deliberation to translate a broad set of institutional recommendations into an actionable, collectively owned agenda. The inclusion of a people's assembly among the top priorities also signals growing mainstream receptivity in Canada to deliberative democratic innovations beyond traditional consultation.
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Learn more: Priorities for a Stronger Democracy in BC at sfu.ca/dialogue/news/2026/priorities-for-a-stronger-democracy-in-bc.html