Transformed by community economic development

Southwest Montréal now has a future as well as a past By Pierre Richard

The Southwest part of In 1984, a few community organizers projects; a blossoming of the cultural Montréal has vastly changed took the initiative to tackle economic sector; building projects; commercial development and employment develop- revitalization ... over the past 20 years. The old ment head-on, not by hoping for a So the decline has been halted. But the working-class districts bordering miracle, but by organizing the area’s current revival brings new challenges. the (Pointe Saint- strengths and developing links between Foremost is creating sustainable and Charles, Saint-Henri, Little all the sectors. PEP (Point Saint Charles appropriate development that includes that Economic Program) was born. At about significant part of the Southwest’s popula- Burgundy, , Ville- the same time, similar initiatives were tion still living in poverty and exclusion. Émard, Côte Saint-Paul), called beginning in two other working-class How best to explain how far we have the“poverty capital of ” in Montréal districts, South Centre and come? What are the ingredients or critical the 1980s, are currently Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. In 1989, factors in this experience of community-led RESO took over from PEP and spread economic development? What too are the undergoing an exceptional the economic recovery and revitalization limits of this experience? How will we meet shake-up and revival. project across the entire Southwest. new challenges? Between 1950 and 1990 Twenty years after PEP and 15 years For all its singularity, the RESO after the creation of RESO, no one is experience is part of an approach used by Southwest Montréal, the birth- talking about“economic recovery” in the other Montréal neighbourhoods and other place of Canadian industry, lost Southwest any more. RESO has even urban and rural communities in Québec 75% of its manufacturing jobs, changed its name. The acronym no longer and Canada. On a wider scale still, it is part and saw its population drop refers to“recovery” (relance ), but instead to of a global movement of local communities an economic and social coalition in the that decide to take their development and from 100,000 to 70,000. We had city’s Southwest (le Regroupement future into their own hands. seldom seen such a rapid économique et social du Sud-Ouest). industrial decline and rapid Now talk is of a deep-seated revival Square 1: citizen depopulation in an urban and plans for sustainable development. engagement Signs of the revival are everywhere: the setting. With a tightly-knit social re-opening and development of the RESO is not a creation of the state, nor is fabric and a tradition of worker Lachine Canal; employment growth that it a government program, a consulting firm, solidarity, the area was ripe for outstrips the Montréal average; the or a government service or program the emergence of Montréal’s first spread of Montréal’s downtown and the new economy towards the Southwest; the experiment in“community (above) Residents of the Southwest, enrolled establishment and expansion of busi- in training for their high-school equivalency economic development.” nesses; a proliferation of social economy diploma. Photo credit: RESO.

makingwaves volume 15, number 1 21 Montréal T Petite- Griffintown Bourgogne i d Lachine Canal St-Henri

