Materials
Here are resources and tools collected from TNC member agencies, Social Planning Toronto (SPT), Samara and other partners to help you as you design your events and workshops around civic engagement.
Civic Engagement Tip Sheets
These one page tip sheets created by the TNC team provide ideas, strategies and approaches to engage community residents in conversations about democracy, government and civic particiaption.
Why Engagement Matters
Why Community Agencies Matter
Adult Learning Approcahes
Engaging People Living with Low Incomes
Simple 4 Step Conversations
Keeping It Fun and Fitting
Democracy Engagement Activities
Youth Engagement Strategies
Newcomer Engagement Strategies
Practical Links to Resources & Handouts, Elections Canada
Canada Votes Fact Sheets
Social Planning Toronto in collaboration with other Social Planning Councils in Ontario has produced a federal election fact sheet series – a collection of 13 fact sheets on important federal issues. The fact sheets are short and sweet, providing information and analysis on key topics, questions for candidates and additional resources. Please read them, share them, and don’t forget to vote!
Please check back for translated versions of some of these fact sheets. Plans are to translate them in the following languages: Yorba, Swahili, Mandarin, French, Urdu, Arabic, Tamil, Shona, Somali, Spanish, and Bengali.
Public Transit
Community Infrastructure
Responsible Taxation
Affordable Housing
Long Form Census
Immigration Express Entry
Seniors & Income Security
Jobs & Economy
Poverty Reduction
Child Care
Employment Insurance
Health Care
Climate Change
2015 Voting Poster to accompany SPT Fact Sheets
Workshops & Handouts
We want to thank TNC member agencies and community partners for sharing these invaluable resources. This is a collection of fun workshops to try out and infromative handouts to share, whether in your existing programming or any democracy enagement activities you have planned for your community.
Fact Sheet - Breakdown of Women ELected to Political Office in Canada
Democracy Talks for Citizenship Class Workshop
Visual Diagram of Canadian Govt.
Responsibilities of 3 Levels of Government
Responsibilities of 3 Levels of Government - Mandarin
Voter Fact Sheet
Canadian Democracy Trivia Questions
Federal Elections Jeopardy Game
SPT Voter Participation Train the Trainer Workshop
Voter Pledge Card
Guides & Presentations
More from our fantastic member agencies and partners, here are some very useful resources to help you plan and present.
Organize an All Candidates Meeting or Debate
Samara's Democracy Talks (DT) Facilitation Guide
DT Supporting Material - for use with DT guide or independently
Principles & Values of Outreach & Community Engagement
Overview of Civic Engagement & Government
Play Doh's Republic
Instructions
Democracy Bracelets
Instructions
DT What Matters to Me
Handout
TASSC Overview of Aboriginal Nations' History in Canada
Visit Elections Canada for information and resources: find out if you're registered, when and where to vote, and who's running. You can also find a lot of educational tools here to use in programs. You can find voter ID fact sheets in other languages here. Something fun to try, run a VotePopUp to get your community in the mood! You can order free ballot boxes and voting screens from Carolyn Herbert. Click on her name and email her your contact number and address. This goes great with our partner Samara's VotePopUp kit.
You can also reach Elections Canada by phone at 1-800-463-6868.
Link to Elections Canada
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES at Elections Canada: Work as an election officer in your electoral district. FInd our if you're eligible and apply! Please share widely with community residents.
Links to Campaigns on Issues & Information
TNC does not endorse any of the following campaigns. We list them here to create awareness on hot issues happening in our communities during this election. If you don't see a campaign here that you think we should add, please send us information and links!
Barrier-Free Canada is a non-partisan, volunteer, grassroots movement established in 2014. It advocates for the enactment of a Canadians with Disabilities Act, to lead Canada to become fully accessible to all people with disabilities.
GreenPAC, a fresh, non-partisan organization that will make environmental concerns politically relevant by recruiting, nominating, electing and supporting environmental champions. Take this two minute SURVEY to find out which candidate matches your political preference best.
Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a grassroots multi-partisan citizens’ campaign for voting system reform, promoting the introduction of an element of proportional representation into elections for all levels of government and throughout civil society. Find RESOURCES.
Workers Action Committee joined allies from across Canada and North America to launch the “Fight for $15 and Fairness” campaign. After freezing the minimum wage at $10.25 for four years, the Ontario government responded to public pressure from the Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage, increasing it to $11.00 an hour on June 1, 2014 and indexing it annually so that the minimum wage keeps up with rising prices. However, advocates from the Fight for $15 and Fairness say that the new general minimum wage still falls 16% below the poverty line and that the provincial minimum wage must bring full-time workers at least 10% above the poverty line. Find RESOURCES.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice. They have a National Office in Ottawa, and provincial offices in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.
The idea of national drug coverage, or pharmacare, has been getting a lot of attention across Canada lately. More and more people are calling for a national pharmacare strategy, including doctors, nurses, economists, as well as people in contract and service jobs who don’t have drug coverage. These calls reflect a growing problem that affects everyone in Canada: we are paying too much for prescription medication. A national drug coverage plan which is public, affordable and safe, would mean that everyone in Canada would have access to the medicines they need.