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Beyond
Inclusion
Equity in Public Engagement: A Guide for Practitioners
Inclusion is integral to ethical and effective public engagement. Hearing from people with diverse lived experiences leads to more innovative ideas, better decisions and stronger democracies. However, many groups of people remain under-represented in engagement processes due to systemic barriers and inequities.
Beyond Inclusion: Equity in Public Engagement proposes eight principles to support the meaningful and equitable inclusion of diverse voices in public engagement processes across sectors.
Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue developed the Beyond Inclusion guide through a participatory research and consultation process from 2019 to 2020 involving community members, engagement practitioners and representatives from governments and civil society. While we began with a framework of inclusion, participants emphasized the importance of equity—building reciprocal relationships and sharing power with communities to co-create accessible and meaningful engagement processes.
Download your free copy of the Beyond Inclusion guide to learn more about these principles alongside:
- Concrete strategies to help enact these principles and address barriers
- Suggested approaches to common challenges practitioners face
- Real-world case studies illustrating the principles in action
- A discussion of what inclusion, equity and accessibility mean within public engagement
- A list of further resources to support inclusive engagement
Additional Resources
The Eight Principles
Principle 1:
Invite participation within an authentic and accountable engagement process
Principle 2:
Plan early and proactively
Principle 3:
Establish respectful relationships with Indigenous Peoples
Principle 4:
Engage the internal diversity of a community
Principle 5:
Work in reciprocal relationships with communities
Principle 6:
Tailor engagement plans to the context
Principle 7:
Commit to ongoing learning and improvement
Principle 8:
Advance systemic equity
Beyond Inclusion Team
Primary author
Nicole Armos
Graphic design
Sabrina Azaria
Illustrations
Sandeep Johal
Lead project manager
Grace Lee
Peer reviewers
- Darine Benkalha
- Rain Daniels
- Karin Fuller
- Ginger Gosnell-Myers
- Lauren Howard
- Joy Johnson
- Thomas Kearney
- Ruth Mojeed
- Robin Prest
- Jennifer Reddy
- Jewelles Smith
Project support, facilitation and advising
- Elodie Jacquet
- Robert Daum
- Ginger Gosnell-Myers
- Robin Prest
- Cicely Blaine
- Diane Finegood
- Joanna Ashworth
- Kareen Wong
- Janani Ravikularam
- Anurag Balasubramanian
- Alice Muthoni Murage
The Centre for Dialogue also thanks those who contributed their time, experience and knowledge as participants in focus groups and roundtables during the research and consultation process. Unless otherwise attributed, quoted statements in this report are drawn from notes taken at these sessions, which were anonymized to encourage free dialogue and critical reflection. Although notetakers strived to stay true to the language used by participants, not all quotes necessarily represent verbatim statements from participants, and the authors have made minor corrections for grammar and syntax. This project was made possible, in part, by the SFU Centre for Dialogue Endowment
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