Pointe-St-Charles Southwest Côte- attracted several hundred residents. Montréal St-Paul People also show a lot of interest in the p annual general meeting. j RESO’s board also wishes to create I Ville-Émard more and better opportunities and f two union representatives, and finally, two occasions for people to have their say d associate members known for their and get involved. This is RESO’s t influence in the community and their strength, its foundation, its oxygen. t “provider.”Yet it is financed almost entirely ability to bring together the diverse Democracy is never a given; it’s always a with public money and offers numerous sectors. under construction. p services to businesses, organizations, and Over the years, the board grew to residents in the Southwest. include a representative of local institu- Collaboration: the p RESO, like Québec’s other community tions (health, educational, and cultural), a key to progress h economic development corporations representative of residents using RESO’s b (CDECs), was created and developed by employment services, and an elected Just as democratic involvement is the e the community, particularly the movers municipal official to represent the basis for RESO’s action, collaboration is m and shakers of Montréal’s Southwest. borough. its preferred way of working. RESO is h These were community and union leaders, These directors are not appointed or not the only organization responsible for b business people, citizens, and elected co-opted, but elected to a 2-year term by the Southwest’s accomplishments. They t officials who shared both a sense of their peers – to whom they are therefore are the result of concerted efforts by many urgency about the disastrous situation of accountable. Twice a year, 200-250 people private, public, and community partners. E their community and the will to work take part in the eight sector-based electoral Saving important manufacturing s towards its revitalization. colleges of RESO that encompass businesses; establishing a school of In 1989, the Committee for the participating businesses, unions, commu- advanced technology; re-opening the O Renewal of Employment and the nity organizations, institutions, and Corona Theatre; re-developing the c Economy in Southwest Montréal residents. They learn about RESO’s work, Lachine Canal; employment integration s (CREESOM – a gathering of community debate directions for the organization, businesses; increased social and commu- a activists and public officials) conceived an formulate recommendations for the board nity housing – all these achievements and c ambitious program of revitalization of directors and, every two years, elect many others required the united efforts of d measures. Its one central recommendation: representatives to the board. a variety of people who had the intelli- g that their implementation must be In addition to socio-economic partners, gence to look past immediate self-interest p entrusted to an organization that was RESO also aims to engage the citizens of and pool their resources. representative of different sectors of the Southwest Montréal. This starts with the RESO was a prime mover of numer- R community and accountable to the roughly 1,000 residents who annually take ous public consultations. These were t community. In other words, if it was not to part in the training, employment integra- consultations on various development i sink into oblivion, the revitalization project tion, and job search process offered by projects (urban planning, the Atwater t had to be steered by an organization that RESO and its youth employment centre. market, industrial zones). A partnership t belonged to the community. These people are more than just users of forum considered the creation of a youth c And so RESO was born, an autono- RESO services; they are invited to take an employment strategy for the Southwest. u mous organization managed by a board of active part in the development of their A roundtable of stakeholders in the r directors comprising representatives from area through the participant committees. cultural sector was organized for the a range of socio-economic sectors. There The main challenge in community purpose of turning the Southwest into a w were four from the business world participation remains connecting with and centre of cultural creativity and diffusion. b (corporations, small businesses, retailers, engaging citizens who don’t use RESO’s There was a working group on housing m and financial institutions). Another four services. In spring 2000, as part of the problems, the Society for the Promotion s each came from community organizations development of the Lachine Canal, RESO of the Railway Industry, and a forum on u in different neighbourhoods. There were organized neighbourhood forums that municipal restructuring. a

makingwaves volume 15, number 1 22 Twenty years after PEP & 15 years after the creation of RESO, no one Petite- Griffintown Bourgogne is talking about “economic recovery” in the Southwest any more.... the decline has been halted. But the current revival brings new challenges. St-Henri

