Three weeks before the possible closure of the Interligne listening service during the night, the spokesperson for the organization which helps the LGBTQ+ community expressed the urgency of saving this listening line. , considered “crucial”, to avoid loss of human life.
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“Having used these services in the past on several occasions, I know how much of a difference it has made in my life, it has saved my life”, declared the start of the game. actress and writer Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay.
The one who also acts as spokesperson for Interligne feels that her community is threatened by this sword of Damocles.
“It is crucial that this service does not turn off at night because we do not choose the moment when we fall in distress”, she hammered. “We don’t have any distractions, like going to see friends, work or whatever, we’re really on our own at night.”
The organization, formerly known as Gai Listening, had to announce last September that it would not be able to maintain its night resource for lack of money, unless Quebec intervened. .
The night service, however, was never funded by the government, but benefited from an investment by the City of Montreal.
“Now that the funding is over with the City, we had started discussions with the government a year before it ended to hope that someone would take over, and that’s where we didn’t get an answer” , explained the general manager of Interligne, Pascal Vaillancourt.
PHOTO COURTESY/ALEX PAILLON
Between the labor shortage and uncompetitive salaries, the organization is worried about losing out on the quality of service. “That’s why we could end up deciding to close the night service,” he said.
A dialogue to renew
With the return of Lionel Carmant as Minister responsible for Social Services, the director hopes to be able to resume the dialogue where they left off, because the donations received will not be sufficient to save the resource.
“We still have hope, we think that the government did not ignore us on purpose,” said Mr. Vaillancourt.
For its part, the ministry assured that it had received, on August 11, the request for enhancement under the Support Program for Community Organizations.
“The organization will receive the response to its request for support for the global mission for the year 2022-2023 in the coming weeks,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Human Resources in an email to the QMI Agency. Social Services, Robert Maranda.
Recognition for mental health
Beyond the financing of the night service, Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay especially wishes to see the organization recognized as an association that works for mental health.
“Right now, we’re seen as an organization that helps with everything related to sexual identity and gender diversity, while our vocation […]is to give support [sur le plan] mental health,” she said.
The Ministry has confirmed that the main mission of Interligne corresponds to “sexual orientation and identity”. “In this sense, given that their primary mission is to provide services to members of the LGBTQ+ community, it is therefore not primarily about mental health services,” said Mr. Maranda.
“We must recognize the organization as a mental health because funding will follow,” argued the spokesperson.