Advocacy toolkit | Part 2:
Talking to government officials
Talking to government officials about income supports, the social safety net, and income equality is an important part of advocating for a more just world - or at least less harm. We hope this section offers some insights into how to make sure your interactions with elected officials and government staff are effective and impactful for both long-time advocates and those new to the work.
In this section you will find tools for:
Preparing for meetings with government:
Identifying your audience and what tactics to use to make the message land
When to ask for a government meeting
❋ Launching a project
If you have a report, public poll, or campaign launch to discuss with elected officials.
Asking for quarterly meetings can be helpful, as building relationships with elected officials and public servants can ensure the issue stays on the table. This may also give you leverage for consultation opportunities, notice on changes to legislation or programs, or other opportunities to influence.
❋ To build relationships
If there is an emergent crisis in the community you are advocating with and for, request a meeting with the local MLA. Having solutions or recommendations to address this crisis is helpful to bring to the meeting, as it gives the representative a direction to move in.
❋ Emergent crisis
If speaking to a Minister, don’t forget to ask to meet with Ministry staff, such as Executive Directors, Deputy Ministers, or staff charged with the specific policy or program you are speaking about. The staff are often the ones doing the work every day and will know more about how these systems work (or don’t) than the Minister.
❋ To meet the staff
Do your research
Know who to direct your advocacy towards. This means not only knowing the local MLA, but also reviewing the government hierarchy (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure) including Ministries and Parliamentary Secretaries who are responsible for that file, or MLAs who have recently spoken out about the issue.
See if the person you are meeting with is on any government committees that has a mandate your advocacy overlaps with. You can also research if the person has any personal passions or interests that you can tie into your issue.
Do a search through any media statements that elected official has made on your issue
Review the lobby registry and to get a sense of what types of narratives the elected official has been presented. This is the BC Lobby Registry. Other provinces may have similar databases.
What to ask in a government meeting
Meetings with elected officials are often very brief (generally 15-30 minutes) so being prepared with questions is essential for making the most of a meeting.
You will obviously have your own goals and message box for the meeting, but don’t forget to ask questions that could help you understand where challenges, opportunities, or sticking points are on their side.
Here are some things you could bring forward or ask for:
❋ 1
Don’t forget to introduce yourself and give a quick overview of the organization or collective you represent. Sometimes ministers are in back-to-back 15-minute meetings all day, and it’s difficult for them to remember who is who - be memorable, professional, knowledgeable, and always stick to the time you are given. You can always say, we are running out of time, and we’d love to schedule another meeting to keep talking about this further or request to connect with the staff.
❋ 2
Inquire about work is already being done on the issue you are bringing up to understand how your recommendations fit into the current workplan or legislative agenda. You might be able to connect with government staff and elected officials who are doing work on the things you are asking for.
❋ 3
Depending on the relationship you have with the staff or elected, you can ask what is keeping the thing you are asking from happening. Staff especially can be pretty forthright in explaining where roadblocks are in making change (no budget is often one, but it can also be lack of public support, a certain member of government, or a narrative in a committee that you could shape a campaign around).
❋ 4
See if the elected member of government will ask a question on your behalf during the question period. This is most useful if the official you are speaking to is not a member of the official government and is an excellent accountability tool.
❋ 5
See if that elected member of government will ask a question on your behalf during a committee meeting where the issue you are advocating for is relevant.
❋ 6
Ask for data! Our advocacy is often missing key pieces of information that we want the public to know or that would streamline our advocacy. This might be things like data surrounding investments in involuntary treatment beds or the number of women fleeing violence waiting on transition housing lists. This information will probably have to come in a follow up email and is a good action item to come out of your meeting.
❋ 7
Try to leave every meeting with an action item for the elected official to do. This could be asking for the elected official or their staff to follow up with information they were not able to provide in the meeting, to ask a question during a committee meeting or during question period, or to connect you with another member of government.
❋ 8
Follow up on that ask! Ensure that you send an email asking for a report back on that action item.
