The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is set to take place on Oct. 17 and Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi is calling on community members to collectively come together to defend the rights of those on social assistance and living in a cycle of poverty.

The mission of Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi, according to its website, is to "help people on social assistance and people living below the poverty line".

Fiona Brilvicas, co-coordinator and advocacy officer at Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi, explained to CIDI that poverty is becoming a more “complex” issue in the Brome-Missisquoi Municipal Regional County (MRC). As a result, staff and members of Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi have been working together to mobilize the community around the issues contributing to the exacerbation of poverty in the MRC and to raise awareness around the importance of having people's basic needs met. 

“We give a service of individual rights defence because the law that covers social assistance in Quebec sometimes isn’t completely fair. A lot of people struggle to defend their own rights and there is a lot of bureaucracy involved in it,” said Brilvicas. “We are also concerned with people stricken by poverty. More so nowadays, it’s not only people on social assistance, but it’s a lot of people that work with a minimum salary.”

Like other rural areas, Brilvicas noted that poverty in Brome-Missisquoi, and the Eastern Townships in general, is “much more invisible” than in the larger city centres. She noted however that poverty is affecting people here in the MRC and that it’s only on the rise. 

“There is a lot of prejudice towards people who are on social assistance, seeing them as people who are lazy, who simply don’t want to work. In fact, poverty is so much more complex than that unfortunately,” said Brilvicas. 

She cited the housing crisis, issues with food security, the rise in substance abuse, and issues with physical and mental health as some of the contributing factors behind the increase in poverty that is being witnessed Brome-Missisquoi.

“I actually have some stats with me from the Cellule Jeunes et Familles Brome MIssisquoi, which is a community organization that we work with in Cowansville. They are in contact with people who are homeless and [within] the last six months, just in Cowansville at their offices, they’ve seen 26 different people who suffer from homelessness. That’s a lot more than I think a lot of people around here would conceive,” Brilvicas highlighted. “In the stats, it’s half-and-half Anglophone, Francophone, some are younger, some are older. They also noted that only three of these 26 people have had access to social housing since then. (…) Every one of the community organizations we are in contact with are overloaded, really, by the demand of poverty at the moment.”

According to Brilvicas, more and more people are having to apply for social assistance due to some of these factors, but the complicated laws surrounding the service are only contributing to creating an endless cycle of poverty. Providing some examples, Brilvicas said that someone with a physical injury or mental health issue that applies for social assistance will only receive a basic income of $770 a month if they provide a doctor’s note that is accepted by the government. 

“With that, right now, you can’t go very far. Most people barely cover their rent with that amount. So if they went out of work for instance for a burnout, or for a very hard separation in which they need mental health leave, they won’t be in a position where they can better their health really on social assistance,” she mentioned. “That’s the case for a lot of people who, for some reason or another, they lost their job, they have a less paying job, or they have to work less hours. They can’t invest in their health and therefore they’re kind of stuck in the cycle of poverty.”

That’s why we want to “push the collective side,” said Brilvicas. 

“Everyone in the middle-class is very close to being at the same level of poverty of people on social assistance. We are one burnout away, we’re one close family tie away. Say we lost a relative that could help us out if we were homeless, we are now just homeless you know? We are all very close to that poverty really in our society right now,” she emphasized. 

In honour of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi has two events scheduled on the agenda. 

Its first event is three conferences and a workshop hosted by health professionals that is meant to serve as a “deeper reflection on health and poverty,”  the larger issues at hand, and what can be done to invest in societal health and to eliminate poverty. 

On Oct. 17, members of Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi have also organized a demonstration in Cowansville that is open to all Brome-Missisquoi citizens.  

“We really want to underline and revendicate for protective social rights. Mainly, that means a law that guarantees that our basic needs are met. So housing, affordable and clean housing in which we can live a healthy life, better access to health and education services, and measures allowing for everyone to be fed properly. (…) It’s really going to be a lively protests against poverty. It is very much a problem in Brome-Missisquoi and we want to highlight that. It’s not just happening in Montreal, it’s not just happening in America, it’s happening right here,” explained Brilvicas. 

More information on Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi can be found on its website. 

To hear more on the services provided by Action Plus Brome-Missisquoi and the laws surrounding social assistance, listen to the full interview with Brilvicas below: