On the eve of July 1, social issues are becoming more and more important at the population level. “The situation is rising, tensions are rising in terms of food security, housing, mental health, social distress and homelessness,” says Nicolas Gauthier, director of the Brome-Missisquoi CDC. Grocery baskets cost more […] we see people who are newly weakened.”
Mr. Gauthier adds that organizations are increasingly seeing middle-class clients using their services and couples who are both working.
“There are economic disparities and social disparities. Wealth gaps, inequalities where poverty is invisible due to the bucolic and rural character of Brome-Missisquoi. The Brome-Missisquoi region is associated with the wine region and we do not want to take away the character of Brome-Missisquoi, but we must not make the reality invisible.”
— Nicolas Gauthier, director of the Brome-Missisquoi CDC
Fiona Brilvicas, from Action Plus Brome-Missiquoi, Cédric Champagne director of Ouverture chez soi, Annie Boulanger from the Brome-Missisquoi youth and family unit, Julie Coderre from ACEF Montérégie-Est and Jean-François Pomerleau, trustee for the Farnham Youth Centre. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
Organizations in the region therefore joined forces on Monday to send a heartfelt cry to the government to act with them.
“We want a fourth response plan that will meet our needs,” says Fiona Brilvicas, coordinator at Action Plus.
The fourth plan to combat poverty is an action plan from the Quebec government which should be tabled by the end of 2024.
The growing crisis
The housing crisis is felt in the region. “Three buildings in Cowansville were subject to eviction, subdivision, expansion or change of use and this affected at least five tenants […] there are a lot of people who contact us about unsanitary housing and mold and many continue to live in their homes,” mentions Julie Coderre of ACEF Montérégie-Est.
She adds that the renovations mainly affected the town of Granby, but that of Cowansville was not spared. No less than 17 tenants had to be supported for procedures of all kinds.
“Housing problems cause mental health problems. Fifty percent of homeless people experience mental health problems,” says Cédric Champagne, director at Ouverture chez soi.
At the Entree chez soi organization, requests for May 2024 represented 400% of requests for May 2022 and 2023 combined.
“The public system is broken at the moment, we are no longer capable of prevention and even cure.”
— Cedric Champagne
As for the Cowansville Youth and Families Unit, 61% of the people who visit the place need emergency food assistance and 22% of the clientele is 50 and over.
“Last year, at the same time, I announced to you a figure of around twenty people who were experiencing homelessness. Currently, in our latest figures, 82 different people have passed through the Cell in the last year,” mentions Annie Boulanger.
Alarm cries and requests
According to local organizations, the solution would be to have better funding at the community level.
“We must fight against poverty in general. The demands would be to invest in the social safety net and in the community also because we are an important part of this social safety net,” specifies Mr. Gauthier.
Mr. Champagne adds that we must also invest in prevention and emergency.
“The community being the canary in the mine, if we are starting to feel the effects of the crisis, it is because we are the last stage before society collapses and we have truly more dramatic consequences than we “at the moment, so it’s a bit of the last cry of alarm that we can send to decision-makers so that they act,” adds Mr. Champagne.
Several organizations in the Brome-Missisquoi region are sounding the alarm to decision-makers to help them stay the course in the face of the various crises they face. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
Jean-François Pomerleau, trustee for the Farnham Youth Center adds “that we must be able to develop services accordingly and that we must restore balance to society”.
“We’ve been doing things for at least five years. We make ourselves heard, but do we make ourselves understood? asks Cédric Champagne.
“The population is currently worried, we are putting together an action plan because we cannot let the situation deteriorate on the ground,” concludes Mr. Pomerleau.
