Welcome everyone
24 Islanders and 1 Mainlander (!) gathering...
...looking at what civic engagement looks like in our community.
...looking at what this place we call home means to us.
...not taking away from existing ways to explore issues, but adding to them
Our Open Space works on 4 principles & a law
Whoever comes are the right people; in whole group and breakouts.
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened.
When it starts is the right time--it's a creative process.
When it's over, it's over.
The law of two feet: If we're not in a place where we're learning & contributing, we go somewhere where we can.
These principles and this law creates 2 creatures: the bumblebee (buzzes about, pollinating) and the butterlfy (hangs about edges of the garden, attracting the eye.)
Our questions:
What do we value most?
What are the indicators of a healthy, vibrant community?
How well do we do public discussion process & how might we do it better?
How do we engage & communicate with all residents about the OCP?
What is our responsibility beyond ourselves (given the Islands Trust P. Act, what should we provide for all residents of BC?)
Our place in the region?
What things--like the road status tool--does it makes better sense for citizens to make/do than it does government to make/do?
How do we preserve social diversity on Bowen Island?
How do we plan for growth/population & demographics on a finite island?
Do we believe that the way Bowen will be if we do not intervene in the status quo (e.g. OCP, LUB) is in harmony with what we seem to value?
Breakout group: How do we engage in discussions about community issues without falling into the usual traps of trying to catch people/groups out, etc.?
Does polarizing or provocative language stimulate or suppress dialogue?
The group notes how quickly sensitive issues become deeply polarized arguments.
Do we know how to have real, substantial dialogue, instead of argument?
Why do things devolve to for or against? We're all for Bowen, aren't we?
People don't know how to ask good, open questions around our issues; we're stuck in the TV courtroom model of closed questions with yes/no or limited answers.
Crisis helps. Note how people rally, share, collaborate, cooperate, give things up in a crisis, e.g. natural disaster
Do we need (better) facilitators at town meetings who can check in and ask "How are we doing?" during contentious debates and to keep the meetings from being polarized?
Good meetings have people who are driven by passion & responsibility. Most town meetings here are filled with passion and devoid of responsibility. That's just a rant. The opposite can be true: dry meetings about who's responsible without the heart or buy in.
Citizens don't have governance tools. Getting your way doesn't matter; getting your hands on the tools and co-creating matters.
We are hit by a crisis, a crisis of confidence in our ability to work together. Yet, Bowen also has reputation as most democratic community in the province in terms of voter turnout & financial disclosure & ...
The OCP may give us an opportunity to restore confidence, but HOW? What mechanisms, tools, etc.
How do you put formal tools of governance in citizens' hands?
The kinds of meetings we have tend to be around making decisions; should we have more discussions?
Do people not feel safe to speak their minds? Or, do they see need for thicker skin?
We need more frequent meetings like this Open Space Gathering; i.e. more dialogue without an agenda. What would we be in 5 years if we had meetings like this once a month?
Do we have the passion we need to drive forward? Or are we complacent?
We seem to be coming down to four things:
1. What are the forms of conversation in community? the processes, times etc.
2. What are new forms of connecting people together (for responsible citizenship)
3. What are the governance tools we might experiment with putting in hands of citizens?
4. What are citizen tools that the municipality might fund in small ways?
Could we start this process of reinvigorating dialogue & citizenship through using the OCP as the touchstone?
An OCP dialogue has the ingredients we need to build the community dialogue we're wanting:
-an organizing need, i.e. the fundamental framing document for our island home
-a set of discussions that don't require decisions
-Open Space structure that creates safe spaces
Session 2: What things can citizens make/do better than gov't?
Taking the Bowen Road Status tool as a model, what other things like that can we make/do?
SeeClickFix is another example of a web tool that works on citizen invovlvement.
We're looking for tools that allow citizens to reclaim governance; we get the data and are equipped and empowered to do something with it.
All the groups coming back together to check in before we leave for the day...
Last words by everyone. Our mayor is excited by the day's work.
The group feels excited and encouraged and "uplifted" by the day's work: they believe it is indeed possible to move forward and build a community where everyone is (more) engaged.
We want to hold more gatherings like this one and a commitment by several members of the group to organize them.
But there is still the worry that not enough are involved and that there is a real concern that small groups of people will get together now and then and the same old processes will take over.
Let's remember that there is no "arriving" in community building.
