“Hehe, it’s your project!” “It looks like us!” “We experienced that! »
Updated yesterday at 7:00am.
When they saw the trailer for Louise Archambault’s latest film, Time for a Summer, a handful of marginalized people were particularly affected. With good reason: 10 years ago they too had the opportunity to spend unforgettable and extraordinary holidays.
Le temps d’unété, in cinemas since Friday, tells the seemingly eccentric story of a debt-ridden priest who decides to spend the summer holidays with a group of homeless people on a riverside property he has just inherited.
The story seems far-fetched, yet community organizer Nancie Martineau, with the same desire to “offer dreams” as Patrice Robitaille in the film, took a dozen homeless people to Cuba for a few days. Firmly believing that travel changes lives, she did it again the following year in Morocco, then Ecuador and finally Costa Rica.
“We evolve according to our environment,” explains the adventurer in an interview with Gatineau. If you take these people out of their daily lives and send them somewhere else, they can ask themselves: Where am I going? Far from their orientation, they can “compare the misery,” as she puts it. And that generates “clicks”, she is convinced.
To make her project a reality, Nancie Martineau worked tirelessly with her group of volunteers, who were as colorful as they were skinned. For months they organized fundraisers, sold hot dogs and, most importantly, put aside part of their welfare to make this unexpected dream come true.
And then ? “It gave me back my taste in life,” confirms Suzanne Villeneuve, who went through prostitution, drug addiction and even prison before flying to Cuba in 2012 (her first trip in a series of three). “Phew, I’ve come a long way since then!” […] The journey, my god! It showed me so much how to appreciate what you have! […] It opened my eyes! […] I have seen people who were not satisfied with anything! […] I realized that there was something else in life that I was worth and that I too can dream. For this you have to make decisions: change your lifestyle and put your priorities in the right place! She knows something about this because she had to quit smoking to save money. “And I haven’t smoked since! »
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY NANCIE MARTINEAU
The group on a trip to Morocco with Nancie Martineau and other volunteers
That’s not all: the ex-prostitute is no longer living on welfare, works part-time in home care and has forged close relationships with several new travelers she met during those trips abroad. They even have plans to watch Louise Archambault’s film “en gang” next week.
To be too good to be true ? “You have to experience it to believe it,” replies Nancie Martineau, who has observed “incredible changes in behavior” while traveling. “People were fine. I was dealing with other people! Admittedly, some have sadly disappeared since then, but others, including Suzanne Villeneuve, have taken control of themselves.
PHOTO ETIENNE RANGER, LE LAW ARCHIVES
In this photo from 2012, after the trip to Cuba, before leaving for Morocco: in front the participants Suzanne Villeneuve and Georges Lévesque and the organizer Nancie Martineau. In the center the volunteers Véronic St-Pierre, Gaétan Lavoie and Geneviève Rollin. Above, participants Ronald Jean and Marie Richard and volunteer Francine Rondeau.
Nonetheless, Nancie Martineau recalls, the affair made waves at the time, with several commentators gloomy-eyed at these welfare recipients taking a trip south. Nancie Martineau has a slightly bitter memory. “It’s suddenly cute because it’s in the cinema. It’s fiction. But when we do it in real life, the volunteer hatches with a big heart, then we see a lot of the “not in my backyard” phenomenon…”
Note that an impressive documentary was being produced at the time by Alexandre Desjardins, tracing the experience (and the words of his critics).
It also happens in Oka
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY PAS DE LA RUE
The organization PAS de la rue organizes “recreational stays” on the Juliette-Huot estate in Oka, owned by the Petits Frères.
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY PAS DE LA RUE
The proud participants in front of the property in Oka
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY PAS DE LA RUE
Like the characters in the film Time for a Summer, participants experience a holiday here.
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY PAS DE LA RUE
“I was struck by the bonds of friendship that have developed over time,” testifies Bernard Bazouamon, President of the PAS de la rue.
1/4
The organization PAS de la rue, which helps people over the age of 55 who are homeless or in a precarious situation, has also been organizing two weeks of “rest” a year at the Domaine Juliette-Huot in Oka for 10 years. , owned by the Little Brothers. After a three-year break, a dozen participants are to stay there again in the fall. “It’s a fantastic place,” says Bernard Bazouamon, administrator of the PAS de la rue CA. And it allows participants to change their minds and build relationships. » The idea of the stay arose after a one-day activity. “We started with a one-day picnic and saw bonds being made,” he recalls. We saw the tension ease and we started to think: And if we isolated these people from the aggressiveness of the city, maybe that would be beneficial on a mental level? Since then he has only seen good things in the initiative. While there are sometimes concerns about “discipline,” he concedes, “the benefits are tremendous.” […] I’ve noticed friendships that have formed over time. People’s attitudes have also changed: after their return, they are fresher and more open to the workers. Attitudes are changing radically.”