It’s 2019, and with the change in calendar comes a sense of hope, optimism and renewal. Yet those with an eye on politics — or more broadly, the state of our democracy — would tell a different story. In the first few days of the new year, there’s an ominous sense that’s something’s gone wrong. The more alarming part: something has.

In the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first prime time Oval Office speech in an attempt to dredge up support for his southern border wall — from a president with a history of falsehoods and fact-fudging exaggerations — what do political leaders, media and the public owe to each other? And are those duties being upheld?

Too many people believe that the answer is no. Trust in politics, public institutions and media is on the decline — and it’s not just a U.S. phenomenon. Elections have become more volatile, and mainline political parties are losing support in democracies around the world.

The mistrust and concern isn’t just directed at those in power, but those who are supposed to check power. In Canada, more and more people are worried about where their information is coming from. The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 65 per cent of Canadians worry about false information or fake news being used as a weapon.

The Index showed a slight uptick in media trust in 2018, but the trends also show a precipitous drop in the numbers of people and institutions who do the work of journalism. In the last 10 years 225 Canadian newspapers have closed or merged and local TV channels have to compete for attention with a staggering number of options.

Voters increasingly rely on social media for news. But as presently structured, social media can be a malignant political force and the firms running social media giants are more distant from, and face less accountability than, other trusted institutions.

Do these trends mean that we will disengage, or leave the decisions to others? Nationally, voter turnout has been on a downward trend for 50 years, 65 per cent at the last election. Turnout is even less provincially (58 per cent in the last Ontario election) and municipally (43 per cent on average, in Ontario).

And here too, big forces that feel hard to dislodge may be at play. Political parties may not feel accountable to non-members (or their members, for that matter), and electoral systems can make it harder for voters to feel their voice or choice has been heeded.

As a result, we still have a mismatch between politicians and those they represent — only 26 per cent of MPs are women and 16 per cent visible minorities. Indigenous Canadians continue to be shortchanged through any number of democracy processes in Canada.

Apathy is not the answer. Nor is deferring to a strongman. The less attention communities pay to how they are governed, the easier it is to intrude on the rule of law, the rights of minorities, or threaten the values that we do share.

So what can Canadians do to shift these trends? It starts with recognizing democracy is about more than elections. That, in the words of Barack Obama’s Chicago mentor, Abner Mikva, “democracy is a verb.”

Democracy is learning about the issues that matter to us, telling those in power what we want done, and then organizing and strategizing to make sure we achieve those things. And claiming power for ourselves by serving in governing roles, whether it’s a neighbourhood park committee or the Parliament of Canada.

If democracy is a verb, the practice of democracy brings to mind some other verbs, many of which we learned when we were very young: Talk. Listen. Gather. Speak. Walk. Eat.

And it’s a practice that has its own nascent sector with institutions like Ryerson’s Faculty of Arts, the Samara Centre for Democracy, Toronto Public Library, and the Luminate Group, including the not-for-profit startups we both lead, all using our powers to bring people together, drive research, and champion democratic values.

Like any sector, it can be cultivated, grown and improved upon. The approaches aren’t much different: start conversations, build networks, invest in skills development, mobilize communities and get people to take notice.

At the DemocracyXChange summit happening at Ryerson University later this month, we’ll be bringing the sector together to learn from each other, to reach across ideological difference, and to drive change from the ground up.

Maria Ressa, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, will be the closing keynote speaker. She is the founder of the Rappler news site in the Philippines, bringing fearless journalism to a country that has just elected an authoritarian leader who wants to shut her down. She’s able to join us in Toronto, in the midst of a politically motivated legal battle that could see her in jail.

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If Maria Ressa can practice her version of democracy in those circumstances, let’s come together as Canadians to do the same.

DemocracyXChange, co-founded by Open Democracy Project and Ryerson Leadership Lab takes place Jan. 25-27 at Ryerson University. More information can be found at democracyxchange.org.

Karim Bardeesy is Co-Founder of the Ryerson Leadership Lab and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University. Ana Serrano is the Canadian Film Centre’s Chief Digital Officer and Co-Chair of Open Democracy Project. Serrano and Bardeesy are Co-Directors of DemocracyXChange 2019.

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