Living more sustainably is possible. The last century is full of examples that could now inspire our ecological transition. In his series The Inside Out Story, The duty probes the memory of those who have known this world more sober in energy and resources.
Young Denis Vézina didn’t have to look far to find playmates in the Villeray of the 1960s. His family — two parents, four children — lived in a 5 ½ on the upper floor of a triplex . In this building, which had three apartments, lived a total of 6 adults and 14 children… “Worse in the block next door, it was the same thing! he says.
Densifying living environments makes it possible to avoid urban sprawl, preserve ecosystems, offer local services, strengthen the community fabric, develop public transit, get around on foot and by bike, etc. To achieve this, the equation is simple: accommodate more people while occupying less space.
Our company knows how. Just a few decades ago, more Quebecers than today lived in smaller residences. They did not resign themselves to it of their own free will: for most families, relative poverty was the cause. And then, the clergy pushed the good Catholics to give birth repeatedly. Examining these mores — without however calling for a step back — shows that living in a smaller space is possible.
The first apartment where Mr. Vézina, born in 1958, lived was even more cramped than the second. He keeps vague memories of this 4 ½ consisting of a living room, a kitchen and a double bedroom. The young Denis shared half a room with his two sisters: he in a crib, they in a bunk bed. His parents slept in the other half-room, on the other side of a curtain. “I could practically jump into their bed,” he says. And his brother was sleeping on the couch in the living room. The entire apartment should be no more than 700 square feet, he estimates.
All in the same boat
Denis Vézina’s family was not particularly poor. “It was everyone’s lot,” he explains, adding that many of Villeray’s families outnumbered his own. He still remembers the priest, who went from house to house on his street to “see what is going on”. “Procreation was the number one priority, and then we managed to feed the children and send them to school,” says the sixty-year-old.
Odette Saint-Pierre, born in 1953, lived for her part in McMasterville, a small town in Montérégie, on the outskirts of Montreal. His parents had eight children. Evolving in a “modest environment”, the Saint-Pierre family lived in a rented apartment, in a semi-detached duplex. There were three full bedrooms and a small room for the latest baby.
“Of course, with 10 people, we were packed,” says Mme Saint Pierre. The four girls slept in the same room. “Sometimes the party took, she says. We made a lot of noise and trouble…” So she has good memories of it, even if, at the time, the family would have liked to have had more space. “My parents didn’t have a lot of money, of course, with eight children. »
The troop had to obey a very precise choreography so that everyone could have access to the bathroom. “We were “scheduled” in the morning. When we were getting ready to go to school or go to work, it was everyone’s turn. One went out, the other came in, we were “timid”. Today, she notes, fewer households have two or three bathrooms. “Families are getting smaller, houses are getting bigger. The rest of us have always managed, ”she summarizes.
In the 1970s, his father arranged the basement for teenagers to invite friends over, listen to music and dance. In subsequent years, the children left the family nest, each in turn, but their parents remained there. M’s motherme Saint-Pierre lived in this same apartment for more than 50 years, until she moved into a residence for the elderly.
Promote mutual aid
In the countryside, there were also many inhabitants in each house. Louise Poisson, born in 1945, grew up in Saint-Norbert-d’Arthabaska, a small village of 1,000 inhabitants near Victoriaville. She lived in “a big house” by the standards of the time, located above her father’s store, which had a small hardware store, a tinsmith’s shop and the credit union. The house had seven occupants: young Louise, her two sisters, her parents, her aunt and her grandmother.
The girl’s grandmother was partially paralyzed; she therefore remained bedridden. The assembly of different generations under the same roof encouraged mutual aid. “I spent a lot of time with my grandmother, recalls M.me Fish. On Sunday afternoons, when my parents went for a drive, I stayed home with her. When scolded, the child could find solace in her aunt or the matriarch.
Cohabitation could also be a source of tension. M’s auntme Poisson didn’t just live in the family home: she also worked with her brother downstairs. These two behaved like an old couple. “It was hellish,” says the one who is now in her seventies. My mother was sometimes isolated. I didn’t find it funny at all. »
The young Louise sometimes accompanied her father who went to change oil furnaces in homes in the region. “They were often large families, with six or seven children, who were not always as well housed as us. The three Poisson girls spent their time with the six neighbors, who lived on a farm. The children ran in the fields and led the cows to milking. “It was a good time. We didn’t ask permission to go play with our friends. »
In 1968, after having worked for four years as an elementary school teacher, the young woman left her village to study philosophy in Montreal. She moved in with a friend in a one-bedroom apartment, where each had a single bed. “We didn’t always find it obvious… We were in our early twenties, we had buddies. It was not ideal, let’s say. Most of her fellow college students lived in similar conditions.
The situation was to change rapidly in the following decades. From 1950 to 2000, the size of the average Quebec household went from 4.6 to 2.4 people. During the 1980s and 1990s, the construction of single-family homes replaced that of apartments. In the current housing stock, dwellings from the 1960s have an average surface area of 100 m2while those built recently are 150 m2. Roughly speaking, Quebecers therefore live in half as many people as 60 years ago, in housing 50% larger.