Pointe-St-Charles Côte- All these initiatives brought together outreach and follow-up with hundreds of Training the employed workforce has St-Paul players from different spheres to establish small businesses. It gave support and also been a concern of RESO’s. It is joint strategies leading to concrete actions. advice to entrepreneurs, maintained the essential to the survival and development In the same way, RESO initiated and industrial zoning of the area, and of companies and helps a person keep a Ville-Émard facilitated planning processes to guide the networked between businesses and with job or, if necessary, find another. In the development of the Southwest. There was special government programs. From the early ’90s, in collaboration with a large the economic development plan in 1998; beginning, RESO offered the area’s manufacturer, a union, and a community- the employment development plan in 1999; businesses diversified, professional based literacy organization, RESO began and the recreational tourism development services to help them weather the storm one of the first experiments in basic plan in 2001. and maintain and create jobs. These education (reading and writing) right in The originality and power of these efforts, combined with those of many the workplace. This allowed workers with processes lay in their involvement of partners, allowed the Southwest to little schooling to keep up with the hundreds of socio-economic players - stabilize its industrial base in the mid- technological changes that were crucial to businesses, organizations, unions, citizens, 1990s and commence a rebound. the company’s survival. Since then, these elected officials, etc. Most of the recom- Employment and economic develop- experiments have expanded and even mendations in these development plans ment for whom? That’s another question given rise to a social economy enterprise have been fulfilled or are in progress that has been asked from the start. With a specializing in on-site Basic Ed. because they derive from a vision shared by high unemployment rate and a large In 15 years, RESO’s many innovations the community’s most vibrant elements. proportion of its population living on and projects have developed a learning y social assistance and with low levels of culture among the companies of the Employment wars: the schooling, the Southwest also needed to Southwest. There have been workshops to social-economic interface tackle the challenge of developing its train workplace trainers. Training plans workforce. It particularly needed to have been drafted. An employee training One of the central principles of CED is to develop the“employability” of the program sponsored by the Manufacturers connect the economic and social dimen- population in step with the development and Exporters of Québec to increase the sions of development in both our thinking of businesses. That’s how RESO came to productivity of small and medium-sized and our action. It sounds easy, but poses a set up and manage employment services businesses (Tremplins Formation- d constant challenge. Society is organized to offering individual counselling, training Productivité) has been put in place. Some f deal with these issues separately, through projects, and internships for those wishing of these businesses have recently formed government structures and programs, to join the labour market. the association FormaPlus to help them t professional associations, and so on. Over the years, employment integra- pool resources in workforce training. The struggle for jobs, which was where tion businesses have been established, as For sure, the employment battle is RESO got its start, is a good illustration of well as professional training tailored to the never really over. Having stabilized its this challenge. The community’s players needs of job-seekers, and a“model school” employment in the mid-’90s, the initially united around the revitalization of for adults who wish to complete their Southwest enjoyed strong growth between the Southwest because of the urgency of secondary school studies. A program 1996 and 2000. Employment grew 24% in the employment situation. Factories were responding to the needs of the black the Southwest and only 9% in Montréal as closing, thousands of jobs were being lost, Anglophone community was launched, a whole. In the manufacturing sector unemployment and poverty were growing and RESO added a youth employment alone, the Southwest advanced 11% in this rapidly. It was imperative to move quickly. centre to its service repertoire. period, compared to 7% in Montréal. In the early years, RESO was obsessed Each year over 1,000 adults, young and Equipped with new financial tools with employment as a way to stop the not-so-young, take advantage of these (investment and social economy funds), . bleeding of the Southwest. RESO RESO projects and activities. They’ve RESO ventured further afield in employ- mobilized to save businesses, supported permitted thousands of Southwest area ment development, including recreational small businesses start-ups, and engaged the residents to build their self-confidence, (above) Staff and participants of Cuisine- unions in protecting jobs. It promoted the recognize and develop their strengths, and Atout, an employment integration enterprise area to investors and set up a system of in many cases, join the job market. in the Southwest. Photocredit: RESO.

