Your Advocacy Toolkit

Ryan ClarkeThursday, October 1, 2015

Overview

• Review and context

• Events with politicians/bureaucrats

• Advocacy packages

• Collective letters

• Petitions

• Postcards

Review and Context

• Review of effective advocacy strategies– Key message development

– Development of your tools

– Development of your one ‘ask’

• The timing of your tools is important

• Their use should create a ‘layering effect’, one on top of another, over time

Events

• Can take various forms:

– Advocacy Day at the legislature

– Caucus meetings

– MLA breakfast

– Roundtable discussion with bureaucrats

– ‘Lunch and Learn’ with political staffers

– Late afternoon reception inviting politicians, political staffers and bureaucrats

Events

• Objectives:– Raise awareness and educate decision-makers about your issues

– Put a face on your organization

– Start to build relationships

– Give your supporters experience interacting with decision-makers

– Request change/action

• There may/may not be an ‘ask’ associated with such events

Events

• Selecting a date:– Governments may be more likely to act on issues brought to

their attention shortly before or after an election– Avoid holiday seasons because many elected representatives

will be unavailable– Avoid dates on which other events are happening in the

legislative buildings that might provide competition– If possible, have the event coincide with other related issues

i.e. World Cancer Day– Elected representatives are also more likely to be available at

the start of the week

Events

• Selecting a date:– Most importantly, go with the best legislative date– This is most likely to be when the legislature is sitting, as

many of the elected officials return to their ridings when the legislature is not in session

– There are constituency days and weeks when MPPs/MLAs are in their home ridings; for example, in Ontario the legislature does not sit on Fridays

– It is also a good idea to avoid a time when critical matters are being debated

Events

• Engaging your supporters:– They can help determine what the issues are that you will present

to the government representatives i.e. through a survey– They may be able to provide contacts in the government and/or

they may have met with different elected representatives or members of their staff on previous occasions

– They can attend and tell a first-hand story of how the issue at hand affects their daily lives and give personal support to the importance of the issue being addressed

Events

• Inviting government officials:– Provide an introduction to your organization– Provide an explanation as to why you are requesting a

meeting (if part of your event)– Request a meeting on the day of your advocacy event– Provide any personal information you may have gathered

from your survey of supporters that might aid you in securing the meeting

– Provide a contact name and number i.e. the person writing the letter

– Provide a date by which you will contact their office

Events

• Logistics and flow:– Accommodation– Site visit– Transportation– Having a Coordination Centre– Training – Creating presentation and training packages– Provide tips for visiting elected representatives– Provide tips on conducting a successful meeting i.e. key

messages, meeting script, one ‘ask’ (if applicable)– Follow-ups and thank-yous

CCSN EventOn Thursday, September 16, 2015, during Prostate Cancer Awareness

Month, CCSN hosted its fourth annual legislative reception at Queen’s Park to help generate

awareness of metastatic or advanced prostate cancer among parliamentarians and other key government decision makers in

Ontario.

Advocacy Packages

• Seven distinct documents typically included:– Introduction to advocates

– Letter to your elected rep asking for a meeting

– Meeting script outline

– Key facts

– Meeting report back form

– Letter from your elected rep to the Minister

– Letter to the Minister

Advocacy Packages

Introduction to Advocates:– Meant to serve as the ‘instruction manual’ for the rest of the materials

– Needs to be written in language that compels the reader to take action by doing what is asked of them

– Outline:• Background of the issue

• Describe why you need the reader to engage

• Outline the contents of the advocacy package (i.e. what you’re asking the reader to do)

• List contacts for the reader if they need further information

Advocacy Packages

Letter to you elected rep asking for a meeting:– Letters can take three basic forms:

• Blank sheet of paper – the reader is asked to draft their own letter based on some background information provided – everyone drafts and sends their own unique letter

• Form letter – the reader simply inserts their elected representatives contact information, their own contact information and ‘signs’ their name – everyone sends exactly the same letter

• Hybrid letter – the reader is asked to insert a brief paragraph about their own circumstances as it relates to the issue, but the rest of the letter is consistent – everyone drafts some unique content, but sends letters that are largely the same

Advocacy Packages

Letter to you elected rep asking for a meeting:– Outline of a hybrid letter:

• First paragraph – who you are (always note that you are a constituent) and why you are writing to your elected representative (your ‘ask’)

• Second paragraph – a brief paragraph outlining the person’s personal story and their link to the issue

• Third paragraph – a combination of your three key messages and some key facts about the issue

• Fourth paragraph – restatement of your ‘ask’ (in bold)

• Fifth paragraph – I will be in touch shortly to arrange a time to meet – thank-you

Advocacy Packages

Meeting script outline:– For people to use during their meetings with elected reps

– Can be anywhere from a general outline to a very detailed, almost line-by-line script

