Commissioning a citizens’ assembly/reference panel

A guide for public servants and elected representatives to design and commission long-form deliberative processes like citizens' assemblies.

This guide is for public servants and elected representatives who are interested in designing and commissioning long-form deliberative processes, more commonly known as Reference Panels, Citizens’ Assemblies, and Citizens’ Juries. We have developed this guide based on our experience developing these processes for governments and public agencies across Canada, scrutinizing similar processes in other countries, and advising numerous international initiatives.

Enlisting citizens and residents to participate in the development of public policy is an important step towards strengthening public confidence in government, as well as improving policy outcomes. Deliberative processes can help strengthen the democratic fitness and readiness of citizens to play an expanded and more resilient role in the public life of their communities. In this way, good deliberative processes draw on the personal experiences of their members while also tapping into the capacity of all people to learn and reason on behalf of others

Source: Mass LBP

Year of publication: 2019