Poverty is not an inevitability
Our
mission
Our mission is to prevent poverty by helping to create conditions that will enable all young people living in Québec to develop their full potential.
Our
vision
Our vision of Québec is that of a supportive, equitable and inclusive society that enables every child and every family to realize their full potential and play an active role in society.
How we go about achieving our mission
To achieve our mission, we focus on children and youth as they grow up, their families, their living environments and the institutions they attend. We also take a strong interest in public policy and systems that perpetuate injustice and social inequality for which individuals are not responsible.
Why poverty?
Poverty is not an inevitability; it concerns us all. By depriving some children of certain opportunities, poverty compromises not only their development but also that of society as a whole.
According to the Observatoire québécois des inégalités, the most vulnerable groups in society are women, Indigenous peoples, less affluent individuals, immigrants, and people who are racialized, living with a disability or mental health issues, socially marginalized, homeless or who have special needs.
As long as social and institutional structures continue to exclude and marginalize these groups, there will be injustice and social inequality.
Why prevention?
It is not possible for young people to improve their lives through their own volition or that of their parents, although the latter have a crucial role to play. Taking preventive action means going as far upstream as possible to fight the deep, systemic causes of inequality.
What do we mean by developing a child’s full potential?
We consider that the development of the full potential of a child or youth includes their well-being, their autonomy and their active participation in the social, civic and professional spheres. This development is:
- Global : affecting several dimensions that are interdependent (physical, cognitive, psychological, social, etc.).
- Continu : evolving throughout a person’s entire childhood and adolescence, involving the young person themselves, their family, the environment in which they are growing up, the institutions they attend and their community.
What kind of conditions are we talking about?
The creation of favourable living conditions and access to real possibilities for development results from a broad view of the factors that can have an impact on the deep causes of inequality. We have identified three main conditions*.
Dignified living conditions
Difficult, stressful living conditions are often linked to physical, emotional, developmental and behavioural problems, as well as school problems.
- Housing
- Food systems
- Employment conditions
- Educational settings
- Socio-ecological transition
- Vitality of living environments
- Numeracy
- Other
Community life and strong social bonds
It is important that social movements and collective actions continue to emerge and that ties are created between institutions and civil society with the aim of improving the well-being of children and their families.
- Community organizations and associations
- Collective enterprises
- Citizen participation
- Social movements
- Collaboration and networking
- Knowledge sharing and transfer
- Other
Eliminating discrimination and exclusion
Being discriminated against or excluded prevents children and youth from flourishing, realizing their dreams and playing a role in the political, social economic and cultural spheres of society. We therefore also focus on:
- assertion of the cultural identity of Indigenous peoples
- defense of human rights
- inclusion of persons with personal attributes that have been identified as grounds for discrimination
- Other
* These conditions may evolve as new needs and issues emerge.
Based on these principles and our approach, we have chosen three levers to achieve our mission:
