Ibtissem T. & Hechmi K.

On a sunny Saturday in August, I noted that there were large tents and animation in the Henri-Julien Park. This park being, to my knowledge, mainly used for sports, I figured it was an event related to sports.

To my surprise, it was rather the first edition of the Tunisian Jasmine Festival. Not wanting to point my camera at the crowd, I looked around for someone who would agree to talk to me. I saw a lady walking at an energetic pace with her identity card hanging from a ribbon around her neck. By chance, it turned out to be one of the organizers of the festival, Ibtissem. I quickly took some photos of her and asked for her coordinates. She obviously had a thousand other things to do that day.

When she contacted me a few days later, she said that the direction of the Festival was a bit like that of Québec Solidaire: that is to say, that it has two official spokespersons. In mid-September, I thus met Ibtissem and Hechmi, the two co-directors, in a café on Fleury Street.

If they are both natives of Tunisia, their immigration journeys differ somewhat. Ibtissem was born in Tunis, a great city on the Mediterranean and capital of Tunisia. Although she studied at university-level in Tunis, she had to re-do part of her studies when she arrived here with her husband. Holding a Bachelor degree from UQAM and a Master’s degree in biotechnology from McGill, she now works in the field of biopharmaceutical research.

Hechmi, for his part, arrived in Canada as a Fellow of the Tunisian government. Holder of a Masters and a PhD in Telecommunications from the Institut National de recherche scientifique (INRS), he is pursuing a career in the telecommunications industry. He is originally from Tataouine in the south of the country, at the boundaries of the Sahara. He informed me that this city was famous for having provided the natural scenery of Luke Skywalker’s hometown in the first films of the Star Wars series.

Before leading the organization team of the Tunisian Jasmine Festival, they created the Association of Tunisians in the Americas, a little over a year ago with a handful of people. The common will of this group is to celebrate the democratic progresses in Tunisia and to help ensure their permanency, while bringing together all Tunisians of Montreal. Ibtissem is convinced that a new page has been turned for the Tunisian diaspora since the spring 2011 events. Another of their goals is to get the people here to know better the traditionally peaceful culture of their country.

One of the first activities of the Association was a screening of the film "Le conflit", a fiction about the 23 years of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, directed by Moncef Barbouch, a film-maker in exile in Canada for many years. This presentation at the Centre Émile-Legault, in the Borough of St-Laurent, was an encouraging success.

It was not until March that the small group decided to organize a festival. They are grateful to the staff of the Bureau des Festivals et des Évènements culturels of the city of Montreal, which reinforced their idea that the project was feasible in such a short time and suggested the Henri Julien Park for its size and its proximity to a metro station. Like other notable sponsors, the city has also contributed financially to its presentation.

Held on August 29, the first edition was a great success with over 8000 visitors. Kathleen Weil, Minister of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion and several local politicians were keen to be present. The organizers were successful in bringing visibility to the festival and seeking the necessary resources. Since they all have very demanding jobs, it is a sign that they are well rooted in Montreal’s society and have a strong social network.

Incidentally, they were able to recruit many volunteers among Tunisians and other North Africans, as well as within the Latin American community and among Quebecers. In fact, the last meeting remaining on their list to appropriately conclude this first edition is the volunteer recognition evening.

For next year’s edition, they both expressed the wish to reach a diverse audience and to expand the cultural program to include, for example, a visual arts’ component. 

As committee members are not from the artistic world, I leave you with this last wish on their part: in 2016, the festival would be happy to present multicultural musical groups including one or more Tunisian members. If you know of such music bands, tell them to get in touch with the festival team!

Ibtissem, to the left

Ibtissem, to the left

Hechmi, to the right

Miguel A.

Miguel is the directing soul and a founder of the Scalabrini Centre for Refugees and Immigrants. As people using it today, he arrived in the mid-80s in Québec City, in the St. Sacrement district, as a refugee. This was not however his first contact with Canada. He had participated in a student exchange program sponsored by Canada World Youth in 1975. In his six-month visit, he got to stay in Ottawa, Toronto and Drummondville.

He arrived with his wife, pregnant with a boy later born in Quebec, and his two older sons. The first thing he did upon his arrival was to learn French at the local COFI. As he had served as a social worker in El Salvador, he was then able to act as an interpreter from Spanish to French for the benefit of newcomers. Well integrated in the community, he became director of the Centre Multiethnique de Québec, then known as the Fraternité Multiculturelle de Québec.

Meanwhile, other members of his and his wife’s families joined them in Quebec, settling, however, in Montreal. Miguel and his family eventually followed them here. Native from the main port city of Salvador, Acajutla, he had experience with trade and customs matters. This allowed him to find work in Montréal as director of imports for an organization that wanted to develop a fair trade coffee business with Haitians. The company unfortunately did not survive long. After studying at HEC, he worked at Desjardins Group in accounting for some years.

The family made a detour by Vancouver after a restructuration that cost him his job. He worked there as director of the Hispanic Community Center. The call of the family, however, brought them all back to Montreal in the early 2000s.

Upon his return, he worked as a volunteer at the church of Our Lady of Pompeii on Sauvé Street at the corner of St-Michel. Initially, he received two days a week refugees and immigrants of Hispanic, Haitian and African origins who were asking for help from the parish to get through the immigration process. The Scalabrini Missionaries, a religious order founded by Giovanni Baptista Scalabrini, father of migrants, realized that the needs were growing quickly. They consequently bought St-Rita church to turn it into a secular and independent help center. The first months were devoted to refreshing this unused church that was in great need of care.

