Deep-rooted prejudices hamper the ability of autonomous community organizations to function healthily, and their autonomy is challenged by increasing political interference. Yet these key players in our collective well-being play a vital role in supporting the most vulnerable and filling glaring gaps in public policy.
We hear about lack of professionalism, inefficiency, incompetence of staff or volunteers, poor governance. In reality, successes and innovations abound in this sector which, despite the challenges, manages to stay the course on solidarity and social justice with limited means. Their boards of directors, far from being empty shells, are laboratories of participatory democracy and citizen emancipation. Their employees, despite derisory salaries, are invested in improving the living conditions of our fellow citizens.
This essential environment is still, however, the subject of preconceived opinions that are disconnected from what is really happening on the ground. And this is more than just gossip: these prejudices have a very tangible harmful impact on organizations, and it is the people they support who pay the price.
This is the case, for example, of the organization Point de Rue, which works in Trois-Rivières for people in situations of social breakdown: it was subjected to a gag order by the CIUSSS de la Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec, which made its funding conditional on monitoring its communications.
In Montreal, Maison Benoît Labre, a septuagenarian institution that helps people experiencing homelessness, is facing threats to relocate its day centre under the pretext of “cohabitation problems” with people in the neighbourhood. This centre is overflowing due to the homelessness crisis, the opioid crisis, the housing crisis and the crisis of underfunding of community organisations. In other words: it does exactly what it receives subsidies for.
At the national level, the Minister of Housing recently demanded the deletion of a web page of the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) aimed at raising public awareness of the dysfunctions of the Tribunal administratif du logement, the TAL, under penalty of withdrawing its funding.
It is the very autonomy of these organizations that is threatened, that is, their ability to intervene adequately with people with their knowledge of the issues and their proven skills. This is a very serious attack on their reason for being. These examples are only the tip of the iceberg.
Truly protecting our social safety net
Faced with these challenges, the government’s 2001 policy of recognising community action, the primary foundation of which is respect for autonomy, is now proving insufficient. It is time to go further.
We call for the adoption of a robust law that would not only protect the autonomy of community organizations, but also guarantee them the resources they need to fully accomplish their mission. We are talking here about recurring mission-based funding, which would allow organizations to fully play their role of social transformation and citizen emancipation.
This law must recognize that the autonomy of community organizations is a necessity for a just and resilient society. It is by protecting this autonomy that we create an agile environment, where they can innovate and adapt to the changing needs of the community without fear of political reprisal. But this law must not be an additional straitjacket creating surveillance structures: it must represent a springboard towards social innovation and a shield against political interference.
On October 22, during National Autonomous Community Action Week, we will bring this message to the National Assembly. Our vision: a transpartisan law, built in partnership with the community movement, for a Quebec where solidarity is not just a word, but a reality experienced every day.