Faces of Montreal | Nahid Aboumansour: small hands, big will

Since the launch of the Portraits de Montréal blog in 2014, photographers Thibault Carron and Mikaël Theimer have met hundreds of people who make the heart of the city beat. When we asked them to tell us about their favourites, Nahid Aboumansour was on their short list.

Valerie Simard
The Press

“We have always been touched by the journey of these women whose stories are sometimes difficult, but who make every possible effort to adapt to Montreal life, thus participating in its cultural and human enrichment,” says Thibault Carron.

Although she accumulates distinctions (Knight of the Order of Montreal and of the Order of Quebec, Meritorious Service Cross, Prime Minister’s Award), very few Montrealers know Nahid Aboumansour. But, Montreal, she knows. “I love Montreal and I always defend the city in any discussion or negotiation. It’s the city that welcomed me and gave me this opportunity to achieve what I wanted to achieve for others. »

If immigrant women can call themselves fully Montrealers and Quebecers today, it is largely thanks to her.

Arrived from Lebanon in 1989, six years later she co-founded Petites-Mains, a professional integration company that helps immigrant women take their first steps in the job market. This is the key to integration, according to this trained architect who had to rebuild her life when she arrived here. “I didn’t speak French, my diplomas weren’t recognized, I had to start from scratch,” she says. My integration went through that, through the integration of others. I embarked on this project which was small, but with a big vision. »

Little train goes far

While volunteering for a food bank in the Côte-des-Neiges district, she met Sister Denise Arsenault, from the Congregation of the Sisters of Sainte-Croix, whom she convinced to help her find a place and machines to give sewing lessons to immigrant women. This is how Petites-Mains was born, with $600 in donations and the generosity of an owner who agreed to lend them premises.

Now established in a large building on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, the organization employs 35 people, not counting the women to whom it offers vocational training in industrial sewing, cooking (the café-restaurant currently under renovation is due to reopen in a few months) and in office automation, as well as francization courses, job search assistance and even daycare through a 50-seat CPE.

“I cannot work with a short-term vision. I’m going to get to the bottom of things and I’m going to solve one problem after another to achieve the expected result,” says Nahid Aboumansour, who receives us in his office, enlivened by the fall colors of Jarry Park and the sun’s rays from the ‘afternoon.

This result is the full integration of immigrant women into society.

For 27 years, she estimates that “thousands” of women have been helped by Petites-Mains.

“What I like here, in Canada, in Quebec or in Montreal, is that once you show your skills, that you are capable, people will trust you. »

Politicized, it closely followed the electoral campaign. The negative portrayal that some have made of immigrants, in particular the outgoing Minister of Labour, Employment and Immigration, Jean Boulet, who declared that “80% of immigrants go to Montreal, do not work, don’t speak French or don’t adhere to the values ​​of Quebec society,” shocked her. Erroneous remarks for which he later apologized.

“After that, I heard, ‘Oh, you come here to stay home, to do nothing, you’re part of the 80%.’ It became like a joke, a not pleasant joke. This is disappointing for the immigrant community. If one day, just one day, the immigrant community said “we’re staying at home, we’re not going to work”, we would see the impact that would have. »

Give yourself without counting

We certainly cannot accuse Nahid Aboumansour, mother of four now grown-up children, of having twiddled her thumbs since her arrival in the country. “I didn’t count my hours, I didn’t count my holidays. »

She doesn’t count her time either when it comes to talking about her mission. “Sometimes people say to me: ‘Come give a lecture, we’ll give you ten and a quarter minutes!’ No. When I talk about Petites-Mains, it’s a passion. »

A passion that earned him a doctorate honoris causaawarded by TÉLUQ University on October 9 alongside… Gilles Vigneault. As a strong symbol of the success of its integration.