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Wise Democracy Victoria

Exploring genuine democracy in Victoria, BC, Canada... and beyond


This site serves as a collaborative tool to facilitate community co-intelligence and high-quality conversations engendered through choice-creation; and to engage those interested in Wise Democracy in Victoria. Through random-selection and dynamic facilitation, we engage citizens of all walks of life in exploring and co-creating meaningful solutions for a wide range of salient issues.

Also visit our blog for recent postings at www.WiseDemocracyVictoria.org

NOTE: This site is growing -- see all pages listed in the small window to the left in the "Navigation Pane" - just scroll up & down.

Citizen Insight Councils - City of Victoria

See the update and report on the three Citizen Insight Councils we recently facilitated for the City of Victoria Click here.


Wisdom Councils precipitate energy, enthusiasm and HOPE for the Future:
Past participants have indicated that the experience was transforming and energizing because they felt that their voices could actually make a difference!


Like a match in a haystack, the ‘latent energy of democracy’ is there, ready to be tapped. It only takes a few people at the right time and the right place. You can help provide the spark!

Three Wisdom Councils have now been successfully convened in Victoria, including the first in Canada and one in the close-knit neighbourhood of Fernwood. In each case the Council members have prepared an amazing statement of community spirit!
Even though the council members did not know one another prior to meeting and came from a wide diversity of backgrounds and experiences, in each case they have prepared a powerful, unanimous statement.
#1 Statement of the 1st Canadian Wisdom Council
#2 Statement of the 2nd Victoria WC
#3 Statement of the 3rd Victoria WC (Fernwood)

RESOURCES AND VALUABLE LINKS:


Draft Vision for Wise Democracy Victoria
Our vision is to help engender wise democracy locally and globally by:
  • continued experimentation with processes that enable high-quality dialogue, such as Wisdom Councils (empowering citizens),
  • working with communities to "grow" these processes from within (empowering communities)
  • communicating replicable models to communities everywhere (further empowering global civil society)
Group emails are archived on our Google group site.

PLEASE JOIN US ON OUR JOURNEY TOWARDS WISE DEMOCRACY by reading the statements and inviting others to take a look.
Do these statements resonate with you?

WC #1: First Victoria Wisdom Council --
Canadian History in the Making!


The First randomly selected Canadian Wisdom Council deliberated on March 30-31st, 2007 and reported to the public immediately afterward.View the Council's Statement Page.

The event created quite a stir in the Capital city of British Columbia. Our eldest member was 71 years and our youngest 17. Click here to read the following article from the Times Colonist newspaper. The youngest member was Simon Nattrass who consequently took a run for Major of Victoria at age 19 in 2008!

Article in the Times Colonist Newspaper April 5, 2007
Home - Wise Democracy Victoria

Victoria News March 2, 2007In early March we mailed nearly 500 invitation letters to Victoria residents who were randomly selected from the phone book.

Out of those invited, 12 participants agreed to participate as members of the first Wisdom Council.





Jim Rough - Introductory Remarks, First Victoria Wisdom Council


Thanks to a great group of volunteer convenors for making the Victoria Wisdom Councils an exciting expression of community spirit and engagement.

WC #2: Second Victoria Wisdom Council

The Second Victoria Wisdom Council of nine randomly selected citizens shared its statement with the people of Victoria at a community meeting on June 23.
A copy of the statement is available here. We encourage you to discuss this statement with your friends and family.
Please let us know about your views on the statement by filling in an Opinionnaire® kindly provided by the Forum Foundation.SECOND VICTORIA WISDOM COUNCIL SHARES ITS MESSAGE

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE COUNCILLORS WHO GAVE UP THEIR FRIDAY EVENING AND SATURDAY TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE GOOD OF SOCIETY.

Introduction to Second Wisdom Council & Presentation of the Statement

In preparation for the Second Wisdom Council, we mailed out nearly 350 invitation letters to people who had been randomly selected from the Victoria phone book. Nine of these people kindly accepted the invitation and joined us in another exciting experiment to revitalize democracy from the grassroots.

We've received excellent media coverage for both Wisdom Councils. In the lead-up to the Second Victoria Wisdom Council, the following article was published in the Victoria News, Saanich News, and Oak Bay News on May 18th, 2007.
Article in Victoria News May 18, 2007

WC #3: The Fernwood Wisdom Council

"We resolve to reduce our footprint and strengthen our handshake"

On Saturday, March 29th, 2008 the Fernwood Wisdom Council reported on their radical experiment in grassroots democracy! This randomly selected group of 9 Fernwoodians spent a day and a half with a dynamic facilitator, listened deeply to each other about what matters in their lives and community, and formulated a statement to share with you in the hope of stimulating community conversations.

NOTE: see the community website at
on www.FernwoodCommons.ca including the Fernwood Wisdom Council.
Dan facilitating in Fernwood
In February, we had a great work party stuffing 200 envelopes with invitations to randomly selected residents of Fernwood. more...

