Immigration in the region | Hérouxville 2.0

For years, Hérouxville has been the symbol of xenophobia in Quebec. The code of life adopted by the municipal council in 2007, which prohibited stoning women or “burning them alive,” went around the world, while triggering the Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodations here.

But 17 years later, Hérouxville has ceased to be a homogeneous village of “native” Quebecers, white, Catholic and French-speaking.

“We have Tunisians, Moroccans, a bit of everything,” says former mayor Bernard Thompson.

If this village of 1,492 inhabitants can still be a symbol, it would now be that of the transformation of the regions of Quebec.

What has changed? Necessity.

It is because Hérouxville and the nine other municipalities of the MRC of Mékinac, in Mauricie, need them that they have called on immigrants, in a virtuous circle where interactions and daily contacts have helped overcome initial fears.

The village mentality

Bernard Thompson embodies this evolution well. He was indirectly associated with the drafting of the code of life, which he read and corrected before its adoption in 2007. The author of the text was a municipal councilor at the time, André Drouin, who died in 2017.

When he became mayor of Hérouxville in 2009, Mr. Thompson had the code of life withdrawn, since classified as a “historical document.” And when he was appointed prefect in 2016, he gave the MRC of Mékinac a policy for welcoming and integrating newcomers.

“I think the mentality of the villages is changing compared to 15 years ago,” observes the 71-year-old, recently retired. “There is definitely progress. People understand that we need to welcome these people, even if it is just for the workforce.”

“At some point, a bond is created, a friendship,” he continues. “And suddenly, people understand that we are in an environment where we have to live with these people, and integrate them properly. There is still resistance, that’s for sure. There is even some in Montreal. And it’s the same, in my opinion.”

Child Safety

The arrival of immigrants is the result of an immigration policy adopted by the MRC in 2018, and made possible by government funds intended for the settlement of newcomers in the region.

“There was nothing in Mékinac to welcome immigrants,” recalls Bernard Thompson. “We asked ourselves: how do we proceed? And we hired a resource, whose mandate was to set up a program.”

Maude Grenier, coordinator for the reception and integration of newcomers, took up her position in February 2020. The action plan was launched a year later. Surprise: in 2022, the MRC won the first Ulrick-Chérubin prize recognizing its good practices in terms of reception.

After three years of efforts, Mékinac now has 80 immigrants out of a population of 12,500 people.

One of the newcomers, Gaetano De Rosalia, 36, is a butcher at Boucherie Veillette in Saint-Tite. He arrived from Sicily with his wife and their three little girls.

“People are very welcoming,” he said, standing in front of the butcher’s counter. “I want to stay here in Canada for my children. For me, the first thing is the safety of the children.”

Need some hands

According to Maude Grenier, around twenty local companies are hiring or considering hiring foreign workers to fill vacant positions.

“Boulangerie Germain will welcome Maudeline from Haiti soon. They already have a Senegalese. GM Modulaire, in Saint-Adelphe, has 12 foreign workers, and 8 more are coming. Xylo Carbone has two Filipinos. Hôtel Marineau, in Mattawin, has six temporary foreign workers,” she lists, in the MRC offices. “The CPE will welcome Justine who comes from France as an educator. Machinerie Pronovost has Karim from Tunisia. In January, they will welcome five Brazilians.”

It is the Maison des familles, a community organization located in Saint-Tite, which welcomes and helps immigrants to get used to their new life.

Sabrina De Trilles, 44, an immigration integration agent at the Maison des familles, is an immigrant herself. She decided to leave her village in the south of France to settle in Saint-Joseph-de-Mékinac, a small hamlet in Trois-Rives, with her husband and their two children, aged 12 and 17.

“More and more people are settling in the region,” she notes. “Some come looking for security. For my part, I came looking for security for my children. Not for me, because my life path was mapped out and I had a good job. But for the children. Unemployment means that it would have been increasingly difficult for them in France. I also came for nature, to let go.”

Obstacles

But not everything is perfect. The MRC would like to welcome more immigrants, but it must deal with several obstacles: the lack of housing, of course, transportation problems for newcomers who do not have a car and the limits of reception services.

“We would like to go much faster than that because businesses need it, but we live with these shortcomings,” explains Bernard Thompson.

“This is one of the problems in rural areas. If we don’t have local services to help these people, we have a problem.”

Structure Robko knows something about this. The company, which manufactures wooden structures for prefabricated buildings at its Saint-Adelphe factory, has just welcomed the first six temporary foreign workers from Tunisia, Burkina Faso and Cameroon.

The owners bought a house to house them, a few minutes’ walk from the plant. “We got them pedal bikes,” says Julie Lavoie, who works in human resources. “We also have a truck. On Fridays, I’ll bring them the keys. There are no buses here. Nothing is close.”

Cameroonian Frank Nkama arrived on April 30 with a two-year closed work permit.

“Leaving, leaving your loved ones for a place you don’t know, it’s always complicated, but hey, you get used to it, you adapt,” says the 33-year-old man, whose partner, who remained in Cameroon, is pregnant.

“If things go well, my plan is to apply for permanent residency,” he adds. “I don’t know how long it might take, but I want to bring my family. My child will be born. I won’t see him anytime soon, but the idea is that in the long term, he’ll be close to me.”