I created ‘Couvert sur Place’ in March 2009, as an ‘adaptable concept’, to be performed in the environment. It was then proposed to LEVIER, to be part of the activities organized by the Collective for a Poverty-free Quebec. The adaptation became ‘Couvert sur Place - Parc de l’Esplanade’, and was performed collectively with 20 participants, on May 14th, 2009, in front of the Quebec Parliament Building. The performance began after the delivery of the petition of 98,727 signatures, which focused on several different measures to ensure that the essential needs of people living in poverty are met. In keeping with the spirit of the petition, “Couvert sur Place - Parc de l’Esplanade” highlighted the importance of our relationship to the environment, biodiversity and food security intrinsically linked to essential needs. Connecting soil, seeds and plants to food, biodiversity and place, ‘Couvert sur Place - Parc de l’Esplanade’, as an interdisciplinary artwork, represents the ‘interconnected-self’ and brings together the histories of Biodiversity (1), the Collective’s mission and the experience of my art practice.

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Photos by Johanne Chagnon

The Collective for a Poverty-Free Quebec organized ENSEMBLE Autrement! 2010, a series of workshops, on the 21st and 22nd of September, and a manifestation to the Quebec Parliament building, on the 22nd of September. On September 21st, inside a conference room at the University of Laval, in St-Foy, Quebec, I presented the participatory collective performance-workshop Nourriture et Médecine Vivantes [Live Food and Medicine]. I created an artistic installation for the performance-workshop, alongside other kiosks that included the artistic intervention Cartes.compétence and the sculptural social work L’Arbre des dollars solidaires, both by Johanne Chagnon.

In Nourriture et Médecine Vivantes, I shared my knowledge of biodiversity and the edible and medicinal properties of wild plants, by inviting people to touch and taste plants, discussing and exchanging with them, and collectively making little salads and herbal tinctures. I transformed my allocated kiosk table into an art installation, for the performance-workshop. The installation resembled a dining table with utensils and bowls, but included kitchen-cutting boards, special bottles for making tinctures, as well as plants in earth and a pitchfork on the part of the tablecloth that extended onto the ground. The lemon balm plant in the installation was used to make tinctures and was also used for the salads, associating food and medicine and how they could be one and the same. I also integrated three place settings on the tablecloth on the ground, to represent the collective performance Couvert sur Place [Place Setting] that happened on May 14th 2009, for the presentation of the Collective Mission petition of the Collective for a Poverty-free Quebec.

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by Johanne Chagnon

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100 000 – the number of times our hearts beat each day

100 000 signatures for a collective mission

100 000 reasons to be proud

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photos by Luc Bourgeois

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On May 14, 2009, approximately 1200 people from all regions of Quebec went to Parliament Hill in Quebec City to present the nearly 100 000 signatures collected on the petition of the Common Mission : Building a Poverty-Free Quebec.  On this occasion an artistic intervention was held on the Parc de l’Esplanade after the presentation of the petition.  At the same time, many other activities and shows were held, including the collective performance of Nicole Fournier, Couvert sur place.

The idea at the heart of the 100 000 Heartbeats Ball – for the right to have pleasure, was to create a magical space for a ball with an appropriate decor and Quebecois waltzes.  The intention was not only to create a place of celebration but also of resistance on this land across from the Quebec Parliament at a specific moment at the end of a lot of hard work.  The petitions had been presented and this was a huge effort that needed to be celebrated.  Even though the work would continue it was necessary to mark the occasion, to rise up, to create strength to continue to go forward.  It was necessary to live a moment of happiness in a symbolic place, sheltered from fear and need.

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The Tree of Solidarity Dollars is a social work conceived of and carried out by Johanne Chagnon in collaboration with the Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté (Collective for a Poverty-Free Quebec: www.pauvrete.qc.ca). It is the fruit of the first program of Solidarity Dollars of the Collective, created in 2004, on the theme of working towards a Quebec without poverty. It was created from 10 000 stubs of exchanged dollars. A visual document presenting the project can be consulted on the Collective’s site: http://www.pauvrete.qc.ca/article.php3?id_article=342.

THE CONTINUATION OF TAKING ROOT

The tree of solidarity dollars continues to grow proudly after the realization that 10,000 people have posed a gesture in order to eradicate poverty in Quebec. It has already been planted several times in Montreal, Quebec, Chicoutimi and Trois-Rivières after being fabricated in 2005, at various groups and organizations in Quebec (Montreal, Quebec, Châteauguay, Sainte-Foy, Rouyn-Noranda).

The tree has taken root again and in a more organic fashion thanks to the initiative of the Regional Committee of Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean for a Poverty-Free Quebec. The committee has made the most of their members to enrich the land of the tree. The children of the neighbourhood of Saint-Paul of Chicoutimi, supported by the Saint-Paul community, suggested that the population add new leaves by writing their hopes to create a more equal world or to denounce the injustices they live. The members of the organization Accès Condition Vie (Access to Life Conditions) of Alma added roots woven from their experiences and militance in order to anchor the tree in the jeannoise reality.

