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- 2002: Environmental Sustainability with Maurice Strong
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- 2022: Facing the Flames: New and Old Ways of Co-Existing with Fire with Joe Gilchrist and Paul Hessburg
- 2021: All My Relations: Trauma-Informed Engagement with Karine Duhamel
- 2019: Power of Empathy with Kimberly Jackson Davidson
- 2019: Rethinking BC Referendums with John Gastil
- 2017: Strengthening Democratic Engagement with Valerie Lemmie
- 2015-16: THRIVE! Surrey in 2030
- 2014: Citizen Engagement and Political Civility with Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer
- 2013: Building a Culture of Participation with Dave Meslin
- 2012: Riots and Restorative Justice with Dr. Theo Gavrielides
- 2011: Growing Out of Hunger with Will Allen
- 2010: The Age of Unequals with Richard Wilkinson
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Phil supports the Social Enterprise team by helping to implement a variety of stakeholder and public dialogue engagement initiatives led by the Centre, and on behalf of government and civil society organizations.
Phil is originally from Ontario and moved to Vancouver in 2022. He has extensive experience in event management, having contributed to major event projects across Canada, internationally, and in virtual space. Phil joined the Centre with a strong background in creating a platform for inclusive dialogue, having spent the previous four years working on 6 Degrees, the global forum for inclusion. He also brings experience in research, advocacy, public polling, and organizational strategy. Phil is passionate about dialogue, and the inclusion of diverse and historically marginalized voices, especially as an input to an effective, vibrant, and representative democracy.
Phil has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto with a major in Political Science, and minors in Canadian Studies and History. He also has a Postgraduate Certificate from Humber College in Event Management.
Outside of the Centre, you will often find Phil enjoying the outdoors while biking, hiking, or camping, or inside making some noise on a drum kit or guitar.
What is your role at the Centre for Dialogue?
I support the Social Enterprise team by helping to implement a variety of stakeholder and public dialogue engagement initiatives led by the Centre, and on behalf of government and civil society organizations.
This includes the design and administration of engagement processes, collaboration with a variety of project partners and community knowledge holders, facilitation of discussions, analysis of outputs from public and stakeholder engagements and development of What We Heard reports.
Since joining the Centre, I have worked on a variety of engagement projects on important topics including democratic participation, transportation, urban development, climate resilience, wildfire mitigation, flood strategy, and post-secondary strategy, all with attention to the inclusion of diverse and under-heard voices.
What does dialogue mean to you?
To me, dialogue means the intersection and interaction of different perspectives; a variety of people bringing their knowledge and experience together to broaden understanding, develop connections, generate ideas, and / or make decisions.
What is a common assumption you'd like to demystify?
The assumption I would like to de-mystify is the assumption that differing perspectives from one’s own can be known or understood without engagement. None of us knows what everyone else thinks, or why they think it. Dialogue helps us to develop empathy and understanding with the depth and nuance that is needed to address society’s most pressing and far-reaching challenges.
Affiliated Initiatives
Highlights
- Developed programming and coordinated logistics for Centre for Dialogue sessions on Participatory Democracy and Open Government at the 2023 OGP Global Summit in Tallinn, Estonia
- Coordinated logistics for the Dialogue on Strategic and Collaborative Approaches to Mitigating Wildfire
- Wrote the 2023 What We Heard Report and Two-Page Summary for the SFU Medical School Internal Engagements
- Wrote the Student Summary Report for SFU’s student engagements, supporting the development of What’s Next: The SFU Strategy