This month, we are proud to feature Marie-Anne Perreault, a doctoral student at the Élisabeth-Bruyère School of Social Innovation.
Marie-Anne’s doctoral thesis examines partnerships formed between municipal administrations and citizen groups with the aim of transforming power relations within the State. In particular, she explores commons — how they are established and sustained — and how to foster civic engagement that supports relational dynamics conducive to creating, deciding, and living together within the community.
In this feature, Marie-Anne shares her experiences with communal organization, how we can build stronger communities, and how we can successfully work together outside of capitalist structures.
What inspired you to choose this field of research?
My research interests stem from my experience as a manager of non-profit organizations and cooperatives, my civic involvement in commons, and my desire for us to reclaim our collective capacity to create, make decisions, and live together. I believe that, faced with the social, democratic, and environmental crises shaking our societies, there is an urgent need for us to collectively care for the common good for the benefit of all of nature.
What are 3 things you wish people knew about your field of research?
- Creating and deciding together is not learned, it is experienced in the field.
Our societies no longer allow us to live and learn this knowledge from a young age. It is through hands-on involvement that such knowledge becomes accessible to a wide range of people. However, this comes with a host of friction points, conflicts, and clashing ideas. These stages are part and parcel of the process of learning to create and decide together. That’s normal. We must not be discouraged, and must persevere in our commitment to commoning! - Cultivating a posture of equal intelligences facilitates the building of trusting relationships.
Developing and maintaining such a posture is not always easy. Yet it helps foster interpersonal relationships based on respect, inclusion, openness, listening to others, and reciprocity. In doing so, we are able to build stronger collective intelligence and maintain the trusting bonds essential to developing the social capital that will serve the realization of projects that are meaningful for the common good. - Commons operate over a long timeframe and against the current of the capitalist system.
Building connections between individuals, earning the trust of our institutions in order to reclaim resources that will be pooled (commonizing), developing our knowledge and skills to do commoning together, having an impact that goes beyond our own community: all of this takes time. This may seem counterintuitive at first in a system that prizes speed, efficiency, and productivity. And yet, this is how we will go further and do better, moving toward greater social and environmental justice by and for everyone.
Can you recommend any resources for those who want to learn more about your field of research?
I recommend the wonderful podcast Raconte-moi un commun for discovering inspiring commons (in French). You can also discover great research and works available in The In Commons Podcast (in English).
I invite you to read the books À nous la ville by Jonathan Durand Folco, Éditions Écosociété (2017), and Free, Fair and Alive, the Insurgent Power of the Commons (2019) by David Bollier and Silke Helfrich, New Society Publishers, and to explore the other translations and tools developed by the Remix the Commons collective.
Finally, I invite you to take an interest in the work of the Collectif de réflexions et d’interventions sur les transformations et institutions des communs (Collectif CRITIC), and to keep an eye on events, publications, and features shared on the En Commun platform.
Where can people find some of your more recent research?
- Forthcoming, December 2026: Perreault, M.-A., & Michaud, A. (2026). L’Espace des Possibles d’Ahuntsic, vecteur de confiance, de relations et d’engagement civique? In Politique des communs. Expérimenter, transformer, instituer (Presses de l’Université Laval, p. 35‑66). https://www.prologue.ca/795759-88-livre-Sociologie/Politique_des_communs.html
- Perreault, M.-A. (2024). Tracking the social capital generated by the commons. A proposed theoretical framework for moving towards a caring city. Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, (1), 64–81. https://doi.org/10.36253/contest-15287
Principal researcher on the following research grant project:
- “Élaboration de partenariats public-communs, acteurs, processus et modèles de transformation sociale”, SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, received May 1, 2025.
Contributing researcher on the following research grant projects:
- “Recension de partenariats municipaux avec le tiers secteur de Gatineau”, SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, submitted by Jonathan Durand Folco and accepted in February 2026
- “Recensement et typologie des partenariats ad hoc de type public-citoyen à Laval pour comparer avec la situation gatinoise”, Grant phase 2 at the Réseau de Recherche en Économie Sociale et Solidaire, submitted in collaboration with Dan Furukawa Marques and accepted in April 2026
- “Mise à l’échelle d’espaces publics multifonctionnels et analyse des partenariats public-citoyens dans la gestion partagée des tiers-lieux”, Grant phase 2 at the Réseau de Recherche en Économie Sociale et Solidaire, submitted in collaboration with Dan Furukawa Marques, accepted in April 2025
Thank you, Marie-Anne, for sharing your innovative insights on how we can build stronger communities that keep the people’s interest at the centre.
