Living in our North” is the primary objective set out in Quebec’s 2020-2023 Northern Action Plan. However, despite the many economic projects and the jobs available, the towns of James Bay are emptying out, weighed down by the lack of housing, services and manpower. Many citizens and organizations are asking for concrete actions to break the vicious circle that is devitalizing their region.
In Chibougamau, residents like to remind Montrealers that there is never traffic congestion in their city. You can enjoy nature in a few minutes, whether it’s lounging in the summer on the beach at sparkling Lac Gilman, located in the heart of downtown, or putting on your snowshoes at the exit of the hospital, bordered through the boreal forest.
Before 9 a.m., on the other hand, there are only two options for buying a coffee to go: McDonald’s and the convenience store at the gas station. The Tim Hortons is an empty shell, recently condemned to uselessness by lack of staff. Like many other restaurants, the owners of Chez Raymonde have limited their opening hours and no longer serve meals on Saturdays and Sundays, proving their “open every day” sign to lie.
“It’s been a long time since businesses have been closing one by one or that they no longer have many opening hours,” comments mother Julie Tremblay.
The labor shortage has other significant repercussions in Ms.me Tremblay. Two years after her return from maternity leave, she still hasn’t found daycare for her son Étienne. In the living room of the single-family home, whose large windows offer a breathtaking view of Lac Caché, the three-year-old has grown accustomed to playing with his collection of miniature cars while his mother works on her computer. Mme Tremblay watches over Adèle, the neighbour’s granddaughter, also a victim of the lack of daycare.
“It’s a funny brain game, rather tiring. As a child, Etienne happened to empty the soil of my plants while looking at me, while I was talking in a meeting, because he was tired of me working, ”she says, without being disturbed by the little cries. of Adèle, seated on her lap.
The situation has consequences for the career and family life of the mother of three children. She had to quit a job that required too long daylight hours. As a CEGEP teacher, she only accepts course loads on evenings and weekends, when her husband can take over.
Another headache is the lack of specialized health services. Étienne has been waiting for two years to be seen by a speech therapist for his speech delay. Several times a year, Mme Tremblay and her husband have to drive up to six hours for the allergology and gastroenterology follow-ups of their two other boys, Benoit and Eliott.
“Last year, we took at least 10 days off each at our expense for medical appointments. It costs us dearly, ”she laments, suggesting that telemedicine be deployed more for customers in her region.
Leave the region
Despite her attachment to Chibougamau, her hometown, Ms.me Tremblay is considering leaving her for Mauricie, where her husband grew up. And many people have taken action, if we are to believe the latest Statistics Canada censuses, since the city has gone from 7,504 to 7,233 residents between 2016 and 2021. Nord-du-Québec is also one of the 5 regions, out of 17, which had a negative interregional migration balance in 2020-2021.
The situation is even worse in smaller towns, according to the director general of the James Bay Regional Administration (ARBJ), Marie-Claude Brousseau. In Matagami and Lebel-sur-Quévillon, 1,402 and 2,091 residents respectively have to travel hundreds of kilometers and change administrative regions to consult a dentist or an optometrist, as well as to take driving lessons.
“When the only convenience store in your village now closes at 8 p.m., there’s no other choice to get milk. It has a psychological impact on the population, ”explains Mme Brousseau.
At the James Bay Regional Health and Social Services Center (CRSSS), 26% of positions are vacant. The president and CEO, Nathalie Boisvert, believes that this summer is “the most difficult time” in the history of the establishment.
The latter would like its human resources department, which is also suffering from a lack of personnel, to receive help from the ministry or other establishments to develop recruitment strategies and extend telehealth. “We’ve had four human resources directors in four years,” adds the CEO. The lack of manpower therefore prevents the deployment of solutions that would make it possible to compensate… for the lack of manpower.
Exacerbated housing crisis
The glaring lack of rental accommodation is hampering the installation of new residents in Chibougamau. The housing vacancy rate is close to 0% in the region, according to the ARBJ. No apartment building has been built for decades. Many apartments are taken over by workers commuting to businesses rather than residents.
Unable to find an affordable and suitable apartment, many newly recruited employees from other regions or cities turn to the Office municipal d’habitation (OMH) de Chibougamau-Chapais, even if their salaries are too high to meet the usual criteria. obtaining a low-rental dwelling. This was the case for Ruben Aghomo, a new administrative employee at the CRSSS. The apartments he found on the private market were either too small for his family of three, extremely expensive, or in poor condition.
“If you want to buy a house, it’s easier. But that’s not what I need, because I don’t know if I’ll stay here long,” he says.
The OMH is struggling to meet demand, so much so that the general manager, Guepsly Florvil, is asking for additional budgets to renovate dozens of apartments too run down to be inhabited.
Solutions in sight
Residential construction projects should bring some relief. For example, 40 housing units intended for the rental market must be delivered in 2024, with the financial participation of Quebec. But according to some speakers, this quantity will be insufficient.
The ARBJ demands targeted measures to stimulate the occupation of this territory, whose economy is based on the forest, mines and hydroelectric dams.
“There aren’t many specific measures for Jamésiens in the Northern Action Plan,” laments Marie-Claude Brousseau. In the next election campaign, we want to see commitments appear in this regard. » Mme Brousseau thinks in particular of tax and financial incentives to offset the high cost of living and discourage commuting. It also wants the planes used by Hydro-Québec and certain mines further north to stop more often in the towns of Nord-du-Québec.
“Someone in our region who wants to go to a mining project 200 km from their home, sometimes has to drive 300 km to get to an airport in Abitibi which will take them to the mine site,” she laments.
It’s a sense of urgency that drives the Matagamienne. “We have to reverse the trend, because if the communities continue to crumble, they will become small villages without services where no one wants to live. »