Community organizations in the Haut-Saint-Laurent and Beauharnois-Salaberry regions joined over 1,800 other groups for a two-week strike between March 23 and April 2, as part of the province-wide Communautaire à Boutte protest movement.
The CDC du Haut-Saint-Laurent united with the CDC de Beauharnois-Salaberry, which includes several members that serve both regions, for a series of actions, workshops, and activities that took place daily during the strike period.
Local organizations assembled at the CDC office in Huntingdon on March 24 to work together on a symbolic project. Participants wrote out testimonials explaining their concerns and frustrations over insufficient funding and increasingly difficult working conditions. They took turns sewing red patches bearing key words such as “exhaustion,” “recognition,” and “security” onto a fishing net meant to symbolize the local safety net.
Many of the members present also took turns tearing off a piece of red fabric to create arm bands and head bands that were worn throughout the remainder of the strike at different public demonstrations and gatherings.
A “funeral march” for the community sector took place in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield on March 26. This was followed by a regional demonstration on March 27 in Longueuil, where members from several local organizations, including the Résidence-Elle du Haut-Saint-Laurent women’s shelter and the adapted theatre group Pas pour Rire. The local representatives joined with those from the CDC des Jardins-de-Napierville to denounce the realities and challenges facing rural organizations.
Local representatives were also on the ground in Quebec City on April 2, along with 10,000 other community workers, for a national demonstration in front of the National Assembly to end the strike.
Meeting with Mallette
The local actions culminated in the Haut-Saint-Laurent on March 30 when over 50 people staged a protest outside the CDC office that was attended by Huntingdon MNA Carole Mallette.
The CDC’s director, Marie Rachel Charlebois, spoke frankly on behalf of those present. “Our reality is unique in the Haut-Saint-Laurent. Statistics don’t tell the whole story, because here, the numbers have faces. We know the families, we know their stories, we see people falling and trying to get back up every day. But because there are fewer of us, we often receive less funding,” she explained.
“This is a wake-up call because, quite simply, things are not right and they are no longer sustainable,” Charlebois said. “In the Haut-Saint-Laurent, we will continue to be there because we do not have the luxury of not being there,” she added. “But we are telling you today, truthfully and with respect, that we can no longer do more and more with less and less. We need conditions that match our commitment.”
Mallette then addressed the crowd. She acknowledged all that the community sector is doing and suggested there is a need to work together with the government to find solutions, noting that it is not necessarily true that the government is underinvesting in the sector, it’s that the needs are greater.
Marie-Ève Gagné, the director of the Association pour la Defense des Droits Sociaux (ADDS) in Huntingdon, then presented Mallette with the symbolic fishing net, which now carried an official letter from area community groups, as well as numerous letters, demands, and testimonials from the different members.
“But as you can see, this net is damaged. The red strips we’ve added represent our realities – the gaps, the emergencies, the breakdowns in the system, and all those situations we struggle to fix day by day. Because, on the ground, we’re at our wits’ end from always having to do more on our own … And yet, we carry on. We patch things up. We hold on … But a net that’s been stretched too thin, even if repaired with all the will in the world, eventually gives way,” she lamented, before imploring that Mallette do more than listen.
Mallette promised to deliver the official letter to the National Assembly, adding that she would read each letter and make sure the message reaches the right ears. Before the end of the gathering, she also expressed her willingness to continue the important dialogue initiated by the protests.