In 2019, the City of Saguenay launched the development of a citizen participation policy, a participatory approach aimed at involving citizens, stakeholders, and City employees.

Through various consultation activities, the City of Saguenay created opportunities and spaces for discussions on best practices and tools to encourage community participation in Saguenay’s democratic life.

The consultation process was scheduled to continue with face-to-face activities in spring 2020, however, due to the health situation in connection with COVID-19, the City had to adapt quickly to hold safe public consultations.

TES therefore continued to support the City, but in a digital way by optimizing the Bâtissons Saguenay platform to maintain and maximize a communication channel so that community members could make their voices heard.

This rapid adaptation enabled the City of Saguenay to maintain dialogue with the community and pursue its consultation process to put in place an innovative Citizen Participation Policy that meets the community’s needs and expectations.

The project was featured on the Bang the Table blog.

Photo of downtown Saguenay in spring 2020 by André Ouellet on Unsplash