We recently learned in the newspapers of the intention of the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, to relaunch the discussion on a draft Constitution of Quebec.
I take this opportunity to recall that, from 2016 to 2019, I carried out, with the Institut du Nouveau Monde (INM), an independent non-profit and non-partisan organization whose mandate is to increase the participation of citizens in democratic life, an approach aimed at providing Quebec with a constitution entirely written by citizens drawn at random and representative of the demography of the Quebec nation. I did not personally take part in this one. My work as a documentary filmmaker was rather to bear witness to this process, which I had completely placed in the hands of the INM.
This research, funded by a partnership with the Quebec Research Funds and supported by the Chief Scientist of Quebec, was conducted without the influence of any lobby. The constituents succeeded in drafting a constitution of 80 articles. They proved that “ordinary” citizens, not caring about writing the constitution of a province or a country, leaving it to the constituent process itself to define what Quebec is, can entirely do this work.
The Citizens’ Constitution of Quebec and the methodology that underlies it were officially tabled in the National Assembly of Quebec on May 29, 2019 by Mr.me Catherine Fournier, former independent MP for Marie-Victorin.
The project “Constitute! » is the only complete constituent process that has been carried out in Quebec and which has allowed a plurality of representative voices of the Quebec nation to work together on the drafting of such a document. It seems particularly important to me to testify to this essential approach, still unknown to the general public, in the name of the rigorous work carried out by these citizens and thus to be able to contribute to this delicate discussion which is beginning.
I therefore appeal to the common sense of all the parties concerned by this approach that is so fundamental for Quebec (civil society, government authorities and the media): drafting the fundamental law of Quebec cannot be achieved without the citizens and citizens. Nor can it be subject to partisan ideology. It is the business of an entire society. Drawing lots as a way of determining the composition of a Constituent Assembly is the only approach that can have real legitimacy and lay the foundations for a healthy and non-partisan process.
It is easy to imagine that the Constitution of Quebec could be at the center of the next Quebec election. In these days when on earth, democracy is particularly undermined, it seems important to make political commentators aware of the importance of analyzing and making known to the general public this highly democratic approach carried out in complete independence. by the Institute of the New World.
This would certainly have the effect of empowering all of the deputies sitting in the National Assembly, so that they take into account the historical and political precedent represented by the Constituons! in the landscape of Quebec civic life. We must avoid at all costs that the pencil that will be used to draft a fundamental law for Quebec end up in the hand of a single man. Quebec’s democratic health is at stake.