FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
General
1
What is the Burnaby Community Assembly?
The Burnaby Community Assembly brought together a representative body of 40 residents who met over 7 Saturdays and 1 evening public workshop to learn, hear from experts and community voices, work through trade-offs and engage in dialogue to create recommendations for Burnaby’s new Official Community Plan (OCP), which sets the long-term vision for managing the city’s growth.
2
What is a Community Assembly?
A community assembly (also referred to as a residents' or citizens' assembly) is a group of individuals (selected to broadly reflect the full diversity of their communities) that come together to learn, reflect, discuss and present actionable recommendations to decision-makers. A "deliberative wave" of community assemblies and similar processes have been internationally recognized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for transforming how cities and other levels of government engage residents on complex issues. These processes use modern engagement approaches to address critical shortcomings in conventional engagement by: o Seeking out participants who reflect the full diversity of their communities; o Creating conditions for learning and informed input; o Building empathy; and o Presenting actionable recommendations to decision-makers that can increase the quality, democratic legitimacy and social consensus for City actions.
3
Who was in charge of this project?
This project was led by Simon Fraser University's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, an internationally recognized convenor for public and stakeholder engagement with extensive experience engaging Metro Vancouver communities, including the IAP2-recognized Your Voice, Your Home initiative in Burnaby. This project was undertaken in a collaborative, but arm's-length partnership with the City of Burnaby. The Assembly took place alongside a number of parallel engagement opportunities managed directly by the City to gather input on the development of the Burnaby 2050 Official Community Plan. This project was also supported by The Sortition Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that specializes in recruiting and selecting people by civic lottery to take part in these kinds of events, in a way that is broadly representative of the wider population.
4
Why did we do this Community Assembly?
Burnaby, BC’s third largest city, is embarking on the development of a new Official Community Plan to guide and manage growth between now and 2050. This plan will guide the City on issues such as land use, transportation, housing, the environment, community facilities and services and social and economic planning. The City of Burnaby has set out to engage in an Official Community Plan development process that is: visionary; creative and fun; evidence-based and data-driven; benefitting from a “systems thinking” approach; climate-focussed; and innovative and forward-thinking. The Assembly complemented other broad-based public engagement processes led by the City of Burnaby in the development of the Official Community Plan, and helped to deepen engagement so that residents have transparent information about the constraints and opportunities faced by decision-makers.
5
How did the Community Assembly work?
Prior to the Assembly itself, the Centre for Dialogue engaged in a co-design process to ensure that the Assembly responded to the pressing issues facing the City of Burnaby, effectively engaged Burnaby's diverse communities, and supported participants with the tools they need to develop recommendations that were both well-informed and actionable by Burnaby City Council. This design process was informed by discussions with City of Burnaby staff and Council, technical experts on city planning, diverse, knowledgeable, and embedded members of the Burnaby community and prominent community organizations. An Advisory Committee was also formed to advise on the process and ensure the Assembly was informed by a full range of experiences and perspectives. The Assembly itself proceeded through five phases: 1) Assembly Selection; 2) Learning & Visioning; 3) Deliberation; 4) Finalization; and 5) City of Burnaby Response. First, a civic lottery was used to select 45 residents to sit on the Assembly, who together broadly reflected the demographic diversity of Burnaby based on census data (40 Members completed the process, after attrition). After Members were selected, the Assembly started with a phase for learning and visioning to enable members to learn from each other and connect with evidence-based information and diverse perspectives, including discussion materials and presentations from experts and community knowledge holders. Next, the Assembly entered a deliberation phase where members examined municipal policy options, worked through trade-offs in relation to their values and developed draft recommendations for the Official Community Plan. During this phase, the Assembly sought feedback on its emerging directions from experts, City representatives and the Burnaby community so that they could refine their final recommendations to reflect specific needs within the community, as well as the real-world constraints faced by decision-makers. The Assembly has now published their final recommendations and presented them to Burnaby City Council, who is responsible for final approval of the Official Community Plan. The City of Burnaby has committed to receive and respond to the Assembly’s recommendations, ensuring the process is transparent and accountable. When the City releases its draft Official Community Plan, the Centre for Dialogue has committed to reconvene representatives from the Assembly to review and provide feedback on this draft. Throughout the process, the Assembly also engaged with the broader Burnaby community, inviting input on key issues, creating opportunities for all of Burnaby to get involved in the Assembly.
6
What was the goal or outcome of this Community Assembly?
The goal of this Assembly was to produce recommendations to inform the Burnaby 2050 Official Community Plan. The Assembly also sought to build public understanding, engage in dialogue with the broader community, invest deeply in relationships, advance accessibility and inclusion, and support the City’s commitments to Truth and Reconciliation.
Participation in the Assembly
1
What did taking part involve?
Those who were selected to take part you had the opportunity to meet with individuals from all walks of life in the Burnaby community. They heard from engaging speakers and discussed the relevant issues in small groups, with facilitators to make sure everyone had their voice heard. Assembly Members did not need to have any prior knowledge of the topics in order to participate.
2
What were the dates and times of the Assembly Meetings?
There were 7 Community Assembly meetings in the period of February 24 to June 15, 2024. All meetings took place on Saturdays from 10am to 5pm. 1 evening public workshop was also held in April, 2024. Meetings were scheduled to best accommodate days of significance for the diverse ethnic and religious communities in Burnaby. Specific meeting dates were: o Saturday, February 24, 2024 o Saturday, March 2, 2024 o Saturday, March 16, 2024 o Saturday, April 20, 2024 o Saturday, May 4, 2024 o Saturday, June 1, 2024 o Saturday, June 15, 2024
3
Did Assembly Members receive compensation?
