Good afternoon, Ms. Folco.
Good afternoon, Mr. Lessard and other members of the committee.
I am also here to tell you what is happening on the front lines at the Maison des Jeunes, and how we experience the poverty of children from 12 to 17, day after day.
Needs are steadily increasing in the neighbourhood of Laval-Ouest, and the number of poor young people continues to increase from year to year. We have more than 110 members at the Maison des Jeunes de Laval-Ouest. We always need the support of the federal government, which brings me to presenting our three recommendations.
The first concerns the importance of maintaining the Canada Summer Jobs Program, of stabilizing it. We do not want to find ourselves in the same situation as in the spring of 2008, when funding cuts were announced to this program that allows young students to participate in sectors related to their areas of study. This subsidy must not be taken away from us. Canada Summer Jobs allows students to work at the Maison des Jeunes, with other community organizations or with the public, and this assistance represents some support. We have a great deal of work to do during the summer, and these students help us. This subsidy is an absolute must for us.
The second recommendation is to set up employability programs for young drop-outs or young people living on social assistance or on employment insurance. As an example, I would mention the Projet artiste de l'est de Laval, offered by the Maison des jeunes de Sainte-Dorothée, or the Pro acte project, which offers rehabilitation to groups of 8 to 12 young people in order to allow them to work in their field. The problem is in the difficulty of putting together groups of 8 to 12 young people. At times, according to the projects that we are trying to set up to fight against poverty, we cannot find the 8 to 12 youths. That is the case in Laval-Ouest. There is no project adapted to a smaller group of four to six people. There needs to be more flexibility, and also some opening within these programs that could be of more assistance to us.
The third recommendation concerns a project like Summer Jobs Canada, but that would work in other periods of the year. This project, with stable funding, would allow us to hire young students who could work in their fields of specialization or in their area of study, and we could therefore provide much broader support, help students, and thus help our youth.
We can see the poverty of those who come to the Maison des Jeunes. It is difficult to measure, but we see it in the circles under the eyes and in the lack of small change that they might have to feed themselves with. We prepare meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that they can eat dinner with us. We always have some 12 to 15 youths who come, and often some of them do not even have the 50 cents we ask for the meal. Imagine the effort required to come up with that small amount. We also ask ourselves, with good reason, how they get their hands on the money. These are very poor children. Some have been expelled from school, and if they make their way to the Maison des Jeunes, we can see that poverty is part of their everyday lives.
I think there is much work to be done. Our three recommendations for the federal government deal with the maintenance and addition of stable funding, year by year.
Thank you.