As always, each time the tree is installed, a letter is sent to each deputy of the National Assembly to tell them of the new planting and to remind them of their responsibility in the fight against poverty.

More than 1200 people from across Quebec gathered at the provincial parliament buildings on May 14th to present 98,727 signatures attached to the COLLECTIVE MISSION petition to build a poverty-free Quebec. The Collective for a Poverty-Free Quebec documented the day’s events in a video.

from Marie-Olivia Badarne

This article illustrates a unique experience of social-movement building, initiated by Sawt el-Amel, a grassroots organisation of Arab workers in Israel. The process started in 2005, with the establishment of an activist forum for women on social welfare in Nazareth. Gradually, this is transforming into a union for Arab women all across Israel. The initiative can teach valuable lessons about organising for economic justice, and has also developed an innovative approach to addressing gender issues within the context of a national minority community with conservative structures, where women face multiple forms of discrimination based on gender, race, and socio-economic status.

Abstract source

Here is an opinion letter from Le Devoir and  Cyberpresse, Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Translation : Emily Teale

Members of the AVEC committee

On April 21st, the consulting committee of the fight against poverty and social exclusion presented its opinion on revenue targets of individuals and families.  This was done with respect to the law against poverty and social exclusion.

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Cinema’s Daniel Cross brings social media to street people

It has been said that homelessness can befall anyone.  This would be include Department of Cinema Assistant Professor Daniel Cross, who doesn’t dwell much on his own brief experience on the streets.  Instead, Cross has championed a new-media career that tackles the issue, including the online project called Homeless Nation “I created the site as a first – person experience, taking away the voice of the ‘other’ in order to define and legitimize that experience, ” he says.

Cross is also an award – winning documentary filmaker.  Cross’s Homeless Nation project was inspired by his work on the film SPIT : Squeegee Punks in Traffic (2001), which takes a street’s-eye-view of some of Montreal’s homeless and disenfranchised individuals.  In 2004, Homeless Nation went live, both on – and off – line.  The virtual version starts by providing homeless people with access to the internet.  Outreach workers place donated computers in shelters and drop-in centres and provide training on how to use them.  HomelesNation.org features its own slant on Facebook as a social networking site that contains resources, live feeds, debate and the launch of films, images and podcasts.  It is also a hub for its nomadic members to stay in touch with loved ones and means to educate family and friends  who access the site to look for missing relatives or make donations.

The project also taps into suppport from volunteers, outreach workers, community groups and film co-ops to assist homeless people  through workshops, internet access and, even, with camera equipment. “This is self-esteem through self-expression.  People are given soup and shelter but the rest of society doesn’t attend them,” Cross says.

Homeless Nation’s network includes more than 4,000 fulltime members.  Administered under the non – profit Homeless Street Archive, Homeless Nation has develop chapters and representatives in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and St-John’s.

Still, its future is uncertain.  Homeless Street was launched with financial support from the National, Film Board of Canada, the Canada Council, the Canadian Independant Film and Video, Fund Quebec’s Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture.  But its pilot funding ends this year and Cross is scrambling to strike new partnerships.  “We’re at the point where we have the database and social network.  Now its time to mine that research and see how it can be used with institutions, government departments and community groups,” Cross says.

“ This model is to show that street people can control their own voice and media representation.  Coming directly from the source is the best way for us to get this information and to research issues for solutions that work.”

David King, Concordia University magazine spring 2009, pp. 11-12

In  2004, following an invitation from Jean Bosco Musana Rukirande, regional coordinator of the Red Cross at Gisenyi, Barefoot Artists went to Rwanda in order to work on several projects including the Genocide Memorial Park.  They worked with survivors of the genocide of Rugerero, a district close to Gisenyi, on the construction of a park which has since become the official commemorative site of the region. The organization also created projects to transform the environment of the survivors of the village through art, health, community, and intiatives for economic development.  This includes the concept of an educational program for children, the creation of a support group for young women and the creation of a program of basics of health and education.

Chris Landy made a film about this project.  To see it, click here.

Barefoot Artists works with poor communities around the world using art as a tool of healing and social change.

“The first and foremost task of development is to turn on the engine of crativity inside each person.  Any program that merely meets the physical needs of a poor person or even provides a job is not a true development program unless it leads to the unfolding of his or her creative energy.”

“To me, the essence of development is changing the quality of life of the bottom half of the population.  And that quality is not to be defined just by the size of the consumption basket.  It must also include the enabling environment that lets individuals explore their own creative potential.  This more important than any mere measure of income or consumption.”

Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World Without Poverty, P. 56, P. 57, Public Affairs Books, New York, 2007