Municipal Matters: Building Capacity for Local Climate Conversations (In-Person)

Join the UBC Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions over lunch at the Liu Institute’s Place of Many Trees for the official in-person launch of their new report on local climate communications in Canada.

The report explores how local governments can communicate around climate policies in the current chaotic information environment.

Report authors will discuss the main findings and paths forward and will be joined by Andrea Reimer, Adjunct Professor of Practice at the UBC SPPGA and local organizer, and Wes Regan, PhD candidate at UBC SCARP and Regional Lead for Practice, Research & Evaluation (Healthy Public Policy) in the Office of the Chief Medical Health Officer at Vancouver Coastal Health. 

Speaker bios:

Heidi Tworek, Professor of History and Public Policy, Director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions

Maddie Sides, CSDI researcher, co-author of Municipal Matters, and public policy student at the UBC SPPGA

Ghassan Hamzeh, CSDI researcher, co-author of Municipal Matters, and public policy student at the UBC SPPGA

Andrea Reimer is an Adjunct Professor of Practice at UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. As a community organizer and former member of City Council, Andrea spearheaded a number of initiatives, including the city’s effort to be the Greenest City on earth and Vancouver’s nationally significant municipal framework for reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Wes Regan has worked in community advocacy and capacity building as a non-profit leader, as a municipal planner, and as a public health policymaker during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he has experienced and observed issues of trust and distrust, communication, and disinformation from different vantage points. This inspired his concerns about and fascination with issues of power and trust and effective public engagement and deliberation amidst the growth in digital disinformation and misinformation.