Many deprived teachers from the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) were able to take advantage of the generosity of the public to collect food and grocery gift certificates on Saturday during donation drives organized by their colleagues across the country. Province. A balm for many who, after two weeks of strike without pay, are struggling.
After stopping contributing to her RRSPs, canceling her disability insurance and even her Netflix subscription, substitute Meriem Benhadry had few options left in the hope of feeding her three children.
“Honestly, we are starting to realize that it has been a long time, it is ruining the financial reserves and I have lessons too,” testified the one who is completing a certificate in support of primary education in front of the Anjou Youth Center, Saturday .
At this location, as at several other drop-off points throughout the province, volunteers and teachers who are members of the FAE distributed food, clothing and hygiene products received in the morning from numerous donors.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
“Grocery gift cards, that’s what we said we needed. We had donations of clothes and even if some clothes and some games were gone, people really came to get food,” says the person in charge of the collection point and teacher 2.e year cycle at the Roseraies Primary School, Élisabeth Bourassa.
Across Quebec
In all, around a hundred people came to get supplies between noon and 2 p.m., she said. “Even that there are around twenty teachers that we had to return because there was nothing left. It worked, there are needs,” she adds before interrupting her sentence to welcome a new person who has come to make a donation.
The initiative, organized through a group on Facebook, Mutual Aid for Teachers on Strike, made it possible to organize in just a few days around ten collection points across the province in Montreal, Quebec, Gatineau, Blainville and Granby, among others.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Distribution of donations and foodstuffs by and for striking FAE teachers in Laval.
In Laval, in a parking lot on Boulevard de la Concorde Est, a group of volunteers had set up tables always filled with numerous clothes at the beginning of the afternoon. Some 17 boxes of fruit and vegetables were delivered there in the morning, and teachers from the Laval Hotel and Administration School cooked soup for the occasion.
“That’s what’s beautiful to see, is that society is ready to support us at a time when it’s difficult, financially and morally,” rejoices the volunteer and teacher at the Val-Primary School. des-Ruisseaux, Claudine Lefebvre.
“For many, you see that it’s difficult”
But around 1:30 p.m., all the food and grocery gift certificates collected in the morning had already gone, an indication that many teachers are finding times tough.
For several of them, coming to collect these donations “was emotional,” confirms Claudine Lefebvre. “The needs are there,” she notes, adding that she also counted at least a hundred teachers who came to take advantage of this generosity.
“For many people, you see it’s difficult. We are people who give so much of ourselves that it is difficult for many to ask in return,” underlines the teacher at the Tandem primary school in Laval, Stéphanie Larocque, who also came to lend a hand for the outdoor distribution despite the weather.
“This is the first time we’ve done this. [venir chercher des dons], but we’re starting to get a little tight,” testified a single-parent primary school teacher who came to collect some goods and who preferred to remain anonymous. “Even with the salary we make, which isn’t horrible, it’s not easy, groceries are getting more and more expensive. »
In Laval, we expect to continue collecting and donating next weekend, if the strike continues until then. At the CSS de la Pointe-de-l’Île, teacher Élisabeth Bourassa insists that networks be set up in each school to ensure that no one lacks anything.
The 66,500 FAE teachers have been on an indefinite general strike since November 23, without strike funds. These teachers work in classrooms in Montreal, Laval, Quebec, Outaouais, Montérégie, Laurentides and Estrie. They represent approximately 40% of teachers in Quebec.