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HISTORY

MISSION

COMMITTEES

ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

ACT RESPECTING THE AMICALE

PRIX DE L'AMICALE

HISTORY

In 1992, on the occasion of the bicentennial of Québec's parliamentary institutions, National Assembly president Jean-Pierre Saintonge announced his intention to found the Amicale des anciens parlementaires du Québec.

With this initiative Mr. Saintonge was responding to the wishes of former parliamentarians who, though no longer serving the democratic ideal as the people's elected representatives in the National Assembly of Québec, wished to continue their association in another context.

In December 1993, the Amicale des anciens parlementaires du Québec was created by an Act of the Parliament of Québec (on the Publications du Québec site).

MISSION

In bringing together the men and women who once sat as Members of the National Assembly, our principal aim is to promote Québec's parliamentary institutions and stimulate public awareness of parliamentarianism.

OBJECTIVES

• To put the knowledge and experience of former parliamentarians to work in the service of parliamentary democracy in and outside Québec.

• To serve the public interest.

• To encourage a spirit of solidarity among former parliamentarians.

• To promote relations between our members and the Members of the National Assembly.

• To defend and promote the interests of former parliamentarians of Québec.

THE AMICALE . . .

• is formed of men and women who have held a seat in the National Assembly

• is open to former parliamentarians who pay the annual membership fee.

• is deeply interested in the promotion of democracy and parliamentary institutions.

• contacts various organizations to highlight the events that have marked the lives of former parliamentarians.

• forms study groups and organizes meetings, symposiums and conferences.

• publishes documents related to its objectives.

• safeguards the interests of its members.

COMMITTEES

In 1999, a committee created for that purpose began publishing a newsletter, the Bulletin, three times a year. In 2004 responsibility for the Bulletin was handed over to the communications committee, which also looks after communications generally, including the Web site and members' directory.

The comité des Archives et des objets de mémoire (archives and artefacts committee) was created in 2000. Its job is to collect the archives of former parliamentarians, in collaboration with the National Assembly and the National Archives of Québec.

A 2002 symposium on parliamentarianism in the 21st century resulted in the creation, in 2004, of a follow-up committee to examine the present state of democracy and suggest ways of adapting our parliamentary system to contemporary realities.

The follow-up committee fulfilled its mandate when, in March 2005, the Amicale submitted a brief to the Subcommittee on Parliamentary Reform entitled « Quelques réflexions pour accroître la démocratie parlementaire ».

A committee on parliamentarianism and democracy, created in 2005, is examining the possibility of setting up a monitoring body on parliamentarianism.

ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

• We have participated in a number of activities in which the knowledge and experience of our members was greatly appreciated:
  • o Brief: Le parlementarisme : Un outil démocratique nécessaire? (1994)
  • o Brief submitted to the Estates General on Education: Former les citoyens pour l'an 2000 (1995)
  • o Symposium: Le parlementarisme et les médias (1998)

  • o Annual parliamentary simulation: Le parlement des sages.

• We collaborate with the National Assembly in the videotaping of interviews (enregistrement de témoignages) with former parliamentarians.

• We were one of the founders, in 2001, of the Société du patrimoine politique du Québec.

• We helped organize an international symposium on parliamentarianism in the 21st century ("Le Parlementarisme au XXI^e siècle") in 2002, in collaboration with the National Assembly.

• We have been a member of theUnion mondiale des associations d’anciens parlementaires francophones since its founding in 2003.

• We submitted a brief (mémoire) to the Permanent Subcommittee on Parliamentary Reform, on March 1, 2005.

• We created two prizes (Prix de l'Amicale) in 2005.

• We hold an annual general meeting.