Researchers who spent years working with the Charbonneau Inquiry are determined to not let their work tumble into obscurity.
They have banded together as an independent committee that plans to continue discussing corruption and their proposed solutions.
The report into corruption in the construction industry presented last fall delivered 60 recommendations to stop corruption in Quebec, recommendations that have been largely ignored so far.
Those recommendations include better protection for whistleblowers, an independent body to oversee public contracts, and more control over political fundraising.
However those recommendations were lost in the disagreement between the two surviving commissioners, France Charbonneau and Renaud Lachance, who could not see eye-to-eye about who was responsible for corruption.
Law professor Denis St-Martin said the group is attracting people who did not work on the inquiry, but who believe the work is too important to ignore.
"Each time it has to implement a reform it's kind of a reminder, a red flag, to the electorate. Remember, we were corrupt before so that's why we need to do this," said St-Martin.
That said, St-Martin understands why governments hesitate to act on the recommendations of public inquests.
"There are good political reasons for the government to be hesitant. That's why I think our committee is like a first gesture, where civil society actors try to appropriate for themselves the Charbonneau Commission's work."
City councillors in Montreal are happy with the idea of a third party promoting the fight against political corruption.
Alex Norris of Projet Montreal welcomed the creation of the group as "excellent news" and said Montreal is, so far, ignoring many recommendations made in the report.
The group is planning to present a report in November about what progress has been made in fighting in Quebec.
Members said it would be a fitting way to mark the anniversary of the Charbonneau Inquiry's report.
