Decisions that impact the public should not be made in isolation. Public participation is about engaging with the public during the decision-making process, benefiting from their diverse range of ideas, views, and concerns, and using that information to make better decisions. 

IAP2 Canada’s Certificate in Public Participation builds on the foundations of public participation training and best practices from around the globe to provide participants with approximately 30 hours of specialized training in public participation and engagement.

Why should you participate?

1. Broaden your spectrum of understanding and provide current and practical tools for meaningful and effective public participation.

2. Enhance your professional credibility and open up new career opportunities in the field of public participation. 

3. Bringing a new level of expertise to your organization and improving the quality of your public engagement initiatives.

4. Learn how to increase engagement and inclusion for all people including racialized groups, Indigenous peoples, and other groups who are more likely to be overlooked, identifying a wide range of ideas, views and concerns.

5. Engage in better decision-making that reflects public interests and values making it easier to communicate, implement, and understand the process, decisions, and impact.

6. Build capacity for collaborative decision-making over the long-term by improving relationships and increasing trust between decision-makers and the public.

Who should participate?

P2 practitioners are a diverse community of professionals, citizens, academics, and decision-makers who are committed to involving the public in decisions that affect them. 

The IAP2 Hosted Certificate in Public Participation course bundle is suitable for:

• New and emerging practitioners beginning their journey in public participation and engagement

• Experienced P2 professionals, as a way to demonstrate your commitment to best practices and ethical standards in public engagement.

• Anyone involved in engagement projects in all levels of government, private industry, utilities, environmental agencies, community organisations, not-for-profit and education providers who would like  to understand and deliver meaningful engagement in a Canadian context.

Upcoming core training courses hosted by IAP2 Canada

We’ve created the following options for IAP2 hosted training opportunities to allow for flexibility of schedule and the level of our learners.

IAP2 Hosted - Certificate in Public Participation Course Bundle - for Level 1 Practitioners  

• March 21, 2023 – April 14, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 14, 2023

We recommend the IAP2 Hosted Certificate in Public Participation (for Level 1 practitioners) course bundle for:

• New practitioners beginning their journey in public participation and engagement

• Anyone involved in engagement projects, who wants to understand and apply the fundamentals of meaningful and effective public participation and engagement

Not yet ready to pursue the certificate program as a bundle? 

IAP2 Canada hosted courses are also offered individually throughout the year. Our upcoming core courses include:

IAP2 Hosted - Fundamentals of P2 and Engagement 

• March 21 & 22, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 14, 2023

IAP2 Way in Challenging Contexts 

• April 4 & 5, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 14, 2023

Designing P2 and Engagement

• March 27-30, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 14, 2023

Applying Methods

• April 17-20, 2023
• Early bird deadline is March 22, 2023

If you're not sure where to start your learning journey for the IAP2 Canada Certificate in Public Participation, take a look at our learning pathways.

View all upcoming training