Civil Society and the Summit of the Americas

The information below was created for the 2001 Summit and has not been updated or reviewed since that time. It is being provided here for information/background purposes only.

The Summit of the Americas, held in Quebec City in April 2001, was an opportunity for Canada to strengthen its engagement in the hemisphere. The heads of state and government in attendance discussed ways to deepen democracy, increase prosperity and foster social inclusiveness throughout the Americas.

Canada worked hard with its 33 partners to ensure that the Summit proceedings yielded concrete commitments to promote a better quality of life for all.

For the commitments made at the Summit to address citizens' needs and concerns, it was important that the various groups that make up civil society took an interest in the Summit and the process.

The Government of Canada favours a policy of openness and transparency towards civil society groups and is playing a leading role in the Americas in this respect. Federal ministers and other government representatives conducted regular consultations with members of civil society in Canada and elsewhere in the hemisphere to promote open dialogue about the Summit's objectives and ensure that civil society points of view were taken into account throughout the process. The Government of Canada also supported a number of forums at which members of civil society could express their views on the Summit.

What is "civil society"?

The term "civil society," which has entered common usage in recent years, refers to all citizen groups outside the State, including action groups, volunteer organizations, academics, non-governmental organizations, non-profit organizations, unions and the business community.

The importance of civil society participation in strengthening and preserving democratic institutions in the hemisphere was strongly affirmed in the Miami Declaration, adopted at the first Summit of the Americas in 1994. At the Summit of the Americas on sustainable development (Bolivia, 1996), various civil society organizations related their experiences; their contributions enriched the Santa Cruz de la Sierra plan of action. Then, in 1999, in accordance with the Plan of Action adopted at the second Summit of the Americas (Santiago, 1998), the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) established the Committee on Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities. The Committee has developed rules to govern such participation and reviews requests for accreditation from civil society organizations.

How can civil society participate in the Summit of the Americas process?

To date, over 1000 civil society organizations from the Americas have expressed their points of view or commented by various means on the proposed themes for the third Summit of the Americas. Civil society organizations that were interested in the Summit of the Americas process and in hemispheric issues were able to comment and express their opinions throughout the development of the Summit plan of action and the follow-up and implementation process in a variety of ways:

• The Inter-American Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade regularly organized information exchange sessions. These provided an opportunity for Canadian government representatives (notably the Prime Minister's Personal Representative for the Summit, Canada's Ambassador to the Organization of American States and Canada's Chief Negotiator) and a wide variety of civil society organizations to exchange ideas and opinions on the proposed themes for the next Summit's Plan of Action. The sessions were held in Ottawa, with a telephone-conference link for participants outside the region. Reports on the sessions held in March, September and November 2000 as well as February 2001, are posted under the Civil Society / Participation Mechanisms page.

• Peter Boehm, Canada's Ambassador to the Organization of American States, opened the meetings of the OAS Special Committee on Inter-American Summits Management, (CEGCI), which he chairs, to civil society, and had the proceedings broadcast over the Internet in real time. The Committee has become the main mechanism for ongoing participation in and contributions to the Summit of the Americas process by civil society groups from all parts of the hemisphere. Reports on the meetings held in February, September and November 2000, as well as February 2001, are available under our Civil Society / Participation Mechanisms page.

• For matters related specifically to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the site provided information on consultation mechanisms in Canada and throughout the hemisphere, including information on the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society, which was set up for the FTAA talks.

• In April, during the Quebec City Summit, the Government of Canada wanted to recognize the efforts made by the many Canadian and hemispheric civil society groups that have actively contributed to the development of the Summit Plan of Action by carrying out consultations and organizing conferences on the hemispheric issues that matter to all citizens.

In addition to these mechanisms for participation by Canadian and hemispheric civil society, various Canadian ministers held broad consultations with civil society in connection with the Summit of the Americas. At the first Peoples' Summit, organized by the Hemispheric Social Alliance during the Santiago Summit in April 1998, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for International Trade met with representatives of the 60 Canadian organizations in attendance. Canada's Minister for International Trade assembled 22 of his colleague ministers of the hemisphere to meet with the civil society representatives from across the Americas who attended the parallel forum held during the FTAA Trade Ministers Meeting in Toronto in November 1999. He also participated in a debate at Laval University, met with organizers of the People's Summit in Montreal in February, and met with various organizations such as Oxfam Quebec and Rights and Democracy. Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister invited the heads of the Fédération des Travailleurs du Québec (FTQ), Oxfam Quebec, the Public Liberties Surveillance Committee of la Ligue des droits et libertés, the Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale (AQOCI), among others, to a round-table dinner with him in Montreal in March to exchange views on the Summit of the Americas. Canadian ministers also participated in a number of parallel events organized by civil society groups during the Summit.

Upon his appointment as the Prime Minister's Personal Representative for the Summit of the Americas, Marc Lortie began meeting with representatives of the main Canadian groups interested in the Summit. In addition to chairing four information exchange sessions, he met with the organizers of the People's Summit eight times, took part in conferences co-organized by FOCAL, and maintained regular contact with organizations such as Rights and Democracy, Transparency International, the University of Calgary, the Institut québécois des Hautes études internationales, the Groupe de recherche sur l'intégration continentale, the latin-american community of the Quebec city region, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Association des manufacturiers et exportateurs du Québec, the FTQ and Pierre-Marc Johnson, chairman of the Hemispheric Trade and Sustainability Symposium.

Mr. Lortie included meetings with civil society groups on the agenda for all his visits in the hemisphere: to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica. He attended conferences organized by the Carter Center and Inter-American Dialogue, and the final meeting in the consultation process with over 800 hemispheric civil society organizations held under the auspices of Corporacion Participa of Chile, FOCAL of Canada and the Esquel Foundation in the U.S.

As part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's speakers program, a number of Canadian Ambassadors posted in the hemisphere extended their stay in Canada for a February 2001 meeting in order to meet with civil society representatives across Canada.

Finally, as part of the preparations for the Summit, the Government of Canada provided funding for parallel consultations conducted by Canadian and hemispheric civil society organizations.