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The purpose of the citizen conference
is to bring together divergent views on food biotechnology using
a public participation mechanism called the citizen
conference. In Europe, this process has been called the consensus
conference. A panel of lay citizens will set an agenda and discuss
with a panel of experts matters they find important to influence
the direction of food biotechnology in Canada. The lay panel
writes a report which will be presented at the conference and
forwarded to seven federal ministries responsible for the policy
our government sets on food biotechnology. The conference will
be open to both interested members of the public and the media.
The 15 members of the citizen panel were
selected from over 350 volunteers all over Western Canada who were interested in learning
about and participating in a public discussion on food biotechnology.
During September, 1998 we ran announcements in urban and rural
newspapers, on radio and community cable channels calling for
participants. Individuals were asked to submit a one page letter
introducing themselves and why they would like to be part of
the conference. Those affiliated with a biotechnology organization,
industry or advocacy group were not eligible. The citizen panel
was chosen at the end of October, 1998.
An expert pool will be short
listed by the citizen panel. These experts include scientists in
biotechnology and industry, government and NGO representatives.
The participants of the expert panel will be posted at this site
by February 15, 1999.
The citizen panel formulated their questions
for the conference resource experts at the February preparatory weekend in
Calgary. Here are the questions divided into six thematic areas of inquiry.
 To register for the Conference, email us at:
gedesign@ucalgary.ca
Registration is also available at the door:
General Public - $10.00/day or $20.00/weekend;
Non-Profit Organizations - $30.00/day or $75.00/weekend;
Government - $50.00/day or $125.00/weekend;
Corporate - $100.00/day or $250.00/weekend.
Our thanks to the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council, Alberta Agriculture Initiatives,
and The University of Calgary for the resources to make this
conference research project possible. This web site is a research
project investigating the efficacy of using computer information
technologies as a public participation mechanism in Canada.
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