By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
The city of Bromont is developing a new public participation policy in partnership with the Institut du Nouveau Monde (INM), and teens will have a front-row seat, city officials announced last week.
“Bromont residents have a strong sense of civic engagement, and this is a real asset for our community. This is why, along with the members of the council, we want to work to foster this proud civic participation by recognizing it in our policies. We will take advantage of this public exercise to collectively reflect on optimizing our methods of dialogue, which we hope will be constructive and ongoing,” acting deputy mayor Tatiana Contreras said in a statement.
A nonpartisan ad hoc committee formed of elected officials (Mont-Brome Councillor Michel Bilodeau and Adamsville Councillor Jocelyne Corbeil), city employees (Ève Panneton, head of the department of culture and community life, and public affairs assistant Audrey Leboeuf), one representative of the INM (former Bromont resident Marianik Gagnon), representatives of community organizations and four citizens in a personal capacity (to be named later) will be formed this month and tasked with developing the policy. Applications are open until April 27, and two of the four citizen spots on the committee will be reserved for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Leboeuf is the spokesperson for the public participation policy initiative. She said the initiative has been on the table since 2023 as part of Bromont’s ten-year strategic plan. She explained that there are three ways of participating in public life in your community – voting, social participation (getting involved with a community organization, school or local social movement) or public participation (taking part in a participative budget process, urban planning consultation or similar event). “We want to favour public participation and we don’t have a structure for it,” she said. “We want to see how people would like to be consulted, and that’s something we will see with the ad hoc committee.”
Leboeuf, a former employee of the Val-des-Cerfs school service centre, said she and Corbeil, a retired teacher, had pushed especially hard to make sure teens were consulted. “Young people are the citizens of tomorrow, and we want to make sure we have a constructive dialogue with them,” Leboeuf said. “They inform themselves differently and they participate in society differently. They are the spokespeople of their generation, and if we want to get their interest, we should give them the mic.”
“It was very important for us to involve young people from the very beginning of the process. We want to demonstrate our willingness to welcome their ideas and dreams regarding the implementation of this policy,” said Corbeil.
Leboeuf added that the policy was inspired by similar initiatives in Sherbrooke and in several towns in France. “We’re trying to take the best of what has been done elsewhere and adapt it to the issues that are unique to us and our region. Bromonters are really involved with their city, their community and their social fabric. We want to increase and optimize that involvement…to optimize the processes in place.”
The members of the ad hoc committee will be formally named at the May 5 council meeting. As part of the process, elected officials and city employees will be trained on how to facilitate public participation, and residents of all ages will be able to present their own ideas about public consultation at a forum in late May. Leboeuf didn’t want to speculate about the ideas that would come out of the committee meetings or the forum. “I don’t want to speak for residents; let’s give them the microphone instead.”
The final public participation policy, developed with input from the committee and the public forum, will be adopted by councillors in August or September.
Those who are interested in serving on the committee can apply online at bromont.net or pick up a paper application package at City Hall or at the Bromont Community Centre.