This year, 10,000 children will benefit from Operation Backpack across Quebec due to inflation and the increase in classes of new arrivals: that’s about 2,600 more than last year. Sunday, The Press visited the borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie to see the impact of this initiative.
“And that’s far from the official figure,” explained Audrey Renaud, director of the Regroupement Partage. “It’s much higher, because there are many needs that are not listed.”
For the 23e edition of Operation Backpack, the organization responded to 10,000 requests, compared to 7,400 last year. This is an increase of approximately 35%.
But while requests continue to increase, the Regroupement is seeing the opposite trend in donations. “We are at a quarter of last year’s donors. For one year, we had more than 2,000 donors, and this year, we have 574,” said Anne-Marie Éthier, Deputy General Director.
According to the organization, 50% of the families who benefited from the operation in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough were using it for the first time, Sunday, at the Petite-Côte community center.
This is the case of Lamia Fattouche, a single mother of four young girls, three of whom are in primary school and one of whom is starting secondary school.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Lamia Fattouche’s daughters were able to obtain school supplies thanks to Operation Backpack
“I didn’t know it existed last year,” explained the Rosemont resident, who works part-time at a homework help organization. Her job also allows her to realize the importance of school supplies in the daily life and success of a young student.
This year, the Regroupement Partage is preparing a school bag for each child containing 30 items, 7 more than last year. The market value of each bag is equivalent to $150, according to the organization.
“Half a million dollars in school supplies were spent,” said the Regroupement’s general director. Despite the drop in donations, purchasing in large quantities helped reduce costs.
Inflation and annual demands
Since 2017, the provincial government has provided a supplement for the purchase of school supplies to Quebec families. For the 2024-2025 school year, the amount of assistance received was $121 per child.
But school supplies are among the expenses that are cut first in the budget, according to the Regroupement Partage.
” [Pour] “Families here, you have to understand that if you can’t pay your rent, you can’t eat, it’s certain that school supplies come after and the money will go elsewhere,” commented M.me Ethier.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
This year, the Regroupement Partage is preparing a school bag for each child containing 30 items, 7 more than last year. The market value of each bag is equivalent to $150, according to the organization.
Lamia Fattouche also confided that it is food that eats into her budget the most.
“It’s 42% of people last year who participated in this year’s operation who had an income. And that, for us, this data is alarming,” added the deputy general director.
Another phenomenon that exacerbates demand? Classes of newcomers, since they multiply throughout the school year, even in May. In the space of two years, the borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie has gone from 4 to 25 classes of newcomers, while in the borough of Montréal-Nord, this number has gone from 9 to 29.
MPs on site
Several elected officials were present in Rosemont on Sunday to lend a hand to volunteers and meet with families benefiting from Operation Sac à Dos. Notably, New Democrat Alexandre Boulerice, federal MP for the borough, as well as solidarity activist Vincent Marissal, provincial MP for Rosemont.
” It is [un problème] major because it stigmatizes children, who are already from a so-called lower economic class,” believes Mr. Marissal. He was accompanied by Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, as well as the member for Mercier, Ruba Ghazal.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Several elected officials were present in Rosemont on Sunday to lend a hand to volunteers and meet families who benefited from Operation Sac à Dos.
For Mr. Nadeau-Dubois, the number one expense is housing: “As long as we don’t get this expense item back under control in the budget of families in Quebec, we’re going to fill a leaky swimming pool,” he said.
On Friday, Education Minister Bernard Drainville indicated that there were still 5,704 teaching positions to be filled for the start of the school year. “Having a backpack and having a teacher is the basis for being able to learn and succeed,” Mr. Drainville said.me Ghazal, who is currently in the running to become co-spokesperson for QS.
Last year, Québec solidaire proposed to the CAQ government to double the allocation for school supplies: a proposal that was not accepted. “We will come back to the charge this year,” said Mme Ghazal, who wants to do it “very soon”.