makingwaves volume 15, number 1 23 tourism, digital imaging, and culture. All citizens. The population’s ownership of How to manage this situation? How to this while still helping the traditional the project and its integration into the welcome and integrate new residents while T sectors get re-anchored. social, economic, and cultural fabric of the ensuring that the poorer people aren’t a The social economy has blossomed Southwest were conditions essential to driven out of their own neighbourhood? c remarkably in the Southwest, creating success. To respond to these questions, RESO hundreds of jobs and offering services and To create them, RESO carried out a created a working group on housing. The products to meet the local needs in a great huge consultation process in the spring of group included representatives from variety of areas. Through their manage- 2000. Seven sectoral forums were held for tenants’ rights groups and groups ment methods and their deep roots in the businesses, organizations, and institutions, supporting social housing, from the community, social economy businesses are four forums for neighbourhood residents, private sector (a real estate developer and p contributing to the democratization of the and a final one to bring it all together. an architect), from the urban planning o economic life of the Southwest. Nearly 1,000 people took part in this huge research community, and from the S Economic exclusion remains a hot exercise that culminated in a shared vision municipality. This group proposed a r topic in the Southwest. Despite all the of what development should look like. It strategy that would create a real social mix A efforts and successes, poverty remains a should respect the identities of the in the Southwest, permitting the develop- s daily reality for a large part of the different neighbourhoods and highlight ment of housing for different income w population. Despite a rise in labour their history and heritage. It should levels and different clienteles, such as m market participation, which went from contribute to the quality of life. It should seniors or families with children. Among 54.6% in 1996 to 59.8% in 2001, levels of be rooted in the culture of the Southwest other things, they proposed measures to t unemployment, poverty, and and provide jobs that are accessible to the strengthen social and community housing T undereducation in the Southwest still local population. (which already has a significant presence R exceed the Montréal average. In 2001, Development proposals were put in the area), inclusive zoning (including a o there were about 7,000 employable people forward to open the neighbourhoods to significant proportion of affordable i in the area without work. Many of them the Canal and to preserve the waterfront housing in each large residential project), a need training and long-term coaching, and for public use. A recreational tourism plan and an ownership access program for low- i are dealing with problems that conven- was completed in consultation with the to average-income families. l tional public employment services cannot main partners. It articulated an approach b address. Economic development may have to social, urban, and cultural tourism that Partnership, autonomy, s arrived, but making it accessible to was respectful of the local population innovation everyone continues to be an issue. while offering visitors the chance to b discover the area’s industrial heritage and Strengthened by its successes, well-rooted o A global, integrated working class neighbourhoods. in the community, and supported by p approach From this approach arose several social numerous partners, RESO still faces c economy projects, including an urban management issues. Here are a few of a As central as it is to RESO’s activities and outdoor club, heritage cruises on the canal, them. h services, employment cannot and must not and an international hostel targeting First of all, the question of partnering p be dealt with in isolation. The revitaliza- tourists on limited budgets. To promote with public agencies. RESO has always c tion of an area and a community requires these offerings and enliven the area with been able to count on financial support t an approach that is diversified, global, recreational and cultural programming, from such entities, including the govern- integrated, and comes to grips with RESO created a Society for the ments of Canada and Québec and the R multiple issues: the development of Promotion of the Lachine Canal. It brings City of Montréal. The basic issue is always p businesses and jobs, training of the together private, community, institutional the same: is this a partnership, or is the e workforce, land and infrastructure and cultural partners as well as representa- government farming out its work? t development, quality of life, housing, tives of theconcerned public agencies. Over the years, this relationship has a culture, availability of services, education One issue that is hotly debated in the gone through a variety of phases and and youth involvement, etc. Southwest is housing. Between the developments. Due to its roots in the i The re-development of the Lachine revitalization of the neighbourhood and community, its expertise, and its demo- g Canal and surrounding area is a good the re-development of the Canal, the cratic structure, RESO has generally been l illustration of this multidimensional Southwest is becoming an increasingly able to assert itself as a partner and reject ( approach. In addition to a $100 million popular area in which to live. Over the last the role of a mere program provider. This f public investment in infrastructure few years there has been a boom in the debate is back on the front burner, o (restoration of the locks, heightening construction of “luxurious” condos. however. Recent reforms to the Québec i bridges, dredging, and improvements to Upward pressure is beginning to be felt on government have transferred local parks and roads), the main project raised house prices and rents. The Southwest is development to the municipalities and try i many issues, hopes – and worries – for the in the early phases of . to make it subject to local elected officials. p

makingwaves volume 15, number 1 24 o le The Southwest today features more economic players who are aware of their social responsibilities & more social players conscious of their economic role.

