# Samara Centre for Democracy

The Samara Centre for Democracy (formerly Samara Canada) is a Canadian non-partisan registered charity dedicated to realizing a resilient democracy with an engaged public and responsive institutions. Their research and programs are regarded as a go-to resource for active citizens, educators, public leaders and the media.
For over a decade the Samara Centre has shaped critical conversation about the health of Canada’s democracy. Key pieces of work flow from exit interviews with former Members of Parliament and include the 2014 national bestseller Tragedy in the Commons and the recently acclaimed podcast Humans of the House. In addition to examining the lived experience of politics, the Samara Centre is engaged in initiatives that examine technology’s influence on our democratic culture.
The Samara Centre’s insights are regularly featured in the media and the organization is known for producing evidence-based work that is bold, accessible and aimed at supporting a vibrant culture of civic engagement.
The Samara Centre for Democracy began as the Samara Project and was co-founded in 2007 by Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan. Sabreena Delhon is the CEO of the Samara Centre and joined the organization in 2021.

## Origin of name and mandate

The organization is named after a samara, "the winged helicopter seed that falls from the maple tree." They note that as the seed of the tree whose leaves are the symbol of Canada, the samara "is a symbol of Canada, and a reminder that from small seeds, big ideas can grow."

## Books

Tragedy in the Commons: Former Members of Parliament Speak Out about Canada's Failing Democracy (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2014) is written by Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan, the two co-founders of the Samara Centre for Democracy. In it, Loat and MacMillian draw on eighty exit interviews with former Members of Parliament from across the political spectrum to unearth surprising observations about the practice of politics in Canada. Real House Lives (Toronto: Friesen Press, 2020) is the sequel to Tragedy in the Commons and is written by Michael Morden and other researchers at the Samara Centre for Democracy. The book features exit interview reports and uses the stories and experiences of former parliamentarians to better understand what’s going wrong with Canadian national politics. It follows MPs through their lives and work, exploring how this vision of political leadership can be realized through a stronger Parliament, better local democratic engagement, and healthier political parties.

## Podcasts

Humans of the House is a podcast produced by the Samara Centre for Democracy and hosted by CEO Sabreena Delhon. In this podcast, Delhon speaks with former Members of Parliament, to hear, in their own words, what this job is really like. Their stories are woven together in a six-part series that explores an MPs path to politics, why they left, and what it cost them to serve their communities.
Humans of the House has received national media coverage and has been the #1 show in the Government category for several weeks on Apple Podcasts where it has also been featured as a New & Noteworthy Special Series. Humans of the House has also been a Best Podcast This Week and a top Government show on Amazon Music. In 2023, The Samara Centre for Democracy received a Silver Canadian Online Publishing Award in the Consumer category for Humans of the House in 2023.
In 2024, Humans of the House was named a national finalist in the best podcast category by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTNDA) along with fellow nominees CBC Ottawa, and CBC Podcasts and BBC World Service. The RTDNA Canada Awards honour the best journalists, programs, platforms, stations, and news gathering organizations in audio, digital, and video.

### Humans of the House features interviews with

* Hon. Scott Brison, Progressive Conservative, Kings-Hants (1997-2003); Liberal, Kings-Hants (2003-2019)
* Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Liberal, Whitby (2015-2019); Independent, Whitby (2019)
* James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre (2019-2021)
* Matt DeCourcey, Liberal, Fredericton (2015-2019)
* Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor-Tecumseh (2015-2019)
* Hon. Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill (2008-2021)
* Hon. Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Ottawa Centre (2015-2021)
* Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, 2015-2019
* Hon. Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton (2008-2019)
* Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik-Eeyou (2011-2019) — Interviews for Humans of the House were conducted in the summer of 2022 and the show was launched in March 2023. In August 2023 Romeo Saganash was charged with sexual assault. We will update when the court case is complete.
* Kennedy Stewart, NDP, Burnaby South (2011-2018)
* Adam Vaughan, Liberal, Spadina-Fort York (2014-2021)
The Samara Centre has been studying the experience of federal parliamentarians since 2008. Humans of the House is part of the MP Exit Interview Project, the first ever systematic series of exit interviews with former Canadian parliamentarians. To date, the Samara Centre has interviewed over 160 MPs and their insights have been shared in numerous publications, most notably in the best-selling book Tragedy in the Commons and Real House Lives.
The Samara Centre for Democracy and SSENC/RESCC have partnered on curriculum-connected teaching resources for secondary school teachers across the country based on Humans of the House.
Humans of the House is produced by Media Girlfriends.
Les Personnages de la Chambre: une baladodiffusion est un nouveau balado qui présente six anciens et anciennes député.e.s de la Chambre des communes du Canada qui décrivent, dans leur propre voix, la réalité de cette profession.
Nous connaissons les politiciens et politiciennes tels qu’ils se présentent à nous dans l’exercice de leurs fonctions. Mais ce n’est que lorsque leur mandat touche à sa fin qu’ils et elles peuvent réellement s’exprimer sur leur expérience. Animé par Chloë Hill, Les Personnages de la Chambre est un nouveau balado qui présente six anciens et anciennes député.e.s de la Chambre des communes du Canada qui décrivent, dans leur propre voix, la réalité de cette profession.
Ce balado présente des témoignages de :
* Steven Blaney, Conservateur, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, Québec, 2006-2021
* Guy Caron, Nouveau Parti démocratique, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, Québec, 2011-2019
* Matthew Dubé, Nouveau Parti démocratique, Beloeil—Chambly, Québec, 2011-2019
* Linda Lapointe, Libéral, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, Québec, 2015-2019
* Rémi Massé, Libéral, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, Québec, 2015-2019
* Jean-Claude Poissant, Libéral, La Prairie, Québec, 2015-2019
Dans cette série en six parties, nous entendrons les témoignages d’anciens et anciennes député.e.s des 42e et 43e législatures du Canada, c’est-à-dire des parlementaires qui ont quitté leurs fonctions entre 2015 et 2021. Nous découvrirons leur expérience à la Chambre des communes et entendrons leurs conseils sur la façon d’améliorer l’expérience d’un ou une député.e, pour la personne qui porte le titre, mais aussi pour nous, le public qu’ils servent.
Le Centre Samara pour la démocratie étudie l’expérience d’anciens et anciennes député.e.s au palier fédéral depuis 2008. Les Personnages de la Chambre fait partie du Projet d’entrevue avec les député.e.s sortant.e.s, soit la toute première série d’entrevues avec des parlementaires canadiens et canadiennes. À ce jour, plus de 150 député.e.s ont été interviewé.e.s et leur témoignage a été partagé dans de nombreuses publications, notamment dans les livres Tragedy in the Commons (2014) et Real House Lives (2020).
En 2024, Les Personnages de la Chambre a été nominé pour le meilleur balado (catégorie de consommateur) aux Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA).

