The impact of the strike on disadvantaged students who benefited from food support programs worries organizations and school service centers (CSS), who cannot reach all the affected families despite their efforts to help them.
“It certainly worries us. We are very aware that children were going to get nutritional support at school, says Claudine Dessureault, senior inventory and purchasing advisor at the Breakfast Club. The access door is no longer there. »
20,000 students in 92 schools are currently affected, estimates the organization, which works directly with schools and has mobilized to mitigate the effects. In particular, establishments were able to redistribute their food to community organizations or directly to families.
“We also worked with school service centers so that information flows more to the schools,” she adds, because food deliveries had to be canceled. Schools closed due to the strike have, for their part, decided to go through local organizations so that food can be delivered and distributed.
There are more “barriers to access” than in normal times because families have to travel and the link is less direct, admits Claudine Dessureault, “but it’s better than doing nothing.” “It is certain that even if we had all the will in the world to send food everywhere, the fact remains that we need to mobilize CSS and schools. Then, it’s certain that it’s not easy at the moment, so it’s uneven, she says. The message we want to send to schools is that we are open. »
“We rolled up our sleeves”
The Montreal School Service Center (CSSDM) has five “food support” programs in normal times. Thousands of elementary and secondary students in more disadvantaged areas who benefited from $1 meals at lunchtime every day are living with the impacts of the indefinite general strike taking place in schools.
“Indeed, that worries us, that’s why we put measures in place, rolled up our sleeves and said to ourselves that we were going to help as many as possible in the time we have,” says Mathieu Desjardins, director of the School Organization Service, which oversees the CSSDM’s food services. “It is certain that the strike has an impact on many aspects, not just on food, but also on learning, on students in difficulty. »
The CSSDM works together with community organizations, which were already delivering meals to schools, to reach families and give them food baskets or give them free meals on site. Seven schools are affected in the districts of Saint-Michel, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Bordeaux-Cartierville and Little Burgundy.
“We also have schools where meals are provided by the administrative center cafeterias,” adds Mathieu Desjardins. The CSSDM is also working on this front with its supplier to distribute Christmas baskets next week to families in 12 of the most disadvantaged schools.
3,500 elementary school students usually benefit from the $1 meal program, in around thirty schools. “We will reach nearly 2,000 children in 19 schools with the organization we currently have, it is our most disadvantaged environments that have been targeted,” underlines the director. In terms of organization, it is still complex in the circumstances and there are certain handling challenges that are significant. »
Secondary school students will not receive food. “We really focused on primary,” he explains. These are often local, neighborhood schools, while in secondary schools, delivery is a little more complex. »
“We rescue people”
Chic Resto Pop, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of Montreal, which helps students at Baril elementary school, offers a free meal for children who attend the establishment as well as for the adults who accompany them.
“We do not reach 100% of the families who benefited from the food measure [de l’école], admits Marc-André Simard, general manager of the community restaurant. We rescue people who volunteer to come and use the services. »
The number of families who come to eat a meal at midday has increased since the start of the strike, however, notes the organization. “There are 700 to 800 portions coming out of Chic Resto Pop every day, so we can say that we are really in a situation where people are having difficulty,” notes the general manager.
Even if she is on strike with the Common Front, Émilie Richard, a kindergarten teacher in a disadvantaged school on the South Shore, always keeps in mind the children in her class, “who are very precarious and who have little safety nets”.
“When we work in a disadvantaged environment, even if we are on strike, we cannot necessarily cut the cord with these families because we know that we are the home base for the parents too,” she says. . When I knew we were going on strike for a few days, I filled the children’s backpacks as much as possible, with bear paws, compotes, things to take home for at least make a background. » She also wrote to parents to direct them again to community organizations for help with clothing or food.