Gibsons Residents Assembly: Canada’s First Finalized Assembly to Steer an Official Community Plan

As decision-makers explore better ways to engage and gather feedback from the public, residents’ assemblies (also known as community or citizens' assemblies) are increasingly being used around the world to include perspectives of diverse members of the public in important policy decisions and long-term visions for the future of their communities. The Centre for Dialogue has the unique distinction of hosting or facilitating three community assemblies in British Columbia this year: the Burnaby Assembly (recently concluded on July 22nd)—which held a unique multilingual conversation series outside the assembly process, designed and led by Special Projects Manager Athavarn Srikantharajah and with funding contributions from the Renovate the Public Hearing Initiative; the City of New Westminster Community Advisory Assembly (currently in progress), and the Gibsons Residents Assembly (concluded on June 4th), which was the first completed and most upstreamed Assembly to steer an Official Community Plan update. 

The Gibsons Residents Assembly models how an 'upstreamed' assembly process that takes place at the very beginning of a community plan update can be hugely effective as a democratically legitimate, evidence-based and sustainable alternative to local government public hearings across cities and towns. The Gibsons Assembly was designed and facilitated by the Centre’s Renovate the Public Hearing Initiative (RPHI) through a public-non-profit partnership between RPHI and the Town of Gibsons to engage residents on the Town’s OCP update for 2025.

RPHI is an SFU collaborative project that received $2.5 million in funding from CMHC's Housing Supply Challenge to pilot solutions to the housing crisis and more upstreamed, inclusive, sustainable and evidence-based approaches to land use planning and engagement processes. This work and vision are well-illustrated by the first-of-its kind Gibsons Residents Assembly.

'UPSTREAMED' ENGAGEMENT

“I have a new sense of being part of the community and of what is being planned for the future, and I feel that my ideas and thoughts are being listened to and documented for decision-makers to look at.”
—Assembly Member

A common criticism of public engagement, including public hearings, is that it happens too late in the process—communities are presented with already-formed plans and asked to respond, rather than being consulted on their priorities and concerns before those plans are made.

It is distinctive that RPHI’s partnership with the Town of Gibsons preceded any work being started on Gibsons’ upcoming OCP update so that the community values, priorities and recommendations voiced by residents could inform the decisions to be made about the growth of their town.

The Assembly was designed to bring community members together in learning, capacity building and dialogue to explore Gibsons’ projected growth, understand the intricacies of land use planning, and define what matters most to the community as it evolves. The deliberations of the Assembly and the values and recommendations they produced will serve to guide Gibsons’ Mayor, Council and staff as they develop the Town’s new OCP.

INCLUSIVE, SUSTAINABLE AND DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

“I discovered what is important to the community, and learned more about some aspects that I hadn’t fully considered or understood, including why it’s important to have a diverse group of people to deliberate and discuss issues/concerns with.”
—Assembly Member

“The facilitated deliberative process seems to provide a bottom-up, non-traditional way of providing representative input of citizens for town planning.”
—Assembly Member

“I learned more about zoning and bylaws, how town planning works, and the complexity of building affordable housing and housing needs in Gibsons, as well as what an OCP is and why it’s important.”
—Assembly Member

All Gibsons residents ages 16 and older were invited to apply to the assembly, and 25 assembly members were selected by civic lottery to reflect the demographic diversity of the Town in terms of age, gender, housing tenure, ethnicity/heritage, etc. This ensured inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups and captured a wide range of perspectives often missing from traditional public hearings.

Presentations from local experts and community organizations helped all assembly members understand the processes of land use decision-making, including relevant laws, limitations, trade-offs, options and opportunities, so that every member could participate fully in discussions and deliberations.

Thoughtful facilitation grounded in deep democracy principles allowed assembly members to engage in thoughtful, respectful dialogue as they deliberated over the guiding question, “how can Gibsons best plan for the future and meet the housing needs of our growing population?” Trained facilitators from the Centre, led by RPHI Director Amina Yasin (Assembly Chair), and Executive Director Aftab Erfan (Lead Facilitator), guided members through activities but remained neutral on the topics discussed.

The Assembly’s mandate was to produce a set of recommendations to inform the Town’s OCP update and offer a comprehensive and thoughtful vision for Gibsons’ future. The final recommendations were determined through a deliberative consensus voting process that required at least 75% approval.

The innovative Gibsons Assembly was finalized with a report and presentation by assembly members to Gibsons Mayor and Council on June 4th. Recommendations were accepted and unanimously approved to be prioritized in the development of Gibsons' new OCP. 

The report’s findings and land-use based public engagement principles have since been presented by Director Amina Yasin at conferences across Canada, in Ottawa on June 20th at Infrastructure Canada's Research and Innovation Symposium and in Edmonton on July 10th at the Canadian Institute of Planning annual Conference. The findings and work will also be presented in Vancouver on September 19th at the annual Democracy R&D conference, a leading international event for practitioners who fund, design, study and advocate for residents' (citizens’) assemblies.

READ THE REPORT