SAINT-LAURENT

THE PROJECT

The Saint-Laurent neighbourhood is a beautifully diverse area of our city. It is also one of the largest boroughs of Montreal and home to thousands of newcomers to Canada. Christian Direction has a rich history of community service in Saint-Laurent, including student mentoring and English and French language learning. Presently we facilitate a cooking club and coordinate a micro enterprising project for immigrant women. We are currently working to renew a local network of Church leaders and Christians engaged in the neighbourhood.

COOKING WORKSHOPS

Once a week, a group of newly-arrived immigrant women in Quebec meets to cook and eat together. The kitchen has become a place of exchange, mutual support, confiding in each other, and even reconciliation between women from different cultures. This initiative is designed to meet the need for new resources that were discussed at the meeting of the Food Security Committee led by the Round Table of Ville Saint-Laurent.

MICROENTERPRISE

This project aims at the financial autonomy of immigrant women of Saint-Laurent and offers them a safe and welcoming place that promotes exchange. Through the microenterprise, they produce organic body products and follow training workshops on entrepreneurship (budget, publicity, customer service, inventory, etc.) The benefit of sales is divided as follows: 10% for a charitable organisation chosen by the women, 20% reinvested in the project, 70% distributed among the women based on their respective time of participation.

INDIVIDUAL FOLLOW-UP

Immigrant women suffer often from the isolation exacerbated by the present COVID pandemic. We support them through phone meetings and meeting them in person. Knowing that anxious moments can happen at any time, these women know that they can reach us to get support.

CHURCH NETWORK

We have established a relationship with several congregations in the neighbourhood to know their context and needs. We want to help them go from theory to practice – to show their commitment to the peace and well-being of their community.