IAP2 Canada Prairies Chapter is the leader in our region advocating for the practice of public participation. We aspire to engage P2 practitioners and communications professionals throughout Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario by supporting the delivery of professional training, networking events and learning opportunities.
We are pleased to announce that through the self-nomination process, all six open seats on the Board of Directors, as well as three deputy positions have been filled. The 2019 Board of Directors will be adopted and positions will be finalized as part of the Annual General Meeting proceedings.
Welcome and congratulations to Crista Gladstone (Winnipeg), Paul Spasoff (Regina), Samantha Mark (Saskatoon), Sarah Collins (Regina), Maggie Bratland (Winnipeg) and Janna Sampson (Saskatoon) as you embark on the first year of a two year term.
The newly appointed board members will join Lara Ludwig (Regina), Leanne Jarocki (Regina), Katie Suek (Saskatoon), Lawrence Baschak (Regina), Colleen Opseth (Regina), Lindsay Thompson (Winnipeg), and Brad Muller (Winnipeg), all of whom are completing the second year of a two year term on the Board. We would also like to welcome our deputies; Shawn Silzer (Regina), Leah Goodwin (Regina) and Christine Markel (Regina).
Finally, we would like to thank Denisa Gavan-Koop (Winnipeg); Natalie Henault (Winnipeg); Brad Novecosky (Saskatoon); and Roslyn Kozak (Regina) for their time and dedication to the Prairie Chapter and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
Upcoming Events and Training
IAP2 Prairies Chapter Workshops and Annual General Meeting
Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg
Thursday, January 24, 2019 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Join IAP2 Prairies as we kick off 2019 with an evening of learning and networking! Meetings will be held in three locations. The evening will start with the Annual General Meeting via conference call where we will share highlights from the past year and formally welcome our new board. Following the AGM, we will break out into separate workshops in each city.
This a free event. Appetizers and refreshments will be provided. Please register as space is limited. Non-IAP2 members welcome. Please bring along interested colleagues!
Workshop Details Effective Engagement with Indigenous Communities and Groups - Regina, SK Copper Kettle, 1953 Scarth Street
Officials from the First Nation, Metis and Northern Affairs Division, of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Government Relations will open a discussion on Indigenous engagement and what makes it meaningful. Bring your questions and insights to this conversation starter. Speaker: Karen Bolton, Director of Aboriginal Consultation - Lands and Consultation Branch, Ministry of Government Relations, Government of Saskatchewan
Engaging Indigenous Youth - Saskatoon, SK Flannagan’s Steakhouse (Private room), 243 21st Street East
Dallas Pelly, Indigenous Education Coordinator with TakingITGlobal, will be speaking about engaging with Indigenous youth. More details to come!
Integrating Diverse Input Into Decision Making - Winnipeg, MB Location TBA
Representing a proponent in the early stages of planning a new development can be a daunting task. How do you gain the feedback you need to make informed decisions? How do you integrate the input from the engineers, the planners, the conservation scientists, the neighborhood organization, the accountants and the ways of knowing from Indigenous communities!? Every time we decide where to place a new development we are making trade-offs – determining what land use or natural quality is more important than another. Maggie will share approaches that Manitoba Hydro has used to help guide transmission line planning, the challenges of being transparent in decision making, and the value and limitations of these techniques to help build trust and inform decision making. Speaker: Maggie Bratland, Senior Environmental Specialist - Manitoba Hydro Transmission
IAP2 Prairies Chapter Board Members
Our organization is led by a dedicated group of P2 professionals serving on our volunteer board of directors.
Roslyn Kozak- Roslyn is a multi-disciplinary engagement and communications professional with 15 years of experience. She is currently a Principal at MPATH Engagement, a Regina-based company that delivers creative and innovative audience engagement programs. She works with organizations to improve relationships with key audiences, implement meaningful consultation and manage risk around important decisions. Roslyn’s recent work includes leading public participation projects for the City of Regina’s Official Community Plan, the City of Saskatoon’s Website Redesign and the Government of Saskatchewan's Consultation on the Future of Liquor Retailing.
Samantha Mark - Samantha is a Regional and Community Planning Consultant with Prairie Wild Consulting Co. Samantha graduated with an honours degree from the Regional and Urban Planning Program at the University of Saskatchewan and has also obtained a Certificate in Group Facilitation from the University at the Center for Continuing and Distance Education. Samantha leads and co-leads on a number of different projects across Saskatchewan including working with a number of municipalities, regions and First Nation communities and organizations. Samantha provides facilitation and community engagement, policy writing and project management to a number of working groups within the west central area, eastern, and south eastern parts of the Province. This includes leading the process of developing a number of Official Community Plans, District Plans, Zoning Bylaws, Strategic Plans, development review responses, community engagement processes, facilitation, and other related work.
Brad Novecosky – Brad has 15 years of consulting experience in Canada and is the Senior Consultant for Public and First Nations engagement and consultation programs at Golder Associates. Brad successfully led numerous First Nations and public engagement programs through the environmental assessment and regulatory process for a number large projects and small projects in Saskatchewan. Brad is also a senior archaeologist at Golder Associates with experience in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, Nunavut, Northwest Territories as well as in the US. Lara Ludwig - Lara has been a community relations professional for around 10 years. She's just begun working for SaskPower as a consultant for infrastructure communications with an aim to increase stakeholders' understanding of transmission and distribution projects. Prior to this Lara was the community relations lead for a multi-billion mining project in Saskatchewan. Here she communicated technical knowledge in a way that facilitated a community discussion about a potential potash solution mine while managing the corporate brand, advertising, sponsorship and events with measurable results.
