The city of Montreal assumed the presidency of IOPD during the celebration of the 16th Conference celebrated in May 2016 in the city of Matola, Mozambique. Montreal is going to lead the IOPD in this new period with several strategic objectives. First, they want to increase the number of cities and organizations from North America as members of the IOPD in order to give greater prominence to this continent. Secondly, to expand the range of topics covered by IOPD and deal with the debate about the organization and its mission.

The Office of Public Consultation of Montreal (Office de consultation publique de Montréal, OCPM) is the agency of the city of Montreal that will coordinate the presidency of Montreal under the leadership of Mayor Denis Coderre. Precisely, the president of this Office, Dominique Ollivier, its General Secretary, Luc Doray (who will coordinate the 17th Conference of IOPD) and Guy Grenier (program coordinator of the 17th Conference) have travelled to Barcelona to have work meetings with the staff of the Technical Secretariat IOPD, with the Barcelona City Council and UCLG and Metropolis staff.

With the Technical Secretariat, it has addressed the coordination of activities for the next year and the planning for the 17th Conference of IOPD, which will be titled “Participation without exclusion”. Both cities are committed to work together to activate the IOPD network, promote activities and to increase the impact of the organization.

The Montreal team met with Gala Pin, Councillor for Participation and Districts and General Secretary of the IOPD, to exchange participation experiences and ideas for the IOPD. Both cities share concerns about a kind of participation more inclusive for vulnerable groups and the use of new technologies to empower citizens. Both topics will be lines of action of the IOPD.

Finally the delegation met with members of UCLG and Metropolis to explain the project of the presidency and to think about the common activities for the next year.