The time of a summer | It happened near you

“Hehe, it’s your project!” “It looks like us!” “That’s what we experienced! »

When they saw the trailer for Louise Archambault’s latest film, One summer time, a handful of marginalized people have been particularly affected. For good reason: they too, 10 years ago, had the chance to spend memorable and unusual holidays.

One summer timein theaters since Friday, tells the apparently eccentric story of an indebted priest, who decides to take a group of homeless people to spend the summer holidays on the edge of the river, in an area from which he has just come. ‘to inherit.

The story seems far-fetched, and yet, it is with the same desire to “offer dreams” that Nancie Martineau, community organizer, took along, like Patrice Robitaille in the film, a dozen homeless people for a few days in Cuba. Firmly convinced that travel changes lives, she did it again the following year in Morocco, then in Ecuador, and finally in Costa Rica.

« On évolue selon notre environnement, explique la baroudeuse, en entrevue de Gatineau. Sortir ces gens-là de leur quotidien, les envoyer ailleurs, cela leur permet de se questionner : où je m’en vais ? » Loin de leurs repères, ils peuvent « comparer la misère », comme elle dit. Et cela crée des « déclics », elle en est convaincue.

Pour mener à bien son projet, Nancie Martineau a travaillé d’arrache-pied avec son groupe de volontaires aussi bigarrés qu’écorchés. Pendant des mois, ils ont organisé des levées de fonds, vendu des hot-dogs, et surtout mis de côté une portion de leur prestation d’aide sociale, pour arriver à vivre ce rêve inespéré.

Et puis ? « Ça m’a redonné le goût de vivre », confirme Suzanne Villeneuve, qui est passée par la prostitution, la toxicomanie, même la prison, avant de s’envoler pour Cuba en 2012 (son premier voyage d’une série de trois). « Ouf, j’ai fait bien du chemin depuis ! […] The trip, my God! It showed me so much how to appreciate what you have! […] It opened my eyes! […] I saw people happy with nothing! […] I realized that there was something else in life, that I was worth it and that I too can dream. For that, you have to make choices: change your lifestyle and put your priorities in the right place! She knows something about it, having had to quit smoking to save money. “And I haven’t smoked since! »

That’s not all: the ex-prostitute no longer lives on social assistance, works part-time in home care and has forged strong ties with several new travelers met during these overseas trips. Next week, they have even planned to go see Louise Archambault’s film “en gang”.

Too good to be true ? “You have to experience it to believe it,” replies Nancie Martineau, who has seen “incredible changes in behavior” while traveling. “People were thriving. I was dealing with other people! Admittedly, some have unfortunately disappeared since, but others, including Suzanne Villeneuve, have taken charge of themselves.

Nevertheless, at the time, recalls Nancie Martineau, the affair raised many waves, several commentators having seen with a dim view these social assistance recipients going on a trip to the South. Nancie Martineau has a slightly bitter memory. ” Here is cute suddenly because it’s in the cinema. It’s fiction. But when we do it in real life, slips the volunteer with a big heart, we see a lot of the phenomenon “not in my backyard”… ”

Note that a powerful documentary retracing the experience (and the words of its detractors), signed Alexandre Desjardins, was produced at the time.