Lawrence Baschak - As a career public servant for close to 30 years, Lawrence is currently with the Strategic Planning and Performance Improvement Branch of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. Areas of interest include corporate planning, reporting and performance as well as providing support to the Ministry in public service renewal, continuous business improvement and facilitation. His experience in public engagement and planning includes implementing public involvement policy and programs, facilitation of land use advisory committees in northern Saskatchewan and training in group facilitation.
Denisa Gavan-Koop - Denisa is an urban planner and an IAP2 practicing professional with experience in the federal, municipal and non-profit sector. Denisa holds a Master of Environmental Studies (Urban Planning) from York University and a Master of Arts (Political Science-Honours) from the Simon Fraser University. She had led community engagement initiatives throughout Manitoba, at the University of Manitoba, the University of British Columbia and the City of Toronto. Denisa is also one of the first board members of the IAP2 Prairies Chapter. She completed the IAP2 Foundations/ Certificate in Public Participation in 2012.
Natalie Henault - Natalie is a Senior Consultant within MNP’s Winnipeg office. She has demonstrated experience designing and facilitating community engagement processes related to strategic and economic development planning plans, infrastructure projects, environmental assessments and land-based feasibility assessment projects. In her current role, she is actively involved in the Indigenous business community, and promotes the value of public participation in decision-making processes.
Lindsay Thompson - For the past seven years, as an Environmental Specialist for Manitoba Hydro, I have worked towards building strong collaborative relationships with Indigenous communities in Manitoba for transmission projects including the Bipole III Transmission Project, Manitoba-Minnesota Transmission Project and others. This included working with communities to develop engagement plans and self-directed studies. I was also involved in the Aboriginal Engagement Advisory Group for IAP2. More recently, I have been working on public engagement in the environmental assessment process. I graduated with a Masters of Natural Resources Management in 2009.
Brad Muller - My experience and expertise includes research, analysis, public engagement and stakeholder relations with a focus on community development and Indigenous planning. During my third year in undergrad I was elected to the University of Winnipeg Student Council as the Student Living Coordinator, tasked with advocating for the needs essential to the success of students. After graduating with my Bachelor of Arts with my major in International Development Studies I continued to the University of Manitoba where I am currently completing the thesis component of my Master’s Degree in City Planning. During my academic career, I have worked in the not-for-profit industry in evaluation and policy at Food Matters Manitoba, Community Economic Development at the Spence Neighbourhood Association; research, planning and public engagement at CentreVenture Development Corporation (including the MarketLands project in Winnipeg this past summer); and currently in research and public engagement Blueprint Inc. (formerly First Person Strategies).
Katie Suek - Katie is an Environmental Planner specializing in regulatory, public and Indigenous community engagement planning and facilitation. She has worked for Wood (formerly Amec Foster Wheeler) for over 11 years in the Saskatoon office gaining experience on a variety of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and U.S. based projects. Katie works primarily on municipal and provincial transportation projects but also has experience in the mining, water resources, oil and gas and renewable energy sectors as well. Katie holds an Honors Degree with a major in anthropology from the University of Saskatchewan and a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Environmental Management. She is a co-founder of KM in the AM, a community of practice for knowledge mobilization specialists in Saskatoon. She is also one of the founding committee members of the Rural Municipality of Vanscoy Rural Crime Watch program and is responsible for membership coordination, engagement and communications.
Colleen Opseth - Colleen is a champion of meaningful citizen engagement as the heart of how governments can meet citizen needs while working toward significant transformation in public services. She is a currently a strategy advisor in Government of Saskatchewan’s digital program focusing on user engagement for better digital services, citizen engagement and public consultation, and advancing open data. Before joining the Government of Saskatchewan, Colleen worked for almost a decade in Crown corporations and the private sector in various marketing roles. With a Master of Science in Market Research as well as Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) from the University of Saskatchewan, she has significant expertise in research methods, marketing and communications. She has also completed IAP2’s Foundations in Public Participation. Colleen currently represents Saskatchewan on the COGWG (Canadian Open Government Working Group) alongside her counterparts in with other jurisdictions for implementation of open government. She also recently participated on National Training Committee of IAP2 Canada in 2017.
Leanne Jarocki - Coming Soon.
Get Involved
IAP2 Membership
IAP2 members are a diverse group of public participation practitioners. Your IAP2 membership is through IAP2 Canada, and you are automatically added to the Prairies Chapter. Membership in IAP2 Canada offers many benefits, but if you want an answer to the question, "Why should I join IAP2 -- what's in it for me?" IAP2 Canada members identified three key reasons for being part of the organization:
The credibility and recognition of belonging to IAP2 Canada
Discounts on professional development
Networking and connecting with other P2 practitioners in your region
Volunteer and Share Your Experiences
We are always looking for volunteers to help out events and for examples of great P2 to communicate with our members.
