Statement of the First Victoria Wisdom Council
The Victoria Wisdom Council is a randomly selected group of citizens – symbolically representing all the people of Victoria – speaking on issues that affect us all.
Participation in a Wisdom Council is free and voluntary. Because of the random selection of its members, the Wisdom Council is independent. It does not represent any voice other than its own.
The Council chooses issues based on what the members feel is important. These issues are discussed and at the end of the meeting a unanimous statement is reached and presented to the public, after which this Wisdom Council disbands. A new Wisdom Council will be convened in the near future.
Statement of the Victoria Wisdom Council
The Victoria Wisdom Council recognizes that the fabric of our society is fraying in a variety of ways:
- We are increasingly isolated from each other
- We are losing connection with our environment and making choices that have grave impacts upon it
- Our society is increasingly socially and environmentally unsustainable
- There is a growing disconnection between our government and the people
We believe these issues are solvable by fostering a shift from “I” to “We” in our attitudes and actions, by taking a greater role in our democracy, and by recognizing our personal responsibility for these issues.
The Victoria Wisdom Council encourages citizens to become more civically engaged and politically active, by:
- Empowering disenchanted people to reconnect with public life
- Providing more people to people connections, and
- Offering new ways of finding and using our voice
The Wisdom Council itself is one way of achieving this.
Comments
Comment from Roger Colwill
Time: April 2, 2007, 2:02 pm
Practical, Iinspirational. Profound.
That 12 randomly chosen citizens should be able to percieve and articulate such perspectives and priorities is testimony to a process that helps us realize there is a better way to cunduct our affairs - be they commercial, political or social. Wisdom Councils demonstrate that together we can let go of old systems and free ourselves form the tyrany of the majority and top down systems of rule. We are much wiser and more creative than we thought. Lets get on with it! Roger Colwill Ledership Victoria’s Community Leader of the Year 2007
Comment from Karin Lengger
Time: April 3, 2007, 2:11 pm
Just received information about your efforts in an email from the Green Drinks group. Wonderful! How does one become involved?
Comment from Scott Krayenhoff
Time: April 4, 2007, 7:51 pm
In the long term (20-100 year time frame) we need societal/cultural change to address in the fraying of our society as outlined above. Education is fundamental to achieving this, as is engagement of citizens in discussions about ‘where we are going’ collectively.
In the short term, i.e. immediately, we need to start developing concerned communities of citizens working together to profoundly influence political decisions (i.e. policy), since many decisions being made right now will have huge ramifications in the future. Examples are decisions on climate change mitigation and land-use planning. Fundamental democratic reform is another avenue that should be pursued vigorously.
Comment from Gavin Joth
Time: April 5, 2007, 7:20 pm
An excellent start. One way you may be able to help would be to offer a ‘public input nexus’ website that would detail all ways currently available and upcoming public input events in the local area. I nearly always miss media announcements of these types of events, hearing about them after the fact and wishing I could have attended (the recent Stantec Malahat study results presentation is one such event).
Thanks for reading my comments.
Comment from G. Orme
Time: April 6, 2007, 12:08 am
Congratulations on your meeting and the coverage in today’s Times-Colonist! This is important work and each of you who agreed to take part deserve our gratitude.
I fully agree with the threats to the fabric of our society that you have identified. And although I understand that this is not the role of the Wisdom Council I think it would be productive to examine why these issues have arisen, what factors have contributed to them and how they can be alleviated.
While I value the opportunity that the Wisdom Council model provides for issues to rise to the surface of public discussion I also know I have let many opportunities to engage in the political process slip by. Many people talk about a lack of time to commit to these activities and, while I am occasionally sceptical of this as an excuse, there is little time left to a parent of young children after a 50-60 hour work week. Parents such as myself live at the intersection of generations and through that build the foundation of our community’s future. Despite this pivotal location in the social fabric we are often too preoccupied with day to day issues to participate as fully as we want to in our formal decision-making processes. Wisdom councils present another valuable avenue for the concerns of all to be heard.
I applaud this thoughtful, grassroots approach to addressing the concerns of our community and hope that this process will continue to attract attention from a broad spectrum of political representatives.
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