The future role of government series

In Canada and around the world, citizens feel that their elected representatives have lost touch with their concerns and are failing to act in their best interests.¹ Indeed, a 2023 Ipsos poll of citizens across 19 countries found that, on average, only 22% think their government is trustworthy—and an alarming 45% view their government as untrustworthy.² A diverse and engaged democracy, where all citizens feel represented and valued irrespective of their background, is crucial for a healthy, functioning society.

How can governments across Canada meaningfully engage with the people they serve to rebuild trust and establish a more inclusive democracy?

Over the past few months, Deloitte leaders have come together to consider the evolving role of government and bring perspective on the state of citizen engagement in Canada. Our collective aspiration for the future is: a Canada led by engaged and participatory governments that meet the needs of all citizens and promote a diverse and inclusive democracy unified by sentiments of solidarity and common purpose. Informed, represented, and consulted in all decision-making, Canadians can trust that government is prioritizing their safety, integration, and equal civic participation in government processes.

This article is part of Deloitte’s future role of government series, which examines the trends that are provoking governments to act and seeks to provide Canadian governments with bold ideas to help them address the underlying issues. Read our introductory report, The future role of government: Society is evolving. So must the way it is governed, for more context.

The current state

We see three principal challenges to a vibrant, healthy democracy in Canada: a disengaged electorate; a lack of transparent communication and dialogue; and a shortage of digital-enabled interaction models.

A disengaged electorate

Numerous global and domestic headwinds are jeopardizing the welfare of Canadian households. The economic landscape is raising sentiments of uncertainty, scarcity, and precariousness, with high costs of living and a stagnant economy making meeting their everyday needs challenging for many Canadians—and unattainable for others. Although federal and provincial/territorial governments have taken considerable action to alleviate these pressures, more needs to be done to understand citizen priorities. Canadians need to feel their governments are humbly listening, rapidly organizing, and effectively acting to address the issues that are most important to them.

Canada must unify people around shared values and goals while also recognizing and celebrating diversity. Citizen engagement means more than just voting—it means active participation in the democratic process, policymaking, and community life. Strategies to nurture this must address the risks of marginalization and polarization by ensuring that all voices, especially those of underrepresented groups, are heard and considered in the democratic process. To make this a reality, all levels of government need to commit to education, awareness, and inclusion policies.

A lack of transparent communication and dialogue

Rebuilding trust in government is a complex undertaking that requires a whole-of-society approach. A Rethinking Citizen Engagement study shows that initiatives to promote transparency and “open up” government did not increase trust between the Canadian government and its citizens.³ However, it’s worthwhile to note that the process of engaging citizens—whether through consultations, dialogues, or representative discourse on pressing issues—can be effective. There’s evidence that trust in government increases when public consultations are common, widespread, and focused on topics that Canadians consider important.⁴

To build and maintain public trust, governments must make transparency foundational. Canada needs to establish more open, honest, and accessible communication between governments and citizens. It's about creating an environment where government operations, decisions, and policymaking processes are both visible and understandable to the public.

Greater transparency is needed to bridge the gaps between public perceptions and the actual performance of the public sector. This will involve not just the dissemination of information, but also engagement in two-way dialogues where citizen feedback is sought and valued. This kind of transparency will help demystify government actions and foster a sense of shared understanding and accountability.

A shortage of digital-enabled interaction models

Digital platforms are essential tools for promoting engagement in today’s technological landscape. However, a lot of communication between government and citizens happens through archaic delivery channels, such as the postal system, which are often slow and ineffective for widespread sharing. Deloitte research suggests that only 26% of government agencies around the world have deployed natural language processing tools, such as chatbots.⁵

There’s a clear need for more widespread engagement with diverse groups of Canadians. The power of digital tools can be harnessed to not only tap into knowledge and expertise, but also to open accessible channels of communication with the public. Digital solutions, such as online public forums can help governments create open lines of communication, engage with the public more directly, and empower citizens to feel supported and heard.⁶ By establishing a more informed and participatory citizen base through digital channels, governments can also boost Canadians’ trust in the system and create a more engaged democracy for all.

Recommendations

To help governments address these challenges and build a more inclusive democracy, we’ve developed recommendations under four levers: people and leadership; policy and processes; technology; and collaboration.

People and leadership

How can elected leadership and governments optimize how ideas are received, prioritized, and implemented?

Redefine citizen involvement and accessibility

Canadians’ mistrust of government is on the rise, as people increasingly believe that politicians are detached from the realities and circumstances. To rebuild trust, citizen involvement in political and electoral processes must be redefined and accessibility to government must be strengthened. Governments can start by facilitating more engagement through multiple channels, establishing incentives for active collaboration, and encouraging more participation in civic duties, such as voting. Establishing regular, focused consultations with the public, ensuring their ideas are heard, and involving them in decision-making processes will be key. This can be followed up with transparent, accessible reporting on all engagement and a clear openness to receiving and acting on feedback.

When all citizens can influence policy matters in their communities and beyond with ease through their local and national representation, Canada’s leaders, political parties, and governmental organizations will have successfully played their role in fostering a more inclusive democracy

Policy and processes

How can governments build trust and accountability as part of the social contract and expectations of the people they serve?

Promote inclusivity and actively engage with diverse populations

Prioritizing inclusivity and engagement is key to ensuring all Canadians are included in the conversation. Redefining citizen involvement in government processes must include thoughtful consideration of Canada’s many equity-deserving groups, including the removal of barriers to participation.

Transparent policymaking is non-negotiable. Governments must openly communicate their decisions, using plain language and visuals to demystify their actions. Moving forward, citizens will actively influence policies at all levels. Civic duties should be reframed as opportunities for active participation, with appropriate incentives and practical support provided. This transformation should aim to establish an inclusive, representative, and responsive governments that celebrate Canada's diversity, which will in turn establish greater unity and trust.

Evaluate the merits of mandatory voting

Voter turnout in Canada has decreased and citizens feel disincentivized to engage in the political process.6 Developing legislative instruments to mandate voting for all Canadians and instituting a national holiday for voting will promote equal access and boost voter turnout. By utilizing their voices through voting, people will feel more able to hold all levels of government accountable.

Safeguard Canada against political interference

Citizens are increasingly concerned regarding the role of law enforcement and intelligence agencies in safeguarding the public interest by intercepting unlawful foreign agents in Canada and online.⁹ Improving policy and reinforcing parliamentary committees to safeguard against foreign political and economic influence is key. Furthermore, democratizing whistleblowing or reporting mechanisms will enable people to safely engage with the government and help identify instances of foreign interference to curb malicious activity.

Technology

How can governments use omnichannel engagement strategies to build credibility and make participation more accessible to all citizens?

Expand virtual engagement platforms and strategies

Civic engagement is the lifeblood of democracy, but traditional avenues to public participation are limited and often challenging to access. Systemic barriers include lack of awareness, limited time and resources, and the complexity of the political process.

Canadian governments across all levels have explored different channels of engagement with its citizens. However, a Rethinking Citizen Engagement study found that satisfaction in government consultations is only 37%, meaning there’s more work to be done to entrench effective, widespread engagement.¹⁰

The growing needs of Canadians in a digitally enriched economy require bold, authentic, and ever-improving methods of citizen engagement, including virtual town halls, online polls, and digital voting systems. Governments can also prioritize the expansion of virtual platforms to reach more people and access expertise from every corner of the country. Direct, accessible, digital citizen engagement that influences the development of core services and strategies calls for both immediate action and establishment as long-term priority. Implementing a range of virtual engagement strategies across Canada will result in stronger civic participation—and a stronger democracy.

Provide public services in Web 3.0 and other emerging technologies

Government service delivery is siloed and often relies on in-person or other antiquated channels. Moving forward, the metaverse, virtual reality (VR), and other technology platforms can be explored to enable frequent, open, and direct communication with citizens, to provide public services, and to launch engaging cultural and other events.

Creating an intentional, digital-first approach will allow Canadians to readily access services, take part in consultations, and virtually submit civil complaints. Seeking to improve civic engagement, governments can look to new and emerging technologies to broaden their reach and optimize service delivery.

Enable digital credentials for services

The siloed nature of government services has resulted in many discrete, uncoordinated sets of citizen data, which makes identification verification and authentication difficult. Launching digital credentials for Canadian services is an opportunity that should be explored for governments to seamlessly integrate identity issuance, verification, and authentication.

As we digitally accelerate and grow as a society, digital credentials can be leveraged to bring a host of benefits to Canadians. They can be used to streamline access to public services, authenticate digital transactions, boost financial inclusion, prevent fraud, and minimize identity theft, which will in turn foster more trust in government.

Enable blockchain to assist voting

In-person and paper-based voting methods complicate democratic participation: they are cumbersome, costly, and time-consuming. By implementing blockchain-enabled digital voting technology, governments can pivot away from paper ballots and facilitate online voting in all jurisdictions.

In an ideal future state, Canadians will have a strong sense of confidence in the system through a technology-enabled democratic process. By moving away from archaic paper-based systems, voting will be more secure and accessible for all voters.

Collaboration

How can governments build and maintain trust in a time of heightened scepticism and demographic disparity in Canada?

Ensure Indigenous reconciliation is at the core of engagement strategies

A 2019 poll found that two-thirds of Indigenous Peoples in Canada feel that the federal government does not respect their identity and community.¹¹ Indigenous needs and wants must be a critical priority in Canada’s future state, including more seamless pathways to sovereignty.

To achieve it, governments must seek out, emphasize, and incorporate First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) perspectives and rights into all aspects of engagement strategies, including free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for government and public services.ⁱ Other, ongoing concerns include the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the conditions in some but not all Indigenous communities, such as a lack of clean drinking water, mental health services, and job training and economic opportunities. Working toward reconciliation and trust means addressing these areas in collaboration with and led by Indigenous Peoples.

A transformative change in engagement for nation-to-nation, government-to-government, and Inuit-Crown relationships based on respect and partnership is needed to build trust among all parties and find practical solutions.

Support independent media and the audit of organizations

There’s growing disparity in the level of trust between the informed and the mass public due to the rampant creation and dispersion of misinformation.¹² To ensure people are able to hear and consider diverse opinions and base their own on knowledge and experience, governments need to collaborate with and offer more support for independent media, audit the media organizations that are currently supported, and collaborate with all to create more honest, informative media in Canada. Special considerations should be made to ensure the media still has the freedom to hold the government accountable.

The aim is for government and media to be able to collaborate while also maintaining their independence. That way, all Canadians can rely on their news to get information based on facts and free of fearmongering or misinformation.

Enhance local governance systems to empower community involvement

Due in part to their lack of trust in formalized government systems, citizens’ opinions and ideas are often not heard, managed, or considered as they should be.¹³ Many feel the need to lean on grassroots movements and social media to engage in the democratic process.¹⁴

Governments can harness this crucial community involvement by engaging with special interest groups, such as youth groups and grassroots organizations, to make it more collaborative, inclusive, and influential. At the same time, local governance systems can empower local groups to openly share their ideas with the government, collaborate to make decisions, and even help implement solutions in their neighbourhoods.

Conclusion

All governments in Canada have the power to facilitate more engagement with the public. If the recommendations suggested are adopted, they can build a more inclusive democracy and better meet the evolving needs of all residents. Even the best and most practical ideas to increase citizen involvement will fail as long as hyper-partisanship undermines the shared foundation and identity of being Canadian. Efforts in transparency and involvement won't succeed until there is trust in the government from all citizens. Our aspiration is a Canada where meaningful and honest citizen engagement not only amplifies all voices, but also enhances the reliability and quality of government operations and services as key components of long-term trust-building.

In our ideal of its future state, Canada is:

• Unified by solidarity and a common purpose as a diverse and inclusive democracy
• Led by trusted governments that prioritize the safety, integration, and civic engagement of all people in its processes
• Supported by governments that ensure Canadians are informed, consulted, and represented in decision-making to foster greater trust and democratic participation
• Enriched through digital engagement channels, tools, and practices that facilitate productive two-way dialogues and collaborative solutions

Endnotes

Thank you to our key contributor, Leo Xu.