MTL Spring of Debates and 100en1jour MTL 2019: game on!
Montréal, April 12, 2019 – The Ville de Montréal is pleased to support the MTL Spring of Debates and 100en1jour MTL citizen participation events, which were launched on Wednesday, April 10, at the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. These two events will unfold from today until June 1, 2019, and will mobilize Montrealers around civic engagement.
Supported by the Ville de Montréal and coordinated in partnership with the Institut du Nouveau Monde (INM) and the Maison de l’innovation sociale (MIS), these events invite the public to invest in improving their living environment, taking part in debates on themes that inspire them, and deploying creative gestures, whether small or large, ephemeral or enduring.
MTL Spring of Debates has its origins in the Parisian concept of “La nuit des débats” (night of debates) and proposes discussions and debates between citizens in public places on a variety of issues such as health and well-being, mobility, the reappropriation of the public space, the environment, the arts and culture.
100en1jour MTL draws its history from the worldwide movement born in Bogotá in 2012. The ideas that will emerge from the MTL Spring of Debates will gradually be transformed into 100 inspiring actions, whether ephemeral or enduring, to be deployed in one day by Montrealers on June 1.
Both events offer Montrealers the opportunity to take ownership of their role as change agents and to live together better together by moving from words to action.
“The Ville de Montréal did not hesitate to support these events because it is well aware of the fact that it cannot succeed in the ecological transition alone, or sustain the urban resilience of Montréal over the long term without the active contribution of the citizens. Their participation is at the heart of a city’s social transformation. By combining their expertise and resources, the INM and the MIS offer us a menu of citizen participation activities for all tastes, whether we are more focused on speaking and listening, or on creativity and action. I invite all Montrealers, young and old, to fully participate in these events and I can already tell you that Space for Life will be there to host debates in the coming weeks!” said Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, member of the Executive Committee of the Ville de Montréal and responsible for environmental transition and resilience, Space for Life and urban agriculture.
Recognizing the coherence of their respective missions in terms of participative democracy, innovation and social transformation, the INM and the MIS have built on the natural links between words and citizen actions.
“100en1jour MTL is the logical continuation of the MTL Spring of Debates since it is the bridge between words, intentions and action. This is why the MIS and the INM have been recognized as natural allies in the activation and coordination of these citizen events. We quickly perceived the potential impact of creating links between these different activities, the transposition of debate into action, and of an idea toward its implementation,” said Patrick Dubé, co-director general of the MIS.
“Montrealers are best placed to find answers to their needs and aspirations. By allowing them to come together to share, discuss, co-create and act collectively, we give them confidence in their ability to act. Ultimately, the entire Montréal community will benefit from the wealth of this citizen contribution,” added Julie Caron-Malenfant, executive director of the INM.
Calendar of activities from April 11 to June 1, 2019
Example of the transposition of a debate into ephemeral and festive action
A debate on diversity and inclusion and the mechanisms for living better together, for example, will be followed by a co-creation exercise on diversity and reconciliation between communities. This exercise will perhaps materialize, as was the case last year at the 2018 edition of 100en1jour, in a festive and ephemeral citizen initiative inviting a local community to discover a counter offering different kinds of bread, organized according to recipes from about 20 countries – bread being a true common denominator of cultural diversity. This was a playful, ephemeral but coherent way of showcasing the role of the citizen as an important agent of change, and of moving from words to action.
This was a playful, ephemeral but coherent way of showcasing the role of the citizen as an important agent of change, and of moving from words to action.