For additional support on community lobbying, please see Libby Davies’ resource through Ground & Sky.
What to bring to a government meeting
A knowledge of your audience. What are their incentives? What do they care about? What are they bringing to this issue? To the table/what can they do?
Documents that you will be referring to in the meeting or that have further information about the issue that you want to make sure the elected official knows:
Fact Sheet: A one-page document that presents key facts and statistics related to your organization, cause, or issue in a concise manner.
Brochures: A folded document that provides an overview of your organization, its mission, programs, and impact, as well as any other information you’d like to share.
Policy Briefs: A longer, more detailed document focused on a particular issue, including background information, your organization’s positions, and recommended legislation or actions.
Postcards: A card that concisely relays facts and infographics about your organization and issue in a visually engaging way.
A designated notetaker is an important person to bring to a meeting. This person can jot down key take-aways and anything that might need to be followed up on. This will allow the lobbyist or primary presenter the opportunity to focus on the message and conversation.
Some staff members or elected officials will want to take a photo with you to post on their socials - this has pros and cons. It benefits them, as they look like they are meeting with advocates while they may not be interested in supporting your calls to action. Weigh whether they are actually invested in building a relationship and listening, and that it isn’t just a photo op to lend your organization’s credibility to their platform.
Always try to ask who else you should be talking to, or if there is someone in government who might want to help champion your issue.
What to do in a government meeting
Introduction: Introduce yourself and your connection to the issue. Provide context to your organization if applicable, and if there is a historical relationship.
Main Messages: Share the key messages and a personal or community story to illustrate the importance of ending deep poverty.
Call to Action: Ask them to publicly support the recommendations from our report and push for action in decision-making spaces like caucus or committee meetings.
Main Messages
Amidst narratives of nation-building, strengthening the social safety net is critical to a stable and prosperous BC economy, especially now, with this period of instability and economic uncertainty.
Economic justice and economic development are not competing goals. They reinforce each other. If B.C. wants a stronger economy, it needs people who can participate in it. If it wants people to work, work needs to make them better off. The government can support people on assistance programs to participate in this by easing clawbacks on income and having accessible, supportive employment opportunities throughout the province.
The progress the government has made toward the expert panel recommendations creates a strong foundation to keep building from, but that progress doesn’t mean the work is over. We want to work together to build a strong economy that doesn’t leave anyone behind.
Call to action
Please bring up investments in the social safety net in caucus and committee meetings you are in and follow up with me regarding the discussion. Speak with your constituents about this issue, and how it impacts them.
In your next meeting with the Premier, can you please share what we have talked about today regarding [pick one of the priority recommendation areas]?
(if speaking to non-government elected) Can you ask a question about plans for addressing [pick one of the priority recommendation areas] during the next Question Period?
Drawing on a personal experience or story in government meetings
Stories are powerful. Our stories can be useful in helping the government and staff understand how a policy or program is experienced by the people relying on them. In recent years, the BC Government has stated that lived and living experiences in poverty is vital for knowing how to make decisions and what to prioritize. However, knowing when and how to use a story is an ethical decision.
Telling personal stories can be empowering for people with lived and living experience of poverty to share with elected officials. There are things to consider in asking individuals to share their story about poverty, which is a long-term traumatic experience. Taking care of the person you are advocating for and with is vital for the sustainability and trust of the community.
Things to consider when you ask individuals to share their story about poverty:
Are you offering them a gift of some kind as a thank you for their contribution to your advocacy?
Are they aware of the context of the meeting?
Do they have support for preparing for the meeting?
Have you scheduled time to debrief with them after the meeting? (telling your story to a stranger can be triggering!)
Some other things to consider when sharing personal stories in government meetings:
What is the intent or goal of telling a story?
Will the elected official be telling that story in the Legislature or a committee? Is there consent for that story to be relayed?
Additional resource:
March of Dimes has created a tool for helping draft a story to share with elected officials.
