After the departure of the Gray Nuns, the Manoir d’Youville, in Châteauguay, returns to the harvest season. This time, it is not the nuns who cultivate the land, but a dozen people living with an autism spectrum disorder or an intellectual disability. Visit.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
“I wanted to make a vegetable garden like in the days of the Gray Nuns, which then served as a pantry for the Montreal General Hospital,” says Jean-Martin Côté, General Manager of Manoir d’Youville. We went to look for the same fruits and vegetables that were grown at the time (tomatoes, beets, borage, fine herbs, rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries in particular, as well as beans, corn and squash using the technique of the three sisters) and we brought the concept from the ground up to the table. »
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Covering an area of 5,000 square feet, the Manoir d’Youville vegetable garden echoes that of the Gray Nuns.
Purchased in 1765 by Marguerite d’Youville, the seigneury of Châteauguay was an important place for the Gray Nuns of Montreal who resided on Île Saint-Bernard until 2014.
Now owned by the City of Châteauguay, the site on which the Manoir d’Youville is located houses a 114-room hotel, nine meeting rooms, two restaurants (Chez mes frères and the bistro La Traite), an orchard and now a 5,000 square foot vegetable garden, set up thanks to a donation from the Compagnom Foundation, which manages the establishment. This new approach is part of a perspective of food autonomy, but also of inclusion.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Lise Izelimana and educator Viviane Lebœuf in the vegetable garden.
“It’s a great environment for learning. We have all the favorable elements: the people from the outside, the workers. Educator at the Montérégie-Ouest Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS), Viviane Lebœuf supports between seven and ten people living with an autism spectrum disorder or an intellectual disability who wish to enter the job market.
With her colleague Mario L’écuyer, a rehabilitation assistant, she guides the participants in their daily tasks in the vegetable garden, but also in other areas of the Manoir where, for almost a year, they have been helping with the kitchen and maintenance.
We were going a long way. With the pandemic, to start working again, even for the rest of us, and to integrate them, it was not an easy task.
Jean-Martin Côté, General Manager of Manoir d’Youville
“We try to integrate them as much as possible with the employees,” continues Mr. Côté, himself a former special education teacher. They have a great bond. It also helps us a little with the labor shortage. Everyone goes at their own pace, but that supports the team. »
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Nathalie Boulé waters the vegetable garden.
“When I go to the bistro, I know what I have to do,” says Nathalie Boulé, one of the participants in the program, confidently. I take my pouch-pouch and I work on my tables. Afterwards, I pass the broom, the mop. We do a lot of tasks. It’s truly pleasent. People are nice. My mother came and said to me: you keep getting compliments. »
Although they give a valuable helping hand to the staff, Nathalie and her colleagues are not employees, specifies Viviane Lebœuf, and they are not paid either. “I’m about to ask you for a paycheck!” “jokes Nathalie Boulé.
Aimed at developing work skills, this program piloted by the CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest can lead to another program when the participants are deemed ready to really enter the job market.
And what can they get out of the time spent in the vegetable garden? “Working the land, knowing new vegetables, tasting them, you can work a lot of things, notes Viviane Lebœuf. When you give a directive, for example, we only remove that, we see if the person is capable of following this directive. And being outside, who doesn’t like that? »