Yes. Funding from community partners has made it possible for the Centre for Dialogue to offer honorariums up to $175 for each full-day meeting for Assembly Members who had to miss work to take part in the Assembly or faced other financial barriers. This recognized the significant commitment on behalf of Assembly Members of their time and attention to participate in the process. To reduce barriers to participation, additional accessibility supports such as child care and elder care were also offered.
4
How did you ensure that this event was accessible?
In addition to supports to address financial barriers to participation as outlined above, we also worked to ensure the Assembly was highly accessible to the Burnaby community. Those who were selected were contacted in advance of Assembly Meetings to arrange for any financial or other accessibility supports that were required to ensure their full participation in the Assembly. The Assembly venue also featured accessible washrooms, elevators and parking. Lunch and snacks were also provided at all Assembly Meetings. If you have a question about accessibility, please email us at info@burnabyassembly.ca
5
Could those who speak English as a second language participate as Assembly Members?
Yes. Over 61% of Burnaby residents have at least one mother tongue besides English, and we wanted to ensure their voices are heard in this process. Programming was designed with the expectation that our Assembly Members would have diverse backgrounds and levels of English fluency. Accessibility supports in multiple languages were also available for those who need them.
6
Who could volunteer to participate as an Assembly Member?
Only those who received an invitation at their mailing address could volunteer to participate. Anyone aged 15 and over (with a few exceptions noted below), and resided at a mailing address that received one of the 26,000 invitations sent across Burnaby in January 2024 could take part. An unlimited number of people who live at the mailing address that received an invitation could volunteer, but only one person from that mailing address could be selected to sit on the Assembly. Residents in multi-suite homes with a single mailing address were asked to share invitations with all co-habitants, lodgers, secondary suites, renters, etc. Temporary residents, permanent residents and Canadian citizens were all welcome to volunteer for the Assembly.
7
Who was ineligible to volunteer as an Assembly Member?
Current elected representatives at any level of government and current employees of the City of Burnaby could not volunteer as an Assembly Member.
8
Which households received one of the 26,000 invitations?
26,000 mailing addresses in Burnaby were randomly selected by civic lottery to receive an invitation. To ensure participation and representation from underrepresented or underheard segments of the Burnaby community extra invitations were sent to postal codes that were more ‘situationally vulnerable’ according to the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation.
9
What happened after residents received invitation and registered for the civic lottery?
Once registration closed, 45 people were selected by lottery from those who registered their interest to take part in the event (40 Assembly Members completed the process, after attrition). The civic lottery process ensured that registrants had an equal as possible chance of being chosen, while also ensuring that Assembly Members broadly represented the spectrum of Burnaby's diverse community. Demographic targets for age, gender identity, language spoken most often at home, education, home owner/renter status, immigration status and location of residence in Burnaby were set to match Statistics Canada data. A minimum target of 3 Indigenous participants was also set as one of several efforts to ensure the perspectives of Indigenous community members were meaningfully incorporated into the process (in the end, 4 Assembly Members self-identified as Indigenous). Those who were selected were then contacted by phone and email in early February 2024 to let them know they had been selected, confirm they could attend, discuss any requirements they had to make it possible for them to attend, and explain what happens next.
10
What if an Assembly Member could not make it to one or some of the Assembly meetings?
Participation in as many meetings as possible by Assembly Members was essential to the success of the Community Assembly and the development of Assembly recommendations. Those who volunteered as Assembly Members were asked to commit to participating in all 7 meetings. If, due to unforeseen circumstances, a member was unable to attend a particular meeting, the facilitation team worked with them to ensure that they were updated on the proceedings of the meeting they missed. Dispersal of honoraria for missed meetings was be considered on a case-by-case basis.
11
Could someone volunteer if they did not live in Burnaby?
No. Invitations were only sent to residences in Burnaby, and only people living at selected addresses were eligible to volunteer for the Assembly.
12
Were the names of Assembly Members publicly disclosed?
The names of Assembly Members were kept confidential throughout the Assembly Meetings, but were subsequently published in the Assembly's final report.
13
What will happen after the Assembly?
Assembly Meetings have concluded and the Assembly's final recommendations for Burnaby's Official Community Plan have been published. Please visit the Results & Next Steps page to read the final recommendations. These recommendations and an accompanying report have also been presented to Burnaby City Council, who is responsible for final approval of the Official Community Plan. Burnaby City Council has committed to receive and respond to the Assembly's recommendations, ensuring the process is transparent and accountable. The recommendations and report will also be independently published by the Centre for Dialogue. Once the City of Burnaby publishes its draft Official Community Plan, currently scheduled for 2025, the Centre for Dialogue has also committed to reconvene representatives from the Assembly to review and provide feedback on this draft.
14
Were there other ways to be involved besides being a Member of the Assembly?
Yes. All Burnaby community members had opportunities to follow Assembly proceedings and give feedback to the Assembly as it developed its recommendations. While Assembly Meetings have concluded, Burnaby community members will continue to have opportunities to get involved by reviewing the Assembly's learning materials and final recommendations. Please keep the conversation going by sharing and discussing these materials with your friends, family and community! Apart from the Community Assembly, the City of Burnaby is also leading a number of different community engagements to gather feedback on the development of the Burnaby 2050 Official Community Plan.
Contact Us
SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
3300-515 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3
Tel 778-782-9579