Our projects
Our projects are an opportunity to explore and take action on feminist issues that are considered priorities by our member organisations, which work directly with women in the region.
For safe party spaces is a pilot project designed to help festive venues in the region implement effective prevention measures for sexual assault or involuntary intoxication. It’s important to remember that these crimes can be exacerbated in festive contexts.
The Table de concertation des groupes de femmes de la Gaspésie et des Îles-de-la-Madeleine and its partners have combined their expertise to set up the Festif & Safe pilot project for summer 2023.
This project is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Fonds régions et ruralité of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
L’égalité, une responsabilité à partager is a capacity-building initiative funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada. It aims to develop effective and harmonious collaboration and partnerships, both with members of the Table and with external organisations in the area, so we can combine our efforts to achieve equality.
Between 2019 and 2023, thanks to the funding granted, we carried out a process to strengthen our associative and democratic life, drew up a knowledge transfer and organisational memory maintenance plan, redesigned our main website, organised the Regional Forum on the Status of Women, and drew up a 2023-2026 strategic plan.
This project is made possible by the financial support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.
In 2016, two regional bodies working on student retention, Réseau réussite Montréal and Complice – Persévérance scolaire Gaspésie-Les Îles, initiated a project in partnership with the Table de concertation des groupes de femmes de la Gaspésie et des Îles-de-la-Madeleine. The aim of the project, Persévérer dans l’égalité (Egalitarian perseverance), was to draw up an inventory of knowledge relating to the school perseverance of girls and boys and to propose the implementation of planning tools, intervention practices and actions that take into account equality between women and men in the school context. The project sought to prevent the formation and internalisation of sexual stereotypes, to promote the educational success of both girls and boys using an approach adapted to their different social realities, to foster egalitarian relationships and to target disadvantaged areas where parents have less schooling and young people, both girls and boys, have high drop-out rates. This project led to the production and testing of the Egalitarian perseverance guide.
Subsequently, The Table wanted to improve the approach to enable practitioners to genuinely integrate these findings into their educational practices and develop courses of action adapted to the realities of different educational settings, from early childhood to college. To this end, the Teaching equality website was created. It brings together tools and ideas for action specific to each school level. The tools are adapted to the various contexts encountered in Gaspésie and on the Magdalen Islands, namely those of the Francophone, Anglophone and Mi’gmaq communities.
Between 2019 and 2023, dozens of schools in Gaspésie and on the Magdalen Islands received training and support, in French and English, so that their staff can begin to put into practice certain approaches to deconstructing gender stereotypes, both in their teaching practices and with their pupils.
This project was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Gouvernement du Québec and the Fondation Solstice.
The aim of the situation report is to document the major issues of concern to the Table de concertation des groupes de femmes de la Gaspésie et des Îles-de-la-Madeleine and to provide partners and stakeholders with an information base from which to plan actions to improve the living conditions of women in the region and move towards genuine equality for all. The document contains qualitative and quantitative data presented under five main headings and suggests a number of courses of action for each. These issues are the presence of women in politics, violence, economic autonomy, health and education.
It highlights persistent inequalities and socio-economic gaps between women and men, points to a number of specific problems and reminds us of the importance of using analysis processes that take into account the distinct effects of policies, programs and measures on all citizens, to ensure that no one is excluded from actions aimed at regional development.
This project was made possible thanks to the financial participation of the Gouvernement du Québec.
Situation report on the status of women (fr – available soon in english) See the LGBTQ+ infography (fr)Visit the Zero places website (fr)
Background
The committee was first set up in 1997 and has worked closely with the health and social services network for nearly 15 years. Between 1998 and 2014, the advisory committee submitted 4 opinions: a proposal for the regional organisation of the Québec breast cancer screening program (1998); an opinion on the impact of the shift to ambulatory care on women (2000); an opinion on women and their mental health (2002) and an opinion on the hypersexualisation of girls and young women (2010).
The committee was disbanded when the regional board became an integrated centre in March 2015. However, the organisations that sat on it have always refused to see this forum disappear. They maintained a link that enabled them to keep mobilising, making it easier for the committee to be re-established in 2019.
New women’s health committee
In 2017 and 2018, at the initiative of the Table de concertation des groupes de femmes de la Gaspésie et des Îles-de-la-Madeleine, a number of brainstorming meetings were held to reignite consultation on women’s health in the region. Committee members and the public health department worked together to re-establish a diversified and inclusive women’s health committee, set priorities for action and develop its operating framework.
In April 2019, the first meeting of the expanded women’s health committee was held in Gaspé. The committee then drew up an action plan and sought to approach the two integrated health and social services centres with a view to working together more effectively and being heard on its concerns.
2019-2023 action plan
The committee became an official advisory committee to the CISSS de la Gaspésie, and is currently working to become one for the CISSS des Îles-de-la-Madeleine.
Perinatal issues were brought to the fore, with the creation of working sub-committees that produced the following publications:
- Update on the implementation of midwifery services in the GÎM;
- Access to the abortion pill in Gaspésie and on the Magdalen Islands;
- Obstetric intelligence monitoring tool; and
- Training curriculum for CISSS de la Gaspésie staff.
2022-2025 action plan
In the latest action plan, the members have chosen to work on issues relating to women’s mental health, particularly that of kinship caregivers. They have highlighted the importance of improving the experience of women in the network. For instance, the committee is working on a portrait of systemic racism in the region. The dissemination of the abortion campaign also remains a key priority.
The advisory committee is funded by the Gouvernement du Québec.