Information in the Democratic Deficit: Understanding Canadian Civic Engagement through a New Digital Platform

This project addresses the crisis of information in Canada’s civic society. The rise of digital communications has made real-time political information available to constituents in every corner of the country. Yet this information revolution has only brought into sharper relief the lack of real political access that many Canadians experience. This is particularly true for new immigrants and refugees. Our project aims to mitigate this problem by constructing a comprehensive, analytical database of neutral political information. It offers free public access to resources that could help connect everyday concerns in communities with the political representatives properly positioned to solve these concerns. This platform will also serve as an experimental research site: through surveys and digital analysis of user behavior with informed consent, we evaluate how the accessibility of political information may affect the ability of communities to engage meaningfully in the civic political processes. This project will strengthen the theoretical underpinning of the work that GLOCAL is doing to improve political access for marginalized communities.

Faculty Supervisor:

Fred Cutler

Student:

Partner:

GLOCAL Foundation of Canada

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: