Governing from the Heart: The Spirit of Canada Dialogues Project

Background

The Spirit of Canada Dialogues Project helps Canadians face each other heart to heart, in times that threaten to tear us apart.

The Spirit of Canada Dialogues Project is organically growing and harvesting a national dialogue network for a wiser Canada. We govern our group by asking people, “What makes your heart sing?” We aim to transform the depth of listening and care Canadians exhibit by asking both “What breaks your heart?” and “What breaks your heart open?” in dialogues about complex, polarizing issues that deeply affect the lives of the community.

As we move into the new year, we are seeking to expand our reach and our thinking by attracting 50 new dialogue hosts, representing a diverse range of cultures and perspectives.

Our Workshop

Come explore how we are using heart-centered governance and “deep listening” practices to build energy and gain insights for the project. Together we’ll consider the following questions:

• What are the considerations for promoting and designing complex, community-scale conversations?

• How do you find and attract a diverse range of people to join the conversation?

• What are techniques and best practices for training Conversation Hosts and Guardians? (esp. recruitment, diversity, technical skills, process)
• How might we expand the idea of “dialog” beyond verbal conversation between humans? (esp. nonhuman participants, breaking the glass barrier of Zoom)
• How might we awaken a longing to listen and share authentically?
• How might we inspire larger systemic change through individual awakening and enabling feedback loops?

Our Hosts

The Hague Center for Global Governance, Innovation and Emergence is an organization and co-creative collective, serving the emergence of a conscious, harmonic, humanity. We are weavers and supporters of the field of conscious co-creators, serving dozens of projects and global initiatives to activate, collaborate and resonate to collectively transform our world. Feel the power of Organized Love!
www.thehaguecenter.org

Kara Stonehouse is the Vision Holder and Core Team Lead for the Spirit of Canada Dialogues project. She has a career in design, sustainability, facilitation, graphic recording, and collective impact for sustainability. She is also a volunteer for the Hague Center for Global Governance.

“I started the Spirit of Canada Dialogues project from a calling deep in my bones. I have a connection with the Spirit of Canada as an entity and I love the Art of Hosting Meaningful Conversations community. It breaks my heart to see Canada not using dialogue to help us work through the tough choices we have to make around the environment and resource extraction.”

Pamela Schreiner is a Core Team member for the Spirit of Canada Dialogues project. She is interested in our many different types of systems and structures. She has worked with massive computer systems, with human systems, and more recently learned complexity science, where she learned the common principles underlying different types of systems, which can all be seen in nature.

“I am a grandmother of 4 who is exploring ways of being and doing together that are more fun and healthy for all of us, including all creatures and the earth. I’m happy to continue that exploration with the Spirit of Canada team.”

Danielea Castell is a Core Team member of the Spirit of Canada Dialogues project and Team Lead for the Guardian Circle. She is a nature singer, mentor, and social artist living on the ancestral lands of the Lheidli T’enneh Nation in northern British Columbia, Canada. She is also the founder of dcastell & company.

“I identify as an eco-sexual human. My primary bonds and relationships are with Mother Earth and her kin. For the past 12 years, I have been building relations and studying interbeing ethics and communication with Waters, Trees and, Mountains around the world. Six of these beings are members of a new nature consulting team that I recently formed called dcastell & company. I joined the Spirit of Canada team to help bring Nature’s individual voices directly into the Dialogues.”

Diana Claire Douglas is a Core Team Member of the Spirit of Canada Dialogues project and of the Guardian Circle. She is a systemic facilitator, coach, and consultant. She brings her love for life as an artist, author, and researcher to her facilitation. Her book, Constellating for the Collective: Messages from an Emerging Field is forthcoming in 2021.

“Underlying all I do is my purpose: attuning to the Sacred, to participate in the movements for humanity to be in our rightful place in relationship with All-Life. I joined the Spirit of Canada Dialogues after hearing Kara’s vision for this project and for Canada, I knew I needed to serve Canada taking a next evolutionary step.”