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About

About Democracy Watch

Cleaning up and making governments and corporations more accountable to you, and making Canada the world’s leading democracy

Democracy Watch is a national non-profit, non-partisan organization, and Canada’s leading citizen group advocating democratic reform, government accountability and corporate responsibility.

Democracy Watch is the most effective and successful national citizen advocacy group in Canada at winning systemic changes to key laws since it opened its doors in fall 1993 – it has won more than 200 changes to federal and provincial good government and corporate responsibility laws, many of which are world-leading. See for details the Summary of Democracy Watch’s Many Notable Achievements.

Democracy Watch is pushing for key changes for democratic good government across Canada, and 15 key changes to ensure Canada’s big banks and businesses act responsibly.

Who is involved with Democracy Watch?

Democracy Watch’s Coordinator, Directors and Advisory Committee (see biographies) are assisted by many volunteers, and thousands of supporters, from across Canada. Click here to become a Democracy Watcher and help in other ways.

What are people saying about Democracy Watch?

To see statements from many well-known people supporting Democracy Watch’s leading campaigns, click here

How is Democracy Watch funded?

Democracy Watch is supported only by donations from individuals and citizen groups, so without your support it will be forced to close its doors and end its winning campaigns for democratic reforms, government accountability and corporate responsibility in Canada. To support democracy in Canada, please click here.

How does Democracy Watch work?

Democracy Watch’s mandate is set out as 20 steps towards a Modern, Working Democracy. The 20 Steps are changes that all governments in Canada should enact (in accordance with their respective powers) to ensure that Canadian “stakeholders” have a greater and more meaningful role in government and business decision-making. The 20 Steps are based on Democracy Watch’s Definition of a Democratic Society.

The 20 Steps set out a Citizen Agenda of changes to the information governments and businesses provide to citizens; changes in the ways citizens participate in government and business decision-making; and changes to the ways in which citizens can hold governments and businesses accountable for their decisions and activities.

Democracy Watch has organized and worked with Canadian citizens and organizations in many nation-wide coalitions, all pushing Canadian governments and businesses to empower Canadians in their roles as voters, citizens, taxpayers, consumers and shareholders. Its aim is to help reform Canadian government and business institutions to bring them into line with the realities of a modern, working democracy.

Democracy Watch’s work for democratic reform is aimed at winning changes so that everyone in politics and business is effectively required to act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively and to prevent waste. Its work is based upon the following principles:

  • Canadians need access to full and timely information about government and business activities;
  • Canadians need meaningful rights to participate and be represented in Canada’s political system;
  • Canadians need easily accessible remedies against government and corporate waste, abuse and misrepresentation;
  • Accountability measures are needed wherever there are concentrations of power in society; and
  • Measures must be enacted to help Canadians band together as citizens, consumers and taxpayers.

Democracy Watch advocates its 20 Steps Citizen Agenda by:

  • publishing democracy audits that examine government and business policies, programs and activities (each report sets out leading research into key problems and solutions, and we launch each of our campaigns for change with a report);
  • bringing together interested groups to participate in democratization coalitions working for common reforms;
  • coordinating a DemocratizACTION Network of Democracy Watchers who participate in campaigns to push politicians and businesses to enact the reforms;
  • campaigning for democratic decision-making processes to make it easier to enact the reforms; and
  • gathering together materials in a Democracy Clearinghouse on democracy issues to help Canadians participate effectively in our political and economic systems.

Address:
Democracy Watch
P.O. Box 821, Stn. B
Ottawa, ON K1P 5P9

Tel: (613) 241-5179
Email: [email protected]

Adresse postale:
Démocratie en surveillance
Succ. 821, Stn. B
Ottawa, ON K1P 5P9

Tél : (613) 241-5179
Courriel : [email protected]