We held a sucessful information session on Wisdom Councils at the Fernwood Inn on January 28, 2008. Dan facilitated a demonstration of the Wisdom Council process. See the article in the Fernwood News.



Emails to the group...
We have a Google group for sending emails to the entire group of convenors.
To post to this group, send email to wise-dem-vic@googlegroups.com
For past emails, visit the group at http://groups.google.ca/group/wise-dem-vic?hl=en
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Contact:

If you would like more information on the Victoria initiative, please call or email:
George Sranko
Chair, Victoria Wisdom Council Convenors
email: gsranko "at" shaw.ca
phone: 1-250-598-0124




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GeorgeRS
Latest page update: made by GeorgeRS , Jul 17 2011, 11:50 PM EDT (about this update About This Update GeorgeRS Edited by GeorgeRS

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pjmora New Constitution _ Part 2 0 Jan 12 2011, 5:14 PM EST by pjmora
Thread started: Jan 12 2011, 5:14 PM EST  Watch
6.a) From a list of candidates, submitted by citizens from and for each riding, on an official, computerized, perpetual electoral system, the candidate with the most votes shall be the "MPA".
6.b ) The MPA’s duty shall be limited to facilitate and implement legislation as decided by the majority of voters, and to supervise the executions of the citizens' mandate by government employees.
6.c) MPAs shall have “No Term of Office". The position shall last as long as the majority of citizens maintain support for that MPA.
6.d) The financial remuneration to all MPAs shall be no more, no less than the average salary of a public employees of the State, plus reasonable remuneration for job related expenses.
6.e) Financial remuneration shall continue for a predetermined, reasonable length of time, after a MPA losses majority of public support, as delegate.
Ministers of State, “MS”
7.a) All MPAs shall select, from the Assembly, a Premier, or Minister of State, "MS”.
7.b) The Premier shall facilitate the Legislation proceedings on the Assemble, and represent the State, nationally and internationally.
8.a) All MPAs, shall vote to appoint all Ministers of State: Education, Health, Housing, Transportation, Communications, Social Services, Security and Order, Forest-Lands-Minerals, Energy, etc.
8.b) All MSs shall govern the bureaucratic operations of each Ministry.
8.c) All MSs shall be subject to recall.
Independent Agencies
9.a) All MPAs, shall vote to appoint Chief Officers for Independent Agencies which need to be free from political influence: Solicitor General, Chief Electoral Officer, Chief Information Officer, etc.

National and International commitments and agreements
10.- National and International commitments, immigration, defense, and trade agreements shall be accepted, rejected, or cancelled by the majority of sovereign citizens on an on-going referendum.
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pjmora A suggested constitution as the starting point 0 Jan 12 2011, 5:05 PM EST by pjmora
Thread started: Jan 12 2011, 5:05 PM EST  Watch

We The Sovereign Citizens
1.a) Adopt a constitution which establishes the territory now known as the Province of British Columbia, as a new State united to Canada.
1.b) Adopt, by referendum, the name of this new political state.
2.- Adopt The Canadian Charter of Human Rights, as an overriding legislation to safeguard minority’s human rights.
Legislative Power to the People
3.a) Establish a clear understanding that the collective citizen’s initiative and legislation, to govern this new political state, is the supreme authority.
3.b) Declare independence from the Monarchy and it’s Governors; from the legislative authority of Members of the Canadian Parliament; from the legislative authority of the BC Members of the Legislative Assembly; and from the city councilors’ authority to create By-Laws.
4. All legislation shall be initiated exclusively by citizens and supported by the majority of citizens, via perpetual, computerized polling system.
Computerized Polling System
5.a ) Adopt a computerized mechanisms to facilitate Initiative, referendum and recall.
5.b) The electoral agency must ensure that the polling system is secure, transparent, verifiable, and easily accessible . It shall be sufficiently available to all citizens, through public libraries and other electoral offices across the State.
Member of the Political Assembly “MPA”
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pjmora The Next step in the evolution of Democracy 0 Jan 12 2011, 5:01 PM EST by pjmora
Thread started: Jan 12 2011, 5:01 PM EST  Watch
Many scientists are warning us that if we continue pursuing economic growth and widespread selfish consumerism, life on earth will continue to suffer unnecessarily.
We also know that unsustainable depletion and maldistribution of resources is mainly the product of ineffective government regulations.
What is less understood now, is that the current “Monarchic-Representative-Democracy", type of Canadian Government, is the source of ineffective social and environmental legislation. Citizens’ apathy and acquiescence empowers this political system.
Once we realize that too much political power in the hands of a few politicians will inherently continue to corrupt, we must look, beyond changing parties, into an alternative form of governance.
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Adobe Portable Document Format Citizen Insight Councils Victoria 2010-11.pdf (Adobe Portable Document Format - 2,037k)
posted by GeorgeRS   Jul 17 2011, 11:11 PM EDT
Citizen Insight Councils 2010-11 - Victoria, BC