We have been involved in creating À nous le Plateau! Together we can build a new Plateau citizens’ movement and develop collective solutions to the challenges we face.
We love our neighborhood, so let’s change society for the better! Small local initiatives can inspire us to transform our city. Self-management is an ongoing process of learning. There is much for us to change, and we need a horizontal distribution of power to do this.
ANLP organizes citizen assemblies where the participants determine the agenda, in the open space format, in order to empower citizens. The inspiration for this type of meeting arose from a March, 2019 visit to a number of town meetings in Vermont, to learn about their 400-year-old tradition of direct democracy.
In September 2019, just before the Canadian federal elections and the elections for mayor of the Plateau, we had a very inspiring all-day event with 250 people and 14 politicians from all levels of government. There were 10 discussion groups around different themes: the ecological and food transition, housing justice, energy, Hotel-Dieu Hospital, seniors, speculation and small businesses, family and children, minorities, poverty, and densification. See the notes and the recordings of the presentations from our assemblies of 2020 and 2019.
In 2020, our second citizens’ assembly was held on August 28-30 with virtual and in-person meetings. All day Saturday, citizens discussed in the 9 discussion groups they had created: the Royal Victoria and Hôtel-Dieu Hospitals, active transport, the elderly, real estate speculation, traffic and heavy vehicles, waste management, degrowth, access to toilets and water, and resilient and sustainable housing. On Sunday, each group shared their reflections and proposals. See the video here.
In 2021, a third citizens’ assembly was held in October.
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