Évaluation d’une expérience de conférence citoyenne : analyse éthique
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the role of citizens in public decision-making. This interest is reflected in the development and implementation of various citizen participation mechanisms, such as citizen conferences (also known as consensus conferences). Many of these experiences have been evaluated, but mainly in terms of their effectiveness or success. What are the ethical challenges posed by citizen participation mechanisms? This study looks at a citizen conference on advances in human biology in the era of genomics, held by the Groupe de recherche en bioéthique (GREB) of the Université de Montréal in 2005. The concept of discourse ethics, as developed by four Quebec authors, is used to conduct a qualitative analysis of six documents from the conference. Two categories of results are discussed: noteworthy aspects of the citizen conference and participants’ concerns with regard to science, society and their participation. A better understanding of key ethical issues will help to improve citizen conferences and their long-term use.
Bioéthique Citizen participation Citizen conference Consensus conference Discourse ethics Bioethics