A Brief History

In 1988 Sister Marie-Hélène Blais, a Notre-Dame d’Afrique missionary, and her team of volunteers set up a project to help immigrants adapt to their new milieu. This eventually gave birth to the present SAAI Service d’aide à l’adaptation des immigrants et immigrantes). Back then there was no support system to facilitate the integration of new arrivals. 95% were war refugees, and once settled in their apartments they found themselves alone, cut off, as they were, from family, employment, their network of friends and acquaintances, the goods and way of life they had known up until then, much of which they could not of course find in their new home. Both the traumatisms due to war and their uprooting had to be overcome. In addition, their was a new language to learn, a new culture to adapt to and new resources to familiarize themselves with. The SAAI was founded to deal with this difficult situation. Marie-Hélène Blais and her team determined the priorities that would guide their efforts to fight the moral and material poverty of new arrivals and set them on the road to successful integration. They had three main priorities: psychological support, resources to meet their material needs, and resources to help them learn French.

The organism was incorporated in 1993. A network of volunteers, trained and aware of the situation and past experience of these immigrants, was set up. Various approaches were implemented: house calls, information about available resources, help in meeting their material needs, elementary French classes, help with school work. The SAAI provided help on an individual or family basis depending on the client’s needs. A group of volunteers from Limoilou joined Marie-Hélène Blais’s team at this time.

In 1997 an important development occurred. Up until then, the SAAI had functioned with volunteers only. At their request, a full-time director was hired. At this point, the SAAI started to emphasize activities that would establish real contacts between the immigrants and the Québécois. Each contact thus created was a further step in helping the new arrival’s integration, as well as helping the Québécois become more aware and understanding of the multicultural reality of Québec.

New services were offered. During afternoon get-togethers or meetings over coffee immigrants and Québécois had the opportunity not only to speak French but also to get to know each other better. Recreational activities, other than in a school or family setting, were planned for young people between the ages of 5 and 17. Thus, young immigrants and young Québécois were now able to take part together in sports, theatrics and other creative and recreational activities. Sewing workshops were set up to allow women who so wished to sew for themselves and their families. Limoilou had become a focal point for new arrivals.

In December 1997, a full-time employee was taken on. Activities for single persons were developed for both immigrants and Québécois. They were held outside the center and touched upon different aspects of life in Québec: history, traditions, work, artistic and cultural life, leisure activities, racism and so on. These outings provided a positive framework for getting to know each other, and were an important factor in furthering a spirit of support and solidarity among the participants.

A subsidy from the Regional Health and Social Services Board (RRSSS) played a major role in consolidating the pre- and post-natal courses set up in rather difficult circumstances a year earlier. In 1998, the post-natal courses went from one to five. In 1999 an agreement among the RRSSS (the regional health board), the CLSC (Centres locaux des services communautaires) and the SAAI was reached providing for courses to pregnant immigrant women to be given by the SAAI, a first in Québec.

In 1998, the SAAI, which had always been fighting poverty, set up an official program to do so. Thanks to another subsidy from the RRSSS a new full-time person was hired and a Shopping Group was formed. In 1999, nutrition workshops were added to the program, and in 2000 a community kitchen.

In 1999, thanks to a contract with the Ministry of Culural Communities and Immigration, a French course was begun to help immigrants with no knowledge of French learn the language and develop self-confidence in communicating in French.

In 2000, another subsidy from the same ministry provided the means to put in place the intercultural twinning program, and an experienced worker in this type of activity was hired. The purpose of the program is to bring together immigrants and Québécois so that these new arrivals might as soon as possible get to know their new milieu. Volunteers, chosen and trained by the SAAI, seek to familiarize immigrants with the ressential aspects of their new milieu, provide moral support, help them with certain activities and procedures, help them learn French, all of which often leads to new friendships.

In 2001, the Ministry of Cultural Communities and Immigration added a subsidy to help new arrivals have access to those health services to which they are entitled. This is a twofold program. There are group meetings to tell immigrants about health services and the particularities of the health system. As well, there is a program the purpose of which is to accompany them on an individual basis, when they first arrive, on public transportation, so that they get to know their way around and reach the point where they can avail themselves on their own of whatever health services they feel they need.

At the outset, house calls, psychological help and help in learning French made up a large part of SAAI activities. However, it soon became clear that establishing links with the Québécois deserved particular attention if, on the one hand, immigrants were to successfully integrate and, on the other, if the Québécois were to become more aware of the multi-ethnic nature of Québec. So too with respect to the autonomy of the individual and his or her capacity to take control and solve his or her problems. Thus, the SAAI has been placing increased emphasis on these aspects. More and more It seeks to involve participants in activities that encourage them to establish links with others by prenatal courses, activities to help them in their role as parents, as well as through the twinning program or the information sessions on the health system.