The initiative of promoting a culture of responsibilities and a Charter of Human Responsibilities at the international level is supported financially by the la Fondation Charles Léopold Mayer pour le progrès de l’Homme (FPH),  in collaboration with volonteers and organizations who recognize the importance of this endeavor. It is facilitated by the Centre de recherche et animation socioéconomique et culturelle acting as a partner of the FPH in Québec and Canada.

The team:

The core of the Québec/Canada Committee is made up of Cécile Sabourin and Fabienne Présentey.   Other collaborators contribute according to initiatives and projects.

Cécile Sabourin, economist and professor at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) is involved in the diffusion of the Charter of Human Responsibilities in Québec and Canada since the first meeting of the international facilitation team during the fall of 2003.  She was then terminating an important phase of the Women and Economy Workhop of the Socioeconomy of Solidarity Workgroup (Pôle socioéconomie solidiare-PSES) of the Alliance for Responsible, Plural and United World. Complementary to her work at the university, this initiative opened up  an opportunity to reconcile her interests in research regarding both the analysis and the promotion of alternative economic practices.

In May 2009, she terminated two mandates as president of the Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d’université (FQPPU), a union-based organization involved in political aspects and representation at the postsecondary education level.  This responsibility has facilitated the deepening of her reflexions and oriented her actions in relation with the roles et responsibilities of professors and universities toward society.

Fabienne Preséntey has been actively involved with the work of the Québec/Canada  Committee of the Charter of Human Responsibilities since the winter of 2005.  She brings to the team her multi-disciplinary background as sociologist, social worker and film maker.

In 1998, she has received the Helen Prize for her work of rapprochement with women from Middle East.   She has worked as freelance journalist and lived five years in Middle East, covering all aspects of the conflict.  In Québec and Canada, she worked as social science researcher in the fields of family and conjugal violence with both the victims and the perpetrators, as well as in the area of ethnic relations. She is a long time activist on the issue of co-exsistence as it relates to the Israel-Palestinian context. Her experience in artistic direction, graphic design and  event organization compliment her work.  Since 2006, she was especially involved in the design and maintenance of the regional website.

Partnerships and collaborations:

The Q/C Committee is involved in the following partnerships during 2009-2010, :

Prendre soin de la planète : je m’engage ! In partnership with Établissements verts Brundtland (EVB), the Fondation-Monique-Fitz-Back, du Club 2/3 and the Fédération des Commissions scolaires du Québec, the Q/C Committee is preparing the groundwork for the participation of youth from Québec and Canada in the Infanto-juvenile Conference of 2010 (CONFINT), in Brasilia (Brasil).  The invitation to participate was launched in November 2009, the selection of delegates will take place next April 15 2010.  Cécile Sabourin represents the Q/C Charter Committee. For this project.  It receives a specific funding from FPH.

A pilot project designed to develop an innovative pedagogical approach integrating the notion of responsibility into the theater curiciulum at the high school level. The students are introduced to the Charter within the scholastic program and are invited to produce a play reflecting how responsibility is part of their world. This  is taking place during the fall of 2009 at the École Saint-Louis of the Commission scolaire de Montréal. It is the result of a partnership between the Q/C Charter Committee, the High School and the School Commission.  It is facilitated by the participation of Michel Pouliot, professor, Stéphane Jaques, stage director.  Fabienne Preséntey is actively involved in developing this initiative for Q/C Committee of the Charter.

The Q/C Committee of the Charter is part of  the Comité québécois « science et démocratie » for the purpose of dissimilating information on the World Forum on Science and Democracy (WFSD) in Québec and in Canada.  This initiative aims at developing spaces for exchange, collaboration and debate, between scientists and social movement organizations at all levels. It is particularily concerned  about decisions and actions in the science and technology sectors that affect the future of societies.  In Québec, every person and organization having the desire to collaborate can do so.  The International Initiative Committee (IIC) is responsible to prepare the second World Forum scheduled for January 2011 in Dakar. Cécile Sabourin collaborates to both committees – Québec and ICC – as representative of the Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d’université (FQPPU) and of the Q/C Committee of the Charter.