More than 300 teachers from across Calgary will participate in Democracy Bootcamp today at the TELUS Spark Centre. The conference is intended to inspire the democratic engagement of teachers and improve their delivery of Student Vote during this fall’s federal election.

Democracy Bootcamp: Calgary will be our largest event in 2015, and the day-long agenda is packed with interesting speakers and special guests. In the morning, teachers will hear from political scientist Paul Fairie on the ‘Math (or Magic?)’ of polls, including their impact on elections, their implications for our democracy, and why pollsters get it right – and wrong.

An experienced panel of political operatives will then give teachers a glance ‘Inside a Campaign’ to offer insight on how campaigns are shaped, won and lost. The panel features Kathleen Monk, Scott Reid, and Jamie Watt and is moderated by The Globe and Mail’s Campbell Clark.

The afternoon schedule includes an all-party forum on federal politics hosted by Linda Olsen of Global News Calgary and a presentation on Student Vote tools and best practices.

Another Bootcamp – Democracy Bootcamp: Montréal – is simultaneously being held in Montréal today, and another is scheduled for next Tuesday, September 29 in Edmonton. CIVIX also hosted two other Bootcamps in British Columbia and Ontario earlier this year. By next week, we will have trained more than 800 teachers throughout Canada to deliver our biggest and best Student Vote yet.

CIVIX has organized Student Vote projects in Alberta during the last four federal and three provincial elections. In the recent provincial election, more than 92,000 Student Vote ballots were cast from 838 schools, representing the province’s best ever participation in the program.

In this fall’s federal Student Vote, Alberta has already shattered past participation. The province sits at 120 per cent of its best ever registration, with 1,061 schools registered – that’s more than half of all schools in the province!

Democracy Bootcamp: Calgary is made possible with the support of The Alberta Teachers’ Association, Calgary Board of Education, Calgary Catholic School District, Elections Alberta, Elections Canada, The Calgary Foundation, The Max Bell Foundation, and Your Canada, Your Constitution.

CIVIX is proud to welcome over 60 teachers and participants from across Québec for Democracy Bootcamp: Montréal today at Écomusée du fier monde. Participants will engage on the delivery of the Student Vote program for the 2015 federal election, and learn about democratic engagement in the classroom.

Graham Fox of the Institut de la recherche en politiques publiques will moderate a panel of expert political analysts, including Tasha Kheiriddin of the National Post, Philippe Orfali of Le Devoir, and Éric Montigny of Université de Laval, while they discuss the federal election.

Participants will also learn about polling accuracy and how to integrate the results of polls into the classroom, with Claire Durand of Université de Montréal. In the afternoon, participants will engage in group discussion sessions in order to share resources and their experiences with Student Vote, and to help teachers prepare to deliver the program.

The Directeur général des élections du Québec and l’Assemblée nationale du Québec will share tools and programs from the Québec government for civic education, including Vox populi: Ta démocratie à l’école and Par ici la démocratie.

CIVIX will also share the best tips, practices, and tools that teachers can integrate into their Student Vote programs this fall. With the advice from experienced participants, to the latest social media tools and videos, teachers will leave the day prepared to challenge their students into thinking about, and acting on their civic duty with the Student Vote program.

Another Bootcamp – Democracy Bootcamp: Calgary – is simultaneously being held in Calgary today, and another is scheduled for next Tuesday, September 29 in Edmonton. CIVIX hosted two other Bootcamps in British Columbia and Ontario earlier this year as well. By next week, we will have trained more than 800 teachers throughout Canada to deliver our biggest and best Student Vote yet.

CIVIX has organized Student Votes during the last four federal elections in Québec. In the last federal election, 322 schools in the province registered for the Student Vote program, resulting in over 36,000 ballots cast. The 2015 election has resulted in 110 per cent of our best ever participation in the province.

The CIVIX team has had the opportunity to attend some fantastic professional development opportunities for educators. Educators can find Teachers Institutes on Parliamentary Democracy across the country, at both provincial legislatures and in Ottawa. While the schedules of these Institutes vary, educators get to experience what makes our democracy work firsthand by seeing the inner workings of parliament.

FEDERAL

Teachers Institute on Canadian Parliamentary Democracy – November 3-8, 2013. Applications must be received before April 30, 2013.

Coordinated by the Library of Parliament.

PROVINCIAL

British Columbia: British Columbia Teachers’ Institute on Parliamentary Democracy – October 20, 2012. Applications must be received before July 15, 2013.

Manitoba: Teachers’ Institute on Parliamentary Democracy – October 23-26, 2013. Applications must be received by September 13, 2013.

Alberta: The Alberta Legislature offers special tours for teacher groups year-round.

As always, if we’ve missed something that you think should be included in this list, let us know! We’ll be happy to include it in our next Civic Programs blog.

Here is the series so far:

• Civic Programs for Engaged Youth: Forums and Youth Parliaments
• Civic Programs for Engaged Youth: Legislature Edition
• Civic Programs for Engaged Youth: Online Edition
• The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Institute on Parliamentary Democracy

An earlier version of this blog was published in November 2012.

This fall, members of the CIVIX team have had the opportunity to attend some fantastic professional development opportunities for educators. Across the country, at both provincial legislatures and in Ottawa, educators can find Teachers Institutes on Parliamentary Democracy. While the exact schedules of these Institutes vary, educators get to experience firsthand what makes our democracy work by meeting with and seeing the inner workings of parliament.

Federal

Teachers Institute on Canadian Parliamentary Democracy – Updated: November 3-8, 2013. Applications must be received before April 15, 2013. *APPLY NOW!

Coordinated by the Library of Parliament.

Provincial

British Columbia: British Columbia Teachers’ Institute on Parliamentary Democracy – October 20, 2012

Saskatchewan: Social Sciences Teachers’ Institute (SSTI) on Parliamentary Democracy – April 13-17, 2013
*APPLY NOW!

Manitoba: Teachers’ Institute on Parliamentary Democracy – Updated: October 23-26, 2013. Applications are due on September 13, 2013. *APPLY NOW!

As always, if we’ve missed something that you think should be included in this list, let us know! We’ll be happy to include it.

Stay tuned for more Civic Programs blogs. Here is the series so far (on the Student Vote blog):

• Civic Programs for Engaged Youth: Forums and Youth Parliaments
• Civic Programs for Engaged Youth: Legislature Edition
• Civic Programs for Engaged Youth: Online Edition

Katie