Wishes for 2025: let’s not forget young people in difficulty in Quebec

Wishes for 2025: let’s not forget young people in difficulty in Quebec
Wishes for 2025: let’s not forget young people in difficulty in Quebec

Mr Prime Minister,

For several years, the Regroupement des Auberges du coeur du Québec has taken advantage of the holiday season to share with you its wishes for young people in difficulty. This year is no exception, but we would like to draw your attention to an increasingly alarming situation: the needs of young people in Quebec who meet the Auberges on a daily basis are growing and the means to respond to them are sorely lacking.

Everyone should have a roof over their heads and the right to decent housing. However, with the protracted housing crisis, this right is not accessible to everyone. The majority of young people, and particularly those who attend Auberges, are hard hit.

Mr. Legault, at the end of the parliamentary session, you said your own Christmas wishes: to receive a “battery”, hoping that Santa Claus does not go bankrupt. We hope so too, because what would we do if the hope it brings disappeared?

Roaming

I wish you your “battery” with good and high voltage. Hoping that it will shed light on this sad reality of homelessness among young people, a situation that is growing every day. May it enlighten you on the importance of prevention and the need to commit to investing in funding the mission of youth community accommodation organizations, such as Auberges du coeur. Don’t leave them in the dark.

To fight against homelessness, we must act in prevention to prevent young people from ending up there. Support them in returning to school, finding a job or learning to cope with life with a mental health diagnosis. Without strong community support for the rest of their journey, will they be able to continue the momentum started here?

Let’s stop burying our heads in the sand, wanting at all costs to place them in a shelter: this is not a long-term solution to help them avoid the street or get out of it, but an emergency response that should come as a last resort! It’s the same as patching a hole with duct tape, it won’t make any real difference to the problem. Our young people are the present and future of our society. It is imperative to invest in suitable organizations and provide them with resources to nourish their hope and fuel their light.

Act with the heart

To start your year 2025 as a “lion”, it’s time to invest with your heart! Imagine for a moment that a young person the age of your boys needed an Auberge du coeur, but that due to lack of funding and means to pay its workers, it had to close beds and could not accommodate him. . This idea, as inconceivable as it may be, is a reflection of the reality that Auberges face every day.

It is urgent to act! Help us offer employment conditions worthy of the name in community youth shelters so that they can pursue their mission, a job that the State could not carry out alone!

For the coming year, our wish is simple: to allow all young people to achieve their goals, to realize their dreams and to be proud to be part of our society. For this to happen, the contribution of the community sector is essential. Mr. Legault, take action so that tomorrow, the Auberges du coeur can still open their doors to young people in difficulty.

Photo courtesy, Sacha Bourque

Paule Dalphond
General Director, Regroupement des Auberges du coeur du Québec

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