Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, The Global Civic Policy Society encourages a knowledgeable and cosmopolitan citizenry to make strong connections to their community. Since its inception in 2010, the Society has created a number of initiatives to that end:
The Global Civic Policy Society presents regular Public Salons at which presenters speak on a broad range of topics.
The Society also initiated the Greeting Fluency program to learn a few polite greetings in several languages heard on the streets of Vancouver.
It is also trying to revive the aboriginal trade language Chinook Wawa through Kumtuks, the Chinook Wawa word for “knowledge”. The Kumtuks Project mines British Columbia history to explore new narratives and reclaim old ones for an increasingly diverse citizenry.
The Society runs Transcribimus, a network of volunteers that is transcribing early City Council minutes and other hand-written documents from early Vancouver, and making them freely available to students, researchers, and the general public.
The Global Civic Policy Society’s newest initiative is the Public Office Project, an independent non-partisan research and education initiative based in Vancouver, British Columbia that seeks excellence in elected public governance.