Last year, the provincial government gave Caroline Chartier’s organization $3,600 to provide raises across her company.
Her staff consists of 65 employees, whom she pays for 52 weeks a year. Divided among the staff, she was able to offer them a $1.06-per-week raise.
This is the constant burden of running a community group, the backbone of every neighbourhood and every society. They help specific demographics of society and try to advocate for them. Moisson Montréal is the largest food bank in Canada, addressing food insecurity. La Maison des jeunes L’Ouverture in Montreal North is a community-based centre that provides a supervised meeting place for kids aged 12 to 17, offering educational workshops, sports activities, and psychological support to promote social development and citizenship.
Chartier explained how they can’t budget for the future, because they’re constantly on the edge financially. Beyond that, Chartier says, they’re not able to pay their employees enough, who are bordering on burnout from long hours doing emotional heavy lifting and irregular hours that don’t provide a simple work-life balance.
To denounce the government’s refusal to finance the community sector, 10,000 workers stood before the National Assembly on April 2 holding signs that read “Le Communautaire à boutte” (“the community sector is fed up”). For the sector to get back on track, Chartier and Mathieu Gélinas, the other spokesperson for Le communautaire à boutte, said they would need an injection of $2.6 billion.