Now that I'm back home from the Summit, I can't help but think that I was all part of an elaborate dog-and-pony show that was orchestrated to help the Canadian government look like they care about what society thinks when at the same time, democracy, in Quebec City at least, was put on hold. Myself and a young person from Quebec City, Marie-Mich�le were inside the perimeter wall at the Summit to present the recommendations created at the Youth Forum of the Americas by 260 young people from across the Americas to other members of civil society and to Canadian and international ministers of trade, development and finance. But what did they really do?

FRIDAY: A meeting with civil society was held at the Radisson hotel at about the same time that violent protesters at the main gate of the perimeter fence succeeded in brining it down. In attendance: 50 other non-governmental groups from across the Americas that organized activities and reports around the Americas and the Summit including Oxfam Quebec, Amnesty International, FOCAL, representatives of the media. The Students Commission representatives were the only youth organization at the table. Marie-Mich�le presented some of the key recommendations that came out of the Youth Forum.

The meeting with the ministers and civil society took place at the Hilton Ballroom,
where world leaders had met earlier in the day.

SATURDAY: A meeting at the Palais-Royale Hotel with aforementioned members of civil society to prepare for the afternoon's meeting and presentation to Ministers Minna, Manley and Pettigrew, along with others. Directed by the chair of the meeting, MP Bill Graham, the group split into working groups based around the following themes to discuss what they wanted to say: Education/Social Dimension, Environment, Human Rights, Trade, Transparency, Democracy. Each group nominated a spokesperson to speak at the afternoon's meeting. A 1:30 meeting with Minister Manley, Minister Minna, Minister Pettigrew, David Kilgour as well as Ministers from the United States, Antigua/Barbuda, Bolivia, El Salvador, Suriname, Colombia, Jamaica, Guyana, Dominica, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Nicaragua and representatives from international bodies such as the Organization of American States (OAS). Oddly, all media except the CBC were asked to leave (more on this later). Marie-Mich�le asked the following question during question period (which the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil said was the question on everyone's mind: How can we know that the recommendations will not only be heard but put into action?"

Minister Manley, though he attempted to answer the question, said nothing concrete. The meeting ended with a minister from Nicaragua insulting The Students Commission. He said that he did not represent fat and bald people or people with beards, he represented the people of his country. He stated that in fact, 50 percent of Canadian students are male, so why did The Students Commission send two female representatives?

Saturday evening myself and the youth representative attended the dinner hosted by the Prime Minister and attended by the other heads of state as well as 600 guests from delegations and civil society. Meanwhile, not even bottomless glasses of wine and a menu stuffed with authentically Canadian food could get the images of protesters risking their safety outside of the fence, and not even being heard. Things were not right and I still can't shake the feeling that I was on the wrong side of the fence in Quebec City.