About MyDemocracy.ca

A healthy democracy requires that governments listen to citizens in order to make better decisions. This initiative by the Government of Canada aims to hear from as many Canadians as possible in a national conversation on electoral reform. This includes listening to Canadians’ views about the values that frame electoral systems including how we vote, mandatory voting, and on-line voting. That’s what MyDemocracy.ca is all about.

MyDemocracy.ca is an initiative developed by a team of social and statistical scientists from Vox Pop Labs in collaboration with the Government of Canada and an academic advisory panel comprised of experts in both electoral politics and research methodology. The website was developed by Vox Pop Labs Inc. who has been contracted by the Government of Canada to create and host this engagement tool.

The aim of this initiative is to offer Canadians an engaging and accessible entry-point to the national conversation currently taking place on electoral reform. It reflects critical dimensions that structure public perceptions about how democracy should work in Canada. The archetypes and indices were derived from a large, national study about Canadians’ perceptions about how Parliament works (see Methodology for details).  

Canadians are being asked to voluntarily complete a series of questions exploring the way they feel about their democracy. Canadians also have the option to provide information such as their age and postal code that will help to personalize their experience. At the end of the experience, they will learn how their democratic values are similar to and different from those of other Canadians.

Inviting Canadians to Participate:

An invitation to join the conversation through MyDemocracy.ca will be arriving in the mail to almost 15 million Canadian households beginning on December 5, 2016. It will include information about how to join the conversation online or by phone for Canadians without access to the internet. Information about MyDemocracy.ca can also be found on the Government of Canada website.

Making MyDemocracy.ca Accessible:

The needs of all Canadians, including those with disabilities, have been considered in this project and in the development of this web site. Measures have been taken to make this web site accessible for those who use a variety of assistive technologies; however, if you encounter an issue using this site please report it to us, and call 1-844-690-8363 for assistance.

We recognize that some Canadians live in rural and remote communities and that access to the internet might not be close by. For those who cannot access the internet by any means, we have also established a phone service where Government of Canada attendants can help callers complete the questions and answers by phone and explain to them the results (please call 1-844-690-8363).

For those who do not have access to the internet or a phone within their home, we encourage you to visit your MPs office, a local library, friend or family member’s house or other nearby location where they can access the internet in order to visit the MyDemocracy.ca site.

MyDemocracy.ca is also mobile-friendly and can be accessed from most web-enabled handheld devices.

The needs of all Canadians, whose perceptual or physical abilities and language skills are diverse, have been considered in this project. MyDemocracy.ca is fully compliant with all federal government policies on official languages.

Protecting Privacy:

The Government of Canada and Vox Pop take protecting your personal privacy very seriously. All information provided by participants will be administered according to the requirements of the federal Privacy Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and federal policies on public opinion research. Vox Pop has a rigorous privacy policy and practices.

Next Steps:

The Government of Canada will make the final report from Vox Pop Labs public in the coming months.

The results will be considered by the Government as decisions are made about next steps for electoral reform. They will be considered along with other important resources such as the report of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform as well as what Minister Monsef learned during her cross-country Electoral Reform Dialogue tour earlier this year.