André PratteMy View of Our Montreal

All over Canada, community groups play an essential role in helping vulnerable Canadians survive despite the difficult circumstances they face. The fight against Covid-19 demonstrated once more the groups’ dedication and nimbleness. In getting involved into this fight, they helped thousands of Canadians make it through the crisis. And they probably saved thousands of lives.

“Community “brigades” knocked on more than 500,000 thousand doors
during the year and a half the program lasted.”

We had an extraordinary example of this in Montreal where, financed (to the tune of more than $11 million) and coordinated by philanthropic foundations, over 100 community groups got together in the city’s boroughs to implement “community action plans”. Those plans, designed locally, were aimed at providing necessities to underprivileged Montrealers and broadcasting information on the virus and on vaccination. Community “brigades” knocked on more than 500,000 thousand doors during the year and a half the program lasted. No government program could have reached that many people this fast and at such a low cost. Community workers know each street of their borough. Where many people distrust government representatives, they usually have confidence in their community workers.

During the pandemic, media and politicians often made the mistake of thinking that all Canadians watched the daily briefings by provincial and federal authorities. Interviewing some of the people who knocked on doors, I realized that hundreds of thousands of people knew little about what was going on. They did not watch the news. Many had no TV and no Internet. A significant number of recent immigrants spoke no French or English.

“Public health and social crises are too big for governments to face alone, even if they have by far the larger budgets and staff.”

Many old persons did not dare go outside to procure food; the community workers delivered groceries to hundreds of homes. Some people had no means of transportation or no money to take the bus to the nearest vaccination clinic; the groups drove them to the clinic. The homeless sometimes could not get the vaccine because they were under the influence; community workers managed to get them vaccinated anyway. Often, the “brigadiers” were greeted by victims of domestic violence, or people in need of medical assistance; the community workers provided them with information on available services.

Even though many were already involved in community work, the workers knocking on doors were shocked to find so many people living in poverty. As Gervais Chendjou, who immigrated from Cameroon two years ago, noted: “We live in a rich country, and it’s hard to realize that some people are living with serious difficulties. We visited some food banks. Sometimes, we came across people who literally had nothing, not even shoes on their feet!”

Indeed, we are a rich country, but that wealth obscures the fact that hundreds of thousands of Canadians live in very difficult conditions. Governments can help, of course. But, as the “community action plans” demonstrated, community groups can be counted on to reach people who have little knowledge of government programs, or public health information.

Now that the philanthropic foundations have ceased subsidizing the “community action plans”, now that we have learned to live with Covid, the programs that were set up in each borough of the Montreal metropolitan area are slowly being dismantled. But the lessons learned should not be forgotten. When working together towards a common goal, when given proper means, community groups can play a very important role not only in public health emergencies, but also in facing other crises, including the poverty epidemic in our large cities and the impact of population ageing. Governments should learn to leverage their knowledge, experience and nimbleness.

For their part, philanthropic foundations need to rethink their approach to problems, according to several interviews. Instead of addressing the symptoms of social issues, they need to tackle to core of the problems. The President of the Foundation of Greater Montreal, Karel Mayrand, told me; “At the moment, several things are converging, such as the idea that philanthropy is not the traditional model of charity. We are really trying to fight injustice. There’s the whole issue of diversity and inclusion, which has hit the philanthropic sector very, very strongly over the past few years, since George Floyd, but probably before that. Then, everyone looks at each other, does an about-face and says, ‘It’s true, we have to do something; we have to change.’”

Public health and social crises are too big for governments to face alone, even if they have by far the larger budgets and staff. They need to work with community groups and philanthropic foundations instead of seeing them as cheap labor or a nuisance. We should all keep in mind what the head of Centraide of Greater Montreal, Claude Pinard, told me:  “I often heard that if the community sector hadn’t been there, as it always is, Montreal would have collapsed. The social fabric would have been completely punctured. It’s obvious. There were people who fell through the cracks, but the community organizations made sure Montreal stayed afloat.”

“During the pandemic, media and politicians often made the mistake of thinking that all Canadians watched the daily briefings by provincial and federal authorities. Interviewing some of the people who knocked on doors, I realized that hundreds of thousands of people knew little about what was going on.”

André Pratte is a Special Adviser, Citizen Public Relations and Senior Fellow, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa. He has just published Unseen Angels, at Les Éditions La Presse.