The challenge…
This is an invitation to join us on a new road to sustainability for the English-speaking communities of Quebec. The Priority Setting Steering Committee (PSSC) is in the midst of a bold attempt to redefine our needs in a way that improves our ability to be understood, recognized and fully integrated into the fabric of Quebec and Canadian society. The challenge is to unite our communities in a cohesive and articulate expression of a future in which we are, as a community, vital, vibrant, and sustainable.
Toward a vision of the future…
The Strategic Priorities Forum is a five-year initiative in which the community identifies and acts upon an evolving list of priorities for the English-speaking community of Quebec facilitated by the PSSC, a committee of the Quebec Community Groups Network.
As the work of the committee got underway, we sought to adopt a very different approach to the consultation process. Rather than seeking to identify a long list of diverse community priorities, we decided to focus our attention on ‘enablers;’ in other words, conditions that would enable the English-speaking community to succeed as a whole. Our hope is that these enablers, once in place, will lead our community towards greater vitality and sustainability.
The use of ‘enabler’ language avoids the usual pitfalls of attempting to unite community members with competing interests to reach a consensus about overall priorities and resource allocation. More importantly, the use of enablers provides our communities with the capacity to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders and other parties interested in the elaboration of resources and support for communities needs. This includes new private and government partners that can complement or replace existing resources and partnerships. The response to the enabler conversation has been very positive, both from the dozens of individuals and government officials who have engaged in the process so far.
The process…
After six months of consultations with the English-speaking community, we are in the middle of the process that that will culminate in a conference to be held in Montreal from March 23 to 25.
During the first phase, we held 19 consultations across the province with a wide variety of individuals and organizations including regional associations, sectoral groups and community institutions that sought to identify conditions that would sustain the vitality of its English-speaking communities.
We are now in the second phase which consists of a series of focus groups, composed of additional community partners, who will validate the 15 categories and more than 350 enablers cited during the community consultations. These sessions will be complemented by an on-line survey of individuals province-wide.
Phase three begins at the Community Priority Setting Conference in March where 150 community leaders will work together to generate a short list of enablers that will form the basis of an action plan to be developed by the PSSC through this spring. That will be followed by a final report to community stakeholders in late spring at the Annual General Meeting of the QCGN in June.
The priorities identified during the conference will then be revisited by the PSSC in consultation with the community sector once a year for four years to confirm their validity, and to evaluate our collective progress towards reaching five-year goals. In the final year of the Strategic Priorities Forum, another Community Priority Setting Conference will be held helping us set our path for the next five years.
Up to you…
You can take part in one of our focus groups, sign up to participate in our online survey (sign up here), or post a comment on our blog, and or follow us on Twitter. Be part of the conversation. Please join in the exciting opportunity to unite the English-speaking community of Quebec in the expression of its identity, pride, and a promising future.
Noel Burke
Chair of the PSSC and Interim President of the QCGN
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 9:47AM 
