cover image: The quest to negotiate equitable civic engagement

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The quest to negotiate equitable civic engagement

8 Aug 2004

From the perspective of the citizen, the opportunity to shape the social, political and economic fabric of the nation through full participation and engagement in all levels of society and its decision-making represent the underpinnings of democracy. [...] In 1997 the Ontario provincial government, in the face of overwhelming civic opposition and accusations of undermining local democracy, ordered the amalgamation of the seven municipalities of Etobikoke, East York, North York, Scarborough, Toronto, York, and the regional government of Metropolitan, or Metro Toronto into a new ‘megacity’ (City of Toronto 2001a). [...] The following year the City of Toronto adopted the Framework for Citizen Participation in the City of Toronto policy, which defined the four key principles of civic engagement and participation to be: collaborative decision-making, accessibility, continuous improvement in citizen participation, and community capacity building. [...] The final document, A Social Development Strategy for the City of Toronto 2001 (SDS), now acts as the social planning component of the city’s Strategic Plan, building on identified directions to help define and shape the social aspects of the Official Plan (City of Toronto 2001a). [...] The aim of the SDS is to strike a balance between social development and economic growth, to “democratize prosperity and opportunity,” valuing diversity and reaffirming “the goals of achieving access and equality of outcome for all residents as expressed in the city’s access and equity action plan” (City of Toronto 2001a).
government education politics civic engagement democracy school social inclusion capacity building discrimination canada attitude community development culture ethics immigration citizenship social capital social planning needs assessment community demographics attitudes inclusion exclusion competencies further education society attitude (psychology) community organizing

Authors

Dickout, Leslie

Pages
29
Published in
Canada

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