Welcome Jayne Engle MCCONNELL FOUNDATION
The times we live in require us to bring our creativity, curiosity and courage—individually and collectively—to address the complex challenges brought about by the devastating effects of climate change and increasing inequality. In the decade ahead, we must make unprecedented changes to all aspects of society, and this has to start in the places where we live—in our cities, communities and neighbourhoods. The good news is that we have what we need to make these changes. But doing so demands new ways of organizing ourselves and our systems, and that we think and act together differently and better in ways that follow the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. The Commission’s report was launched in 2015, the same year we began the journey that led to the creation of Participatory Canada. At that time, partners of the McConnell Foundation learned about some unusual and promising community change work happening in London, UK—unusual in its design because it invited creative input from everyone, and promising in its potential for systems change and scaling. Eventually called Every One Every Day, the work was led by the Participatory City Foundation and was first implemented in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. Here in Canada, we envisioned adapting and building upon this work which included building social cohesion and accelerating ecological transition and the next economy, and manifesting reconciliation in local communities. Based on demand from Halifax, Montreal and Toronto, and with support from the Government of Canada’s Investment Readiness Program, McConnell and Participatory City Foundation partnered to establish Participatory Canada. The idea was to undertake a one-year social research and development (R&D) phase to explore feasibility of the approach. We were in the thick of making detailed plans in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which required that we change course and explore what was possible in this new environment. Teams in all three cities quickly decided to go full steam ahead and adapt plans as needed, as they were conscious that building community resilience in creative ways was now more important than ever. The pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities and created new crises, many of which will be with us for a long time. If we are to rise collectively to the scale of these challenges, then we will need to imagine and build new ways of being, living, relating and working together in the places and spaces of local communities. Creating conditions for such transition at speed and scale invites us to innovate how we build social and civic infrastructures that are fit for the future.
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PARTICIPATORY CANADA Y1 SOCIAL R&D REPORT
