It is the spring of 1969. It is, in my life, a pivotal moment. My mother has just left us for an afterlife in which she fervently believes. Pure chance: a friend offered me a summer job in Saint-Henri, a very poor neighborhood in the southwest of Montreal at the time. Every morning, I leave Outremont for Sainte-Émilie Street and work on doing something that seems simple: taking the neighborhood children to the park. Get them interested in day camps. Families shun these activities.
For what ? Because you have to walk 15 minutes and cross a railway line to access the famous park. Everything is there, and I discover what will be a passion throughout my life and still today: trying to make possible what does not seem to be possible for so many people.
That same summer, my vocation as a community organizer was confirmed. The City has decided to remove the caretaker of a small park in the heart of a very poor section of Saint-Henri. People are outraged. So, we got organized: a petition circulated, I went door-to-door for the first time, we ended up having a meeting with the president of the executive council of Montreal. We are very intimidated by decorum, we still explain why we are angry, and, miraculously, the City listens to us. We find our park warden.
There, I understood something. Not only will I be a community organizer, but I will try to convince my fellow citizens that it is worth organizing collectively to win legitimate demands.
So I enrolled in social work at the University of Montreal. I moved to Saint-Henri in 1971, then, a year later, to Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. Not gentrified at the time. And I started working in the Centre-Sud district, always with citizens engaged in their community. I sometimes joke that I was paid by the State to build projects, spark mobilizations and even organize demonstrations! It wouldn’t have lasted very long…
During this time, the Quebec state took over from the religious communities which had previously been responsible for organizing social services. In 1971, the government set up the CLSC network, first in disadvantaged areas. Then the network will extend throughout Quebec.
A “social” first line
The CLSC concept is directly inspired by popular clinics set up in Montreal by citizens accompanied by progressive doctors. The vision of health promoted in these clinics is global. It includes the whole life situation of people. Their income, their housing, their neighborhood or environment, their work, the children to raise… In a popular clinic, we don’t just treat people’s ailments, we work with them to improve their entire lives.
All this may seem almost esoteric to us today. In both social services and health care, people’s problems are now largely compartmentalized. There is a specialist for every problem. In fact, our political leaders have abandoned for at least 40 years the progressive vision advocated by the CLSCs of the 1970s. The first “social” line still exists, of course, you assume it in the CLSCs now largely devoid of doctors. And we know how difficult it is for our fellow citizens to quickly access health care.
The years go by ! And health reforms – and social services – have multiplied, constantly limiting citizen power and the importance of the front line. Establishment mergers have followed one another: Couillard reform in 2003, Barrette reform in 2015 and now, Dubé reform and creation of the Santé Québec agency. Not Social Services and Health Quebec. Just Health, which says it all!
I also remain very concerned about the trend that began several years ago towards increased privatization of social and health services. We know about three-speed schools, will we have two-speed health and social services? Isn’t that already the case?
Think differently
But here we are together, after a warm autumn where a population overwhelmed by multiple problems in public services largely supported the demands of workers in all sectors concerned. Never seen ! This gives us hope for the future!
And there you are, you social workers (TS)! Despite the pitfalls described in the General States consultation report, you do your best wherever you are present: schools, CLSCs, hospitals, DYP, CHSLDs, community organizations, etc. You lack the staff to meet an ever-increasing demand.
In certain sectors, like the DPJ, you are under close surveillance, and nothing is simple, because we are talking here about protecting children! These days, we hear about exhausted workers, waiting times, hiring through private agencies! All this is heartbreaking, because the Laurent commission had raised a lot of hope!
You are asked to fill out piles of more or less useful papers. We want to time your intervention times. Many of you are no longer able to leave your offices to go out into the field, into living environments. We are really far from the conception of social work and collective intervention of the 1970s!
And yet, you resist! I am impressed ! In certain environments, in several teams, innovation, local work, defending the rights of people in difficult situations is possible! You do it ! I now suggest you go further. Perhaps starting by making these work experiences a little “outside the box” known! You could help each other, find more satisfactory practices together, discuss them with your managers!
A word worth gold
You are not alone in this desire for social work that brings social change! The Order of TS, which launched the one-year consultation, carries this message. The group of three commissioners who wrote an excellent report goes in the same direction: “to create a collective and inclusive movement around social work, both local and national mobilization must quickly begin… It is essential to bring forward demands and the values of social work outside institutional walls, towards communities, on the one hand and towards public authorities, on the other hand. »
And the commissioners propose “the creation of a coalition of social partners to carry the recommendations of the Summit of the States General of Social Work and act for their implementation”.
I so agree! Restoring the full visibility of social work is an important and essential step. Pleading the relevance of this essential intervention, demanding staff numbers, budgets, decent working conditions, I support! Minister Dubé seems to want to give more space to the unloved CLSC network! We’ll see…
I suggest one more step, demanding and necessary: the collective commitment of an entire discipline mobilized to demand a significant reduction in social inequalities. Your word is worth gold, because you are at the forefront of human distress. Everywhere, you see the deleterious effects of discrimination and injustice. If you speak loud and clear, people will believe you. If, alongside other people, in social movements, you build solidarity through action, the public authorities will be obliged to listen to you! Of course, the battles are sometimes long, but we progress, and we even win quite often!
It’s simple: until you fight a fight, you can’t know if you’ll lose or win. We must take risks, do our best. Not alone, no! With all these people, in many environments, who also doubt, but will get involved if they feel the wind of solidarity blowing.
Times are pretty tough, I know. But I feel a desire for change returning to our society. Maybe it’s finally spring! Let’s germinate the seeds of solidarity!