BivouaQ | The outdoors is for everyone

Geneviève Morin loves the outdoors because it allows her to push her limits, but also because she appreciates the beauty of nature.

“I am amazed by it, by what it can bring me, by what I can see both at the top and along the way,” she says. “It allows me to disconnect from my reality and build bridges with people.”

But Geneviève Morin suffers from a degenerative disease, Beauce ataxia, which seriously affects her balance. For this reason, she had given up on hiking and other outdoor sports.

She finally heard about BivouaQ, an organization that offers inclusive outdoor outings and trips, open to everyone, both people with disabilities and others.

“I started with a first day,” says M.^me Morin. Afterwards, I went on a trip to Charlevoix. Then I took a trip to Morocco last fall. I literally fell in love with BivouaQ.

BivouaQ was born in 2021, following a meeting between managers of the Réseau autonomie santé, a group from Victoriaville that formed inclusive teams to participate in sporting challenges, and Mathieu Néron Turpin, an adventure guide who had worked with European organizations that organized inclusive trips.

“We realized that we had a similar project, which was to create something like this in Quebec, to create an inclusive outdoor community and, little by little, to go on expeditions both in Quebec and abroad,” says Dominic Viénot, co-founder and administrative director of BivouaQ. “So we decided to create a solidarity cooperative.”

BivouaQ offers day trips, short and long excursions and stays abroad.

An exchange requires people with disabilities, but it also requires people without disabilities who can lend a helping hand.

They can assist people with balance problems or poor vision. They can also pull or push specialized equipment that provides access to all types of trails, such as the joëlette, a one-wheeled all-terrain chair.

In fact, a group often consists of two people who need to use a joëlette, two people who need a little help walking and eight people without disabilities. So you have to succeed in attracting the latter.

“That’s the challenge of BivouaQ,” says Mr. Viénot. “We already have a good community of people who live with a disability, who have realized that they can go on trails that normally wouldn’t be accessible to them. As soon as we offer activities, there’s a waiting list almost immediately.”

He points out that there are great benefits for outdoor enthusiasts without disabilities who participate in an outing.

“It’s certain that when you don’t know about the disability, you always have a little fear,” he observes. “You wonder if you’re going to say the right things, if you’re going to know what to do. And then, it doesn’t take a few kilometers, not even a few meters for the barriers to fall.”

BivouaQ has decided to expand its activities beyond the major centres of Montreal and Quebec City and to establish branches in 11 regions of Quebec. The aim is to recruit volunteer ambassadors who will lead local outdoor communities.

“We create Facebook groups by region so that these communities can exchange with each other,” says Mr. Viénot. “The goal is to create this inclusive outdoor DNA in the regions of Quebec.”

Geneviève Morin has already signed up for another activity, a kayak-camping trip to Kiamika Regional Park in the Laurentians.

“I’ve already done it when I had more capacity in terms of stability, to get into the kayak without capsizing,” she says. “So this will be a first for me, more adapted to my current abilities. I’m looking forward to living this experience.”

Visit the BivouaQ website