## SAMbot

The Samara Centre’s SAMbot project measures abusive content that candidates and political parties receive online during Canadian elections, using machine learning to collect data and generate insights about the prevalence of online abuse in civic conversations.
On its website, the Samara Centre states: “As political discourse is generally at its most abusive during campaigns, SAMbot helps to gain critical insight into the current state of online Canadian political conversations. SAMbot can help us look at online discussions at a massive scale.”
The Samara Centre has used SAMbot to analyze millions of comments in federal, provincial, and municipal elections across Canada. Insights from its SAMbot work has received national media coverage and has been presented at meetings across governmental, policy, technology, human rights and academic spaces.

## In Defence of Democracy

In Defence of Democracy is an annual public lecture hosted by the Samara Centre for Democracy. Since 2020, the event has been hosted by Nahlah Ayed, host of CBC Radio’s IDEAS and is later broadcast on the radio program as well.
The theme of In Defence of Democracy is: How do we inspire renewed civic purpose in Canada? Past keynote speakers of In Defence of Democracy include Pulitzer and Peabody Award winning journalist, Connie Walker, Canadian journalist, Lisa LaFlamme (2023), Former Mayor Naheed Nenshi (2022), and bestselling author Anand Giridharadas (2022).

## Research and Reports

To date, the Samara Centre has released numerous reports and publications, including:
* Astroturfing and Abuse: The 2023 SAMbot Alberta General Election Report
* Engagement and Abuse on Toronto's Digital Campaign Trail: The 2023 Toronto Mayoral By-election Report (2023)
* Online Abuse in Local Elections: The SAMbot Municipal Report (2023)
* SAMbot 2022 Ontario Election Report
* SAMbot 2021 Federal Election Report
* Learning Loss as Civic Loss: Addressing the Generational Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Youth Democratic Engagement (2022)
* Locally Grown: A Survey of Municipal Politicians in Canada (2021)
* Temperature Check: Canadian Democratic Attitudes in a Pandemic (2020)
* Representation in Isolation: Member of Parliament Survey 2020
* Real House Lives (2020)
* Parliament Under Pressure: Evaluating Parliament's performance in response to COVID-19
* House Inspection: A retrospective of the 42nd Parliament (2020)
* Let’s Talk Digital (2019)
* Party Favours: How Federal Election Candidates are Chosen (2019)
* Don't Blame "The People": The rise of elite-led populism in Canada (2019)
* 2019 Democracy 360
* Investing in Canadians' Civic Literacy (2019)
* Elephant on the Hill (2018)
* Beyond the Barbecue: Reimagining Constituency Work for Local Democratic Engagement (2018)
* Flip the Script: Reclaiming the legislature to reinvigorate representative democracy (2018)
* The 2018 Member of Parliament Survey
* No One Is Listening: Incivility in the 42nd Parliament, and how to fix it (2017)
* 2017 Democracy 360
* Can You Hear Me Now? Young People and the 2015 Federal Election
* What We Talk About When We Talk About Electoral Reform (2016)
* Cheering or Jeering? Members of Parliament Open Up About Civility in the House of Commons (2016)
* 2015 Democracy 360
* Message not Delivered (2015)
* Tragedy in the Commons: Former Members of Parliament Speak Out about Canada's Failing Democracy (2014)
* By Invitation Only: Canadians' perceptions of political parties (2014)
* Lightweights? Political Participation Beyond the Ballot Box (2013)
* Lost in Translation or Just Lost? Canadians' priorities in the House of Commons (2013)
* Who's the Boss? Canadians' Views on Their Democracy (2012)
* Occupiers and Legislators: A Snapshot of Political Media Coverage (2012)
* The Real Outsiders: Politically Disengaged Views on Politics and Democracy (2011)
* The Outsiders' Manifesto: Surviving and Thriving as a Member of Parliament (2011)
* It's My Party: Parliamentary Dysfunction Reconsidered (2011)
* Welcome to Parliament: A Job With No Description (2010)
* The Accidental Citizen? (2010)