Volunteering, the cornerstone of countless events in Quebec, is suffering from disengagement. Especially in sport and leisure, this lack of volunteers seriously complicates the holding of competitions.
“People’s involvement isn’t what it used to be. People’s availabilities are not what they used to be, ”says Francis Ménard, general manager of the Quebec Swimming Federation, in an interview. Swimming competitions attract more and more athletes, but the judges, timekeepers and other volunteers crucial to the holding of the event are withdrawing in quantity. “We lack officials in almost all competitions,” confirms Stéphanie Gagné, who takes care of member services.
There are no statistics to quantify this withdrawal, but this decline in volunteering seems generalized, according to the sports and leisure organizations contacted by The duty.
For example, the Quebec City Marathon had difficulty filling all of its positions for its race in early October. About 20% of the volunteers were missing two weeks before the start. Fortunately, a “call from the heart” launched a few days before the race was able to ensure the smooth running of the event.
Nearly 500,000 volunteers work in the field of recreation in Quebec.
“I don’t know what wall we’re going to hit and when we’re going to hit it, but we’re going to have to review our business model,” assures Francis Ménard.
“There are groups of volunteers who have completely disappeared,” confirms the director general of the Conseil québécois du loisirs, Sonia Vaillancourt. “There are periods of time when there is no more leisure, because there is no one to supervise it. There is a very great pressure. There are fewer volunteers and everyone wants to restart activities as before, or almost. Not everything can be done. If we can’t accommodate 300, we’ll accommodate 100. We end up getting organized. »
The amateur hockey season is just beginning and we can already see that recruiting volunteer coaches and administrators seems more difficult than before, according to Dave Leclerc, director of management, officials and school hockey for Hockey Quebec. “Many did not return after the pandemic. »
No match should be cancelled, being given the number of enthusiasts. However, the pressure will be felt during tournaments that require a lot of volunteers. “I already see [les organisateurs de tournois] make announcements on social networks and make appeals to all. […] I know that tournaments have a lot of difficulties. »
A relationship to review
Some races are forced to review their routes so that athletes run on straight lines, thus avoiding, among other things, the installation of barriers on street corners and the need for volunteers, observes the director general of Sports Quebec, Isabelle Ducharme. . During competitions, instead of having volunteers handing out the medals, these are entrusted to the coaches who will themselves give them to the athletes. “Everyone is questioning themselves. »
The “secret”, confides Marilyne Fournier, Executive Director of the Quebec Volunteer Action Network, is to stay in contact with volunteers even when there are no activities. “Volunteering is a social experience. If we completely lose the link with an organization, we may have found another organization. They feel they are numbers, whereas volunteering is a partnership experience. »
The researcher at the University of Trois-Rivières André Thibault is beginning these days a vast consultation to estimate the extent of this decline in volunteering in Quebec. Similar to the labor shortage from which Quebec suffers, this withdrawal should force all organizations to redouble their recruitment efforts, according to him. “Recreation and sports take volunteering too much for granted. You have to make yourself attractive. […] You have to take care of it on a day-to-day basis and appoint someone to take care of it. It no longer comes on its own. A quality volunteer experience must be guaranteed. »
He also sees in this decline in self-sacrifice the consequences of a change of generation. “We don’t know if it’s temporary, but we have good reason to think it will come back. »