In late August Quebec-Haitian artist Luck Mervil took his place behind the podium to welcome the nearly 600 delegates from around the world who gathered at Palais des Congrès to discuss methods to create global economic equality.
For the next three years CIVICUS, an alliance of civil society organizations, will meet in Montreal to discuss proactive solutions to decrease poverty worldwide.
“We are working together to come up with ideas of what can be done to improve communities,” said Ingrid Srinath, secretary general of CIVICUS. “People are suffering simply because of where they were born. By accident of birth, people are living in poverty. “
The first three-day World Assembly this past summer saw many in attendance focus on allowing inhabitants of less fortunate countries to have more input in the development of their nations.
Thomas Brundin, from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and one of the presenters at the conference, stressed the importance of allowing the citizens who live in poverty to have a sense of ownership in their society and to include them in the decision-making processes.
According to Brundin, in certain countries there is an unequal distribution of power between governments giving aid and those receiving the funds. He therefore stressed the importance of allowing for citizen input as to how the money should be spent, because they are the ones being directly affected.
The conference’s focus on citizen participation also hit home right here in Montreal.
Julian Novales-Flamarique, a local Montrealer, participated in the event because he wanted to become involved and active in what was happening outside of the city. He was surprised by the range of emotions he felt throughout the conference, from rage, to sadness, to hope that he would be able to actively assist in changing the lives of other people in the world.
“Many smaller groups of delegates came together to propose tangible projects on which to work,” Novales-Flamarique said. “In the coming year I look forward to working with one of these groups.”
The delegates will gather again next summer in Montreal and Srinath wants young people to become more involved in the assemblies so they can share their ideas with them. Her mission is to get the youth out of a bystander role so they become more involved in their own community.
“Young people have an important voice because they ask the hard questions and aren’t constrained by ideology or convention.” Srinath said. “They are 50 per cent of the population and they warrant participation.”