– Again, a hybrid approach may be most suitable

– May also be beneficial to ask your supporters what they need in order to ensure that as many of them as possible visit their elected representatives

Advocacy Packages

Meeting script outline:– Introduce yourself and the people you are with

– Explain why you are there (generally) and your one ‘ask’

– Deliver your three key messages

– Tell your personal story in the context of the issue

– Review some of your key facts

– Deliver your one ‘ask’ again

– Engage in dialogue to ensure that your elected representative fulfills your one ‘ask’

– Conclude by saying thank you and commit to following up shortly

Advocacy Packages

Key facts:– Typically no more than a page

– To be used by people as background information about the issue AND in their meeting with their elected representative

– But people need not deliver every key fact in their meeting

– Depending on how the document is drafted, it could even serve as a leave-behind with the elected representative

– Any province specific information is always good (as opposed to just national facts/figures)

Advocacy Packages

Meeting report back form:– Names of the people who attended

– Name of the elected representative visited and date

– How long was the meeting and who attended with the elected representative?

– Did the elected representative seem receptive?

– Did he/she agree to your one ‘ask’?

– When and how will you be following up?

– Other comments or impressions

Advocacy Packages

Letter from your elected rep to the Minister:– On many occasions, the one ‘ask’ of your elected representative will

be to write a letter to the relevant Minister outlining your concerns about the issue

– This is often the most effective ‘ask’ of an elected representative because it puts your concerns in writing, it requires a written response and it can be done by both government and opposition members

– The content should be crafted along the same lines as the letter to your elected representative asking to meet, minus your personal story (usually)

Advocacy Packages

Letter to the Minister:– Important for the relevant Minister to hear directly from people

affected by the issue

– Again, you can do the blank sheet of paper, form letter or hybrid letter

– If you choose the hybrid letter approach, it takes the same format as the letter to your elected representative asking to meet

– For your one ‘ask’, ask directly for the change that you need

Advocacy Packages

Using these packages:– Only effective if you can get them into the hands of as many people as

possible

– Post on web sites, e-mail to supporters, post mail to people, hand out paper copies at events

– Make sure that you draft the material so that it appeals to the maximum number of people (i.e. not just patients)

– Track progress – ask people to copy you on the letters they send and forward their completed report back forms

Advocacy Packages

Examples:• http://www.canpku.org• http://www.ahuscanada.org• http://www.phacanada.ca• http://www.cpff.ca

Collective Letters

• Usually used with groups of health care professionals (i.e. physicians), who want to make their unified voice heard to a key decision-maker in government

• Could certainly be done with patients and caregivers, too

• Important to have one or two authors

• They then e-mail the letter to their colleagues asking them to ‘sign on’ by responding and providing their name, credentials, affiliation and where they work

Petitions

• There are two types of petitions – on-line and paper

• On-line petitions can be very effective at gathering a lot of names, very quickly

• You can often set them up for free (although some web sites will charge you a fee once you go over a certain number)

• The names can then be e-mailed to a decision-maker, printed-off to be delivered in person or you can just refer them to the web site where the names are listed

Petitions

• Paper petitions are more typically used because they can be introduced into a provincial legislature

• Each legislature has it’s own format that must be followed or the petitions will not be accepted

• http://thoughtundermined.com/2012/02/21/how-to-petition-canadian-legislatures/

• Every sitting day has an agenda item called ‘Petitions’ during which time members can read petitions they have received from constituents into the record (i.e. Hansard)

• You can then go on-line and print a copy of your petitions being read (tangible proof of its introduction)

Postcards

Canadian Mental Health Commission Needed Now!

Postcards

The Honourable Tony Clement, P.C., M.P. Minister of Health Minister’s Office, Health Canada Brooke Claxton Building, Tunney’s Pasture Postal Locator: K1A 0K9

Dear Minister Clement: As a person affected by mental illness, I am writing to urge the immediate establishment and funding of the Canadian Mental Health Commission. During the 2006 election campaign, your party promised that “a Conservative government will ensure such a commission is established”. Now is the time to put these words into action. Thank you Name: _____________________________ Address: ___________________________ ___________________________ Phone: © Schizophrenia Society of Canada

Advocacy Solutions®

Contact Information:

Ryan Clarke, LL.B.t. 905.891.0311f. 905.891.0366

ryan@advocacysolutions.cawww.advocacysolutions.ca

Canadian Cancer Survivor Network Contact Info

Canadian Cancer Survivor Network1750 Courtwood Crescent, Suite 210Ottawa, ON K2C 2B5Telephone / Téléphone : 613-898-1871E-mail jmanthorne@survivornet.ca or mforrest@survivornet.ca Web site www.survivornet.caBlog: http://jackiemanthornescancerblog.blogspot.com/Twitter: @survivornetcaFacebook: www.facebook.com/CanadianSurvivorNet Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/survivornetwork/