新作坊

Citizen engagement in conflict resolution: lessons for Canada in international experience

摘要：

Canadians are engaged in a conflict of identities that, if unsettled, will have enormously adverse consequences for the well-being of all. Successive attempts to resolve the national unity crisis have only deepened it. It is time to explore new approaches -- drawing on the experience of other countries that have faced similar divisions. The key techniques from which we can learn involve deeper, more sustained citizen engagement in interactive conflict resolution at two levels. First is the involvement of influential leading citizens outside formal politics, but with close links both to the political leadership and to the wider society. Using carefully prepared workshops, they could explore the dimensions of the conflict, the consequences of failure, and a range of outcomes outside the existing "envelope," and then inject the resulting ideas into the public and political process. The second level is the engagement of "ordinary citizens" as individuals and through voluntary associations, in processes designed to increase mutual understanding, encourage citizen "ownership" of the issues, and increase awareness of the compromises and tradeoffs that must be made. In both cases, reconciliation can be encouraged by independent facilitation, high levels of information, and open, fair, and nonthreatening procedures. The goal is not any particular outcome, but rather a process that will maximize the likelihood of peaceful resolution. The debates over the future of Montreal and over the appropriate rules to govern any future sovereignty referendum are dimensions of the conflict where the need for resolution is urgent, and where the techniques described may offer a way out of the impasse. A century and a half ago, Lord Durham wrote of British North America, "I expected to find a contest between a government and a people; I found two nations warring in the bosom of a single state." What he was reporting was, to use a modern phrase, an identity conflict between French-speaking and English-speaking Canadians. This conflict, an enduring feature of Canadian history, has become particularly acute in the constitutional debates and referendums of the past two decades. Fundamental issues of identity are at the heart of the conflict. The hard-fought 1995 referendum campaign highlighted the deeply embedded conflict over identity, which now expresses itself in several ways. Francophone and anglophone Canadians are at loggerheads over the status of their respective communities and whether a fuller representation of one will compromise the recognition of the other. Among themselves, Quebecers are deeply divided between those who seek a sovereign future in some form of partnership with Canada and those who want new federal arrangements within Canada. In the rest of the country, many Canadians are alarmed at the possible division of their federation, uncertain about the consequences of that prospect, and frustrated that they seem to have no direct voice on an issue of such overwhelming importance. They feel powerless to determine their own future. The Canadian dilemma is distinctive but not unique. Serious ethnic and national conflicts threaten the fabric of many pluralistic societies and their peaceful relations with other states. In this Commentary, we examine attempts internationally to resolve some of these situations and ask what Canadians may learn from them. Canada's identity crisis is clearly of a lesser order of intensity than many that currently capture global attention. Canadians have generally conducted the debate within the framework of respect for democratic norms and due process; they have known only very limited violence. Yet Canada has some important features in common with societies that have suffered bitterly from conflict over identity. In many of these states, citizens have participated in unofficial processes of conflict resolution, processes in which different identities and competing interests have been accommodated and the conflict then routinized through political institutions. This international experience can speak to Canadians across the country if it is adapted to and rooted properly in the Canadian context. In particular, we have identified two important Canadian issues where the international experiences we discuss seem particularly applicable. The first is the future of Montreal, whose residents have become increasingly polarized since the 1995 referendum. That polarization obscures their shared interests. We suggest a way in which Montrealers -- "ordinary" citizens, civic leaders, and politicians -- might build stronger links across the language divide. The second pressing issue concerns the rules that will govern any future Quebec referendum.