On February 20, 2012, the Faculty of Law at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) organized a conference on “The Promotion of the Right to the City and the Citizens Responsibilities: between Consultation and Action”, given by Prof. James Archibald, Lecturer at the University of Lille, France, and Director of the Department of Translation at McGill University, Quebec, Canada.

In his welcome speech, Rev. Fr. Talal Hachem, Dean of the USEK Faculty of Law, stated that the Faculty was and will continue to be a pioneer in the field of promoting human rights and democracy. He mentioned that urban lifestyles greatly influence all relationships that we build with each other and with the land. Nevertheless, the development undertaken by the majority of third world countries has resulted in a massive migration phenomenon plus an increasing urban expansion, which has led to a serious environmental problem. This, in turn, has resulted in increasing poverty rates, precarious living conditions, and an increased vulnerability to natural disasters. Faced with such devastating phenomena, the City of Montreal has decided to adopt a social model, which is based on the principles of freedom, equality and social justice, in order to best provide its citizens with a sustainable urban life.
 
After having been welcomed, Prof. Archibald took the floor, emphasizing, in his lecture, the approach which was adopted by the Office of Public Consultation, whilst it was reviewing “The Montréal Charter of Rights and Responsibilities.” Prof. Archibald also stressed the various efforts deployed by the Office, in order to reconsider a number of contextual factors, which would serve to better clarify the text of the Charter. He shed light on the relationship between preparatory actions and the visible face of the rights and responsibilities of citizens in big cities. Based on his acquired experience, whilst drafting multilingual versions of the Charter, he analyzed the drafting and the translation of the text, which strove to promote ideas, values and beliefs that initially cannot exist as part of common culture in highly different communities. Prof. Archibald also considered that understanding the Charter in its various sociopolitical contexts would help the Public Administration to better face the challenges of intercultural relations in the City. He concluded with the argument that such a model of textual production and participative drafting could also be implemented in various other urban places with cultural pluralism.

It is worth mentioning that “The Montréal Charter of Rights and Responsibilities” is the result of an extensive public consultation process. The Charter designates Montréal’s Ombudsman to define solutions when citizens and the City disagree on issues based upon its content. The Charter expounds the values underlying fundamental rights: respect for human dignity, equality, inclusion, tolerance and justice. These shared values are essential to responsible, productive and harmonious relations between citizens and the City.