Know when to make an investment ask
Understanding how Ministers and Ministry staff make decisions around funding is key to knowing when to make an ask for investments in the social safety net.
In British Columbia, ministries and staff must be invited by the Minister of Finance to make a presentation on what needs funding. This means that not all ministries get to make budget requests every year, and of those who are asked, they can only speak to what they have been asked to present on - meaning it can be difficult to bring new proposals forward. If they are invited, their presentations are prepared in the spring (April or May) so be sure to connect with Ministry staff - especially the Executive Director of the ministry - early in the spring.
Public submissions to the BC Budget generally occur in June, with first notice going out to the public in March (you can register to be notified of provincial budget consultations and other consultations through the government portal.
Leveraging your ask
Is the ask you are making in the party platform, have they made a commitment to the issue, has their party voted on it at a convention, or have they taken a half-measure toward it already?
Connecting with constituents in the elected officials' riding to apply pressure is very useful, as these are the individuals who candidates rely on for votes. They have the highest accountability to their constituents. Think about hosting or attending an event in the riding to collect signatures on a petition or postcard to show an elected official that support exists in the community or bringing a constituent to a meeting with you!
Building community within a constituency is a great way to build people's power behind your campaign. We frequently hear from elected officials that their constituents are not bringing issues of deep poverty or climate justice forward. By hosting community building events like picnics, tabling in key community infrastructure, film screenings, and townhalls in a decision-makers’ constituency, you can create the relationships to keep up the momentum and ongoing learning opportunities required for success.
Moving Beyond a Report Card (or the “we are doing something”) Narrative
In recent years, we have seen government officials or strategies take an approach of showcasing what they are already doing to address issues across the social safety net. An example of this is the 2024 update to the BC poverty reduction strategy, which primarily focuses on investment, programs, or initiatives already underway with very little strategy for how to reduce the deepening poverty many people are experiencing. It is good to know what actions are already underway and is also an acknowledgement from the government that things need to be done. However, the prevalence of this narrative in response to calls to action serves to minimize the reality of deepening poverty, increasing homelessness, and stagnation in the social safety net.
Saying “we are doing something” is the government’s message box and it's our job to cut through it with compelling messages. (Check out the Talking to Media section for advice and tools on this!) Analyze the other kinds of message boxes and priorities the government is using and formulate your message in line with this.
For example:
[Government message] “Partially lifting the spousal cap for PWD recipients has already made such a positive impact for couples across the province. In the next year of our work together, we are hoping to see more households benefit from systems change like this by reducing clawbacks on benefits that recipients of social assistance are facing as they go back to work. I think this aligns with our shared goals of getting people back into the workforce and easing current negative impacts of the programs.”
[Your response] “We acknowledge the BC Government has increased the rates seven times in recent years. After so many years of stagnant benefit rates this boost was much needed, but the spending power of those rates has been lost to inflation and rising cost of living. Indexing rates of social assistance to inflation protects the spending power of the benefits households receive, as well as aligns with BC’s approach of indexing minimum wage to inflation and other provinces in Canada.”
Protecting people’s safety in government meetings
In an increasingly politically right, alt-right, and fascist environment, it is important to consider the physical and emotional safety of having meetings with elected officials.
In some cases, an MLA, MP, or Minister you are trying to meet with may hold white supremacist, zionist, transphobic, or homophobic values that would or could make someone feel unsafe.
As part of your research for these government meetings, find out if they have made statements that could put yourself or others in an unsafe position. Ensure that staff or community members you are inviting to meetings are aware of this. If they choose to attend the meeting, ensure that you collaborate on safety plans, including debriefing sessions.
Additional resources for lobbying
We hope that this resource has been helpful for getting your messages about the social safety net to media, out to the public, and with government officials. A great number of other tools exist to support you in your work.
Check out this toolkit for different kinds of collectives or organisations in their government advocacy work. This link also connects to a recorded training session on government relations with Core Firm and Emdash
Listen in on this webinar with former MP Libby Davies on the basics of lobbying and building people power