Miguel then became director of a small but determined team that animated, with a group of volunteers, this non-profit organization. He is currently helped by two full-time staff members, Mélissa and Edilse. At first, the center offered accommodation to men in four rooms. However, it was quickly apparent that there was a greater lack of resources for women. Today, the center has ten rooms reserved for women. Offering legal services, translation services and a small thrift store to newcomers, the center has also opened its doors to the surrounding community. It’s computer room is open to the public and language courses are offered to all adults. Recreational activities are also given there in collaboration with the Loisirs Sophie-Barat. This fall, there are English classes for children under 5 years, ballet classes and theater for school kids and Zumba for teens. The old parish hall can be rented. The Fernand-Seguin school is using these premises for after school homework assistance.

The Scalabrini Centre for Immigrant and Refugee is among the partners who are preparing to host Syrian refugees in Montreal. At the time of our meeting, Miguel had just participated in meetings on the subject, involving the concerned Minister, social organizations and religious communities.

Although there are no more Masses, except for some special occasions, the church is open to all for prayer. A small chapel, in which a group of Syrians already meets weekly, is dedicated to the cult of St. Rita, Saint of the Impossible and patron of desperate causes.

Most of Miguel’s family is now Quebec and becoming increasingly multicultural with of his son’s life partners. When I asked him if he sometimes thought of returning to Salvador, he replied “No I would feel as an immigrant in my own country. I prefer to stay at home in Québec”.

Miguel in the St-Rita Scalabrini church, 655 Sauriol Street East

Miguel in the St-Rita Scalabrini church, 655 Sauriol Street East

Philippe R. & Christiane D.

If you have already read some texts on this blog, you will have noticed that I often approach strangers in public places. In the case of Philippe and Christiane however, I contacted them directly. I wanted to meet this couple which carries on its shoulders a community newspaper named journaldesvoisins.com with a team composed of neighborhood residents. This newspaper became in no time an essential media given the wealth of information it offers on everything that happens in Ahuntsic-Cartierville. They graciously agreed to meet me, simply asking that Juanito, their Golden Retriever and the mascot of the Journal, be included in the photos. The meeting took place in their backyard, with a few interruptions during the passage of airplanes. The nuisance caused by the noise and night traffic of aircrafts over the borough is a cause that they particularly take to heart.

Philippe and Christiane have met at Collège André-Grasset, where he studied in Administrative Sciences and she, in Literature. Both spouses were born in Montreal. Members of their families had already been living in Ahuntsic for several years. In university, Christiane chose political science, while dreaming of becoming a journalist. For his part, Philippe did his Bachelor of Commerce at Concordia University, where he was photo editor of the student newspaper "The Georgian".

Philippe has long worked in banking institutions, mostly holding positions related to information technologies. In addition to his job, he has created a company that buys and sells stamps. He is proud to offer, out of its profits, a significant discount on several charitable organizations’ postage fees.

Christiane experienced more detours in her professional route. Rather than undertaking a journalism career upon graduating from university, she chose to take jobs offering a better work-family balance. Although the couple has four children - and now a granddaughter - it must be said that Christiane did not have the profile of a housewife.

While the children were young, one of her first jobs in a school board in Sorel made the family decide to reside in St-Bruno. As Philippe worked in Montreal and as the kids were very active, they constantly had to drive the kids around, on top of commuting to work. It is probably at this time that Philippe became an ardent supporter of cycling and active transportation! When Christiane was able to find a job in town, the family settled for good in Ahuntsic.

While she was employed in communications in the health network, Christiane was offered a severance package because of the elimination of her position. This trick of fate fortunately turned into an opportunity for her. It allowed her to spend a few months on personal projects and gave her the boost needed to become an independent journalist.

At first, editing and writing tasks for a large bank paid the bread and butter, but she was spending much more time working in journalism. She has written on a variety of subjects, ranging from neighborhood information to major social issues. She was also a pioneer of the Association des journalistes indépendants du Québec (AJIQ), of which she was vice-president at some point. Given Christiane’s busy schedule, Philip, for his part, was a pioneer of parental leave, taking advantage of every progress in work-family reconciliation measures.

Ahuntsic residents for more than twenty-five years, the couple has devoted much energy to their passions and to several community organizations. For example, Philippe has been a Scoutmaster for at least twenty years. It was also he who called me back one day in response to a request for information to the local birding club about a public group outing.

Their Journal des voisins, a non-profit organization (NPO), meets a real need in the community. Both are involved full time today in the organization, Christiane as chief editor and Philippe as publisher, webmaster and photographer, in addition to supporting the media advisor and treasurer. In all, nearly 20 people contribute regularly or occasionally to this independent media published in two formats. The first, a webpage of local news, is posted on-line every Friday. The second, a paper version published every two months, is now delivered free of charge to nearly 35,000 doors.

The team has also received recognition from its peers by winning several awards from the Association des médias écrits communautaires du Québec (AMECQ). However, the greatest compliment comes from their media competitor, which had to improve the content of its local edition since their arrival!

Want to know more? Go to http://www.journaldesvoisins.com/

Philippe & Christiane