For today's 5-minute review, Samara's Jane Hilderman writes about a new documentary, MissRepresentation. What is it?MissRepresentation is a new documentary released in 2011 that looks at the connection between how the American media portrays women and American women’s underrepresentation among ranks of elected representatives and other leadership positions. The documentary is created by G... [More]

Elections Canada released the results from its National Youth Survey yesterday and, unsurprisingly, they point to a persistent and grave crisis in confidence in electoral politics among young Canadians. As Gloria Galloway writes in today’s Globe and Mail, “the voter participation rate of people between the ages of 18 and 24 rose from 37.4 per cent in 2008 to an only slightly less abys... [More]

Today guest blogger Kirk Zurell responds to a series recently featured on the Samara blog that explored the possibility of creating a fourth institution of parliament, or "Digital House." Zurell is a technical communicator and computing professional based in Waterloo, Ontario. Mark Dance proposes adapting the road tested “user-driven curation” model for a digital legislative house, l... [More]

In a recent post on the Samara blog we highlighted the point made by public affairs consultant Robin Sears that riding associations offer a key point of entry for citizens to not only get involved in the political process, but to ultimately exercise power within it. Speaking as a panellist at the DiverseCity Post-Election Update, held Tuesday November 8th, Sears acknowledged that while several &l... [More]

We recently blogged about the different ways people can get involved with Samara, and mentioned the opportunity to contribute book and movie reviews to our blog. For more information on this, you can check out the "5-minute review" guidelines on our website. You can also draw inspiration from this fine example from Samara's Jane Hilderman: What is it? Title: The Legislative Legacy of Congressio... [More]

In addition to keeping readers up to date on our program activities, we at Samara thought we’d start sharing some of the writing, reporting and internet ephemera that pique our team members’ interest from week to week. Friday seems a better day than any to kick off this new feature of our blog, and so today, I leave you with my recommendation for a short and compelling read from the De... [More]

It’s been a busy fall here at Samara headquarters, one marked by a number of exciting changes and accomplishments. Perhaps most notable - in addition to releasing our final and most extensive instalment of the MP exit interview project - is that since September, we've gained 3 new staff members, bringing the Samara team to a total of 8. Despite our relative growth, Samara remains a small or... [More]

In The Outsiders’ Manifesto, the last in our series of MP exit interview reports, we highlighted a number of recommendations made by former MPs on how to repair the growing disconnect between citizens and their elected representatives. Among them was the need to improve civics education in schools so that young Canadians could become better informed and - as the argument goes - more engaged ... [More]

For the past two years, Samara has had the honour of bringing some of journalism’s leading innovators to Toronto through its partnership with the Massey College Canadian Journalism Fellowship. This year, we’re teamed up with a dynamic roster of journalists who bring a range of experiences and perspectives to the table. The Massey-Samara seminar series is founded on the belief that pub... [More]

For anyone in the Niagara region who may be interested, on Tuesday October 18th Samara executive director Alison Loat will be in St. Catharines to give a talk entitled “Our Accidental Politics: What Former MPs Tell Us About Canadian Democracy.” Part of the MGI-Gordon Distinguished Speakers Series at Ridley College, the event is free and open to the public. In it Alison will explore som... [More]

As Mia Rabson writes in today’s Winnipeg Free Press, all three provincial elections completed this fall have been “marred with overwhelming levels of negative advertising and political attacks.” While negative campaigning is just one factor influencing voter turnout rates and levels of civic engagement in Canada, Samara guest blogger Anne Murray tells us about several initia... [More]

Concluding his three-part series on the theme of the "digital commons," guest blogger Mark Dance discusses how a look at parliament's history may hold the key to its future success. "We have to go out and engage in a truly open way and take a bit of a risk. I guess that’s what’s underlying a lot of this: you don’t know what the kids are going to come up with but you ha... [More]

Today we bring you part two of Mark Dance’s three-part blog series on his proposal for a fourth parliamentary institution, or “Digital Commons.” Dance, a former Parliamentary Intern who currently works at Lapham’s Quarterly in New York City, adapted the following excerpt from his research paper entitled “Radical Digital Democracy in a Canadian Context: The C... [More]

Mark Dance is a graduate of the University of King’s College and an alumnus of the Parliamentary Internship Programme. Samara is pleased to introduce the first of three excerpts adapted from his final research paper for the programme, “Radical Digital Democracy in a Canadian Context: The Case for a Fourth Institution of Parliament.” Mark currently lives in New York City, where he... [More]

Last year, Toronto-based artist and organizer Dave Meslin delivered a TEDxToronto talk in which he attempted to debunk some of the myths about public apathy. "Apathy, as we think we know it, doesn’t actually exist,” Meslin said. Rather, he suggests that while people do care about the issues and decisions shaping society, "we live in a world that actively discourage... [More]

Earlier this week we brought you a roundup of some the news coverage we received over the last week on our latest MP exit interview report, The Outsiders’ Manifesto. Many media outlets responded in a thoughtful manner, focusing on the need for an official MP job description or better training and orientation opportunities for new MPs. The range of responses, critiques and suggestions offered... [More]

Parliament resumes today and with it, more than 100 newly elected MPs take their seats to begin their first full session in the House of Commons. Marked by the passing earlier this summer of NDP leader Jack Layton, the 41st session of parliament is Canada’s first majority government in over a decade. As we look ahead to a busy year, we at Samara couldn’t think of a better time to push... [More]