The 17th Conference of the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy will take place in Montréal!


The international conference will be held from June 16 to 19, 2017.

The year 2017 will mark both the 15th anniversary of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) and the 375th anniversary of Montréal. On that occasion, we invite you to celebrate Montréal’s vivacity: its history and heritage, its spaces, its people and its accomplishments.


The conference will take place at the Cœur des sciences of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), located at 200 Sherbrooke Street West, near the Place-des-Arts Metro Station, in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Montréal is a magnificent city known for its cultural diversity and world flavours. Located on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, the city has over three million residents. It is also the largest French-speaking city outside of France, and a perfect blend of European energy and North American efficiency.


The International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (IOPD), created in 2001, is a network of over 500 cities, organizations and Centres for Research allowing people to discuss participatory democracy and citizen participation approaches. To find out more, go to

Every year, the international conference of the Observatory provides a venue for sharing experiences and contributes to the enhancement of local public policies.

Got to the IODP website


This year, the theme of the conference is Participation without exclusion.

  • How can we ensure that all strata of the population participate in participatory democracy activities?
  • How can we ensure that no groups are excluded, notably among minoritized groups, citizens with less schooling or more limited access to information?

Such exclusions are never intentional, but we must ask ourselves about the underrepresentation of some groups in the participatory democracy process.

  • How can we resolve that issue?
  • How can we promote greater participation in real time?
  • What means can we employ to ensure that families, young people, migrants and seniors participate?

Moreover, in several areas of the world, citizen participation in democratic life is non-existent. The thawing out process often begins at the local level, where the first participatory democracy mechanisms and citizen education activities that improve people’s fate take shape. The municipal level lends itself well to participation, as citizens feel a greater sense of involvement in the actions of local authorities, which directly affect their daily lives. That is how interventions like participatory budgets, which are now widespread in several African and Latin American countries, were developed. 

  • What are the most promising initiatives to ensure citizen participation?
  • How do we ensure that participatory democracy mechanisms survive changes in administrations?




The conference of the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (IOPD) is open to anyone who wishes to discuss or implement participatory democracy experiences on a local level with a view to enriching the democratic process of municipal governments.

A few elements of the program will be reserved for IOPD members, such as the annual general meeting, but registrations for the conference will be open to all.

Register for our mailing list if you would like to be notified of the start of registration (this winter).