Inclusion and representation in democratic deliberation: lessons from Canada's Romanow Commission

Abstract

In both Northern and Southern contexts it is now widely affirmed that public deliberation \'results in better policies, superior public education, increased public trust, and reduced conflict when policy moves to implementation.\' However, whereas in many Southern contexts new democratic deliberative spaces are often localized and rarely involve large-scale, society-wide deliberations, in Northern contexts there has been a recent proliferation of extensive deliberative consultations with citizens on issues of national importance. These large-scale, handsomely-resourced consultative exercises raise distinctive questions about citizenship and inclusion, especially when it comes to including marginalized groups in deliberative processes. This paper explores these issues of deliberative inclusion through an examination of the role of Aboriginal people in the deliberative components of the Romanow Commission, established in April 2001 by the Canadian government to deliberate with citizens on the future of health care in Canada