RESO is currently working to build a However, it also poses a sizable challenge: Unlocking Labour History partner relationship with the elected is there still room for innovation? officials and administration of the Happily, life on the developmental In the collective imagination of Québecers, Southwest borough created during a cutting edge has a way of keeping you and particularly of those active in lobbying recent municipal reorganization. alert. Over the last few years, RESO has for social rights, the names Little Burgundy, x Additionally, the federal government now undertaken innovative projects in Saint-Henri, and Pointe Saint-Charles evoke - seems to be open to a stronger partnership development of the workforce, employ- the great labour struggles of the 19th and with the community economic develop- ment integration, in the development of 20th century. These places witnessed the birth of class consciousness in the working ment corporations (CDECs). businesses, and in the social economy. It class neighbourhoods of Québec. Writing in A second issue, linked to the first, is keeps shaking up the normative box. 1941, the novelist Gabrielle Roy described that of political and financial autonomy. There is no antidote to institutional this world where “a group of ants live at the g There is a strong consensus among inflexibility like a community connection heart of the large furnace of industry. As RESO’s board and partners that the and an engaged citizenry. soon as they begin to look for an escape, organization must preserve and strengthen they encounter the factory’s chimneys.” its autonomy, both of governance and of Conclusion Today, after the disappearance of what action. Of course RESO must report to was for 150 years the industrial heart of w- its funders and deliver results. But its first Over the last 20 years“community both Québec and Canada, and after line of accountability is to its community, economic development” has left an decades of economic drifting, these by way of its democratic organizational indelible mark on the evolution of the neighbourhoods in Montréal’s southwest are retooling. “Multimedia City” is setting up structure. Southwest. There’s no question but that there, as are a variety of artists. While The Southwest has a unique strength, the Southwest today features more there has been a slight gentrification of born of the decision of local, elected economic players who are aware of their certain working class neighbourhoods, the d officials at the federal, provincial, munici- social responsibilities and more social residents have not forgotten their past. pal, and school board levels to form a players conscious of their economic role. When the Lachine Canal was reopened to committee independent of their political Sullen and defeatist no more, the pleasure craft in May 2002 (above), it was allegiances. Since 1987 this Committee Southwest has developed a culture of a local social economy enterprise, has met regularly, supported development collaboration and shown itself to be a Productions Absolu Saint-Laurent, that projects, and maintained a dynamic, community capable of pulling together received the Parks Canada concession to collaborative relationship with RESO’s and acting as one. operate pleasure cruises on a section team, while respecting its autonomy. With transformation well underway, running from the Old Port to the fourth lock. Financially, a major limitation has been the Southwest is prepared to face the Absolu St-Laurent faced competition RESO’s inability to generate a significant challenges brought about by its growth – from four specialized companies that had ys proportion of earned revenue. A few the challenge of integrating its diverse operated in this market for some time. efforts in this regard have not produced functions (industry, recreation and Parks Canada selected the Absolu the desired results. Self-financing is an tourism, housing, culture), the challenge of submission on account of the engagement area that still needs work. social diversity, the challenge of including of the local area in the business. Funds Finally, a third organizational challenge populations that remain marginalized, and from the Community Economic is that of institutionalization. RESO has the challenge of developing a mixed Development Technical Assistance gone past its experimental phase – it is no economy. Program (CEDTAP) helped the business by n longer a pilot project. With recognition subsidizing its market study, carried out by consultants from RESO. (albeit tenuous) from government and PIERRE RICHARD is the Executive Director of Jean-Pierre Wilsey, a former community s from its local partners, RESO, like the the Regroupement économique et social du Sud-Ouest (RESO). He can be reached at organizer in the social housing sector, other CDECs, has slowly become [email protected]. For further information created and directs the company, which institutionalized. on RESO, consult their website employs half-a-dozen people. He wants to www.resomtl.com or phone 514-931-5737. This has its advantages: sustained promote Southwest as a tourist (above) The Lachine Canal, open for pleasure y initiatives, low staff turnover, and greater boating. Photocredit: RESO. Translation: destination by bringing to light its industrial s. professionalism in its interventions. Sterling Lambert and Shannon Webb. heritage and rich social history.

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