When will there be paid internships in psychoeducation, social work, nursing and so many other predominantly female fields? After providing 920 hours of free work to the state during her internship, Naïmé Daoust-Zidane, who studies psychoeducation, asks the question and continues the fight with other young people.
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Press conferences, letters to the media, actions in the National Assembly: under the leadership of the Students’ Union of Quebec, various student associations are back in action this fall and are calling once and for all for compulsory internships to be paid.
Naïmé Daoust-Zidane notes that for the mandatory 360-hour high school internships, “the vast majority of students are referred to youth centers for reduction.” [les effets de] Labor shortage.
She did this in 2020, working mostly evenings and weekends, “during times when shifts are difficult [pourvus] “.
At the master’s level, she continues, “we are completely autonomous. The 560 hours of internship that we then have to complete represent 95% of the hours in which we work independently.”
We create assessments and intervention plans. We come to relieve the system.
Naïmé Daoust-Zidane, psychoeducation student
Can we assume that the internships in question are unpaid because they are predominantly carried out in the public system? “My sister, who studied industrial engineering, did her internship in the public sector at CHUM. She earned $22 an hour,” responds Ms. Daoust-Zidane.
“Psychoeducation is a program that is very appealing to women,” she continues. Some are mothers, some are going back to school. But whatever our situation, we have bills to pay. »
Before her internships, Naïmé Daoust-Zidane had a part-time job alongside her studies. This was not possible during the internship.
Fields with strong female dominance
That’s all behind her. He completed his internships on a voluntary basis. If she continues to get involved, it is primarily because “it is an important issue for women.”
The National Assembly recognized this in March. The motion submitted by PQ MP Pascal Bérubé (99 votes in favour, no votes against, no abstentions) stipulates, among other things, that the National Assembly takes note of the demands of students “who denounce the non-remuneration of several internships in the public sector” , which she “shares her observation that these unpaid internships mainly concern predominantly female professions” and that she “calls on the government to recognize the employee status of student interns in the public sector.”
The Perspective Québec scholarship, launched in 2021 by the Legault government, offers students $2,500 per session, “but it is far from enough to cover a student’s basic needs at university,” argues Marie -Estelle in a letter to La Presse Quennevile, founding member of the Internship Compensation Committee at the University of Montreal, as well as future psychoeducators Alexanne Poulin, Mélika Saïdane and Francis Poisson.
The scholarship barely covers “tuition fees.” Where to put the rent? Traveling and grocery shopping. And this is without taking into account the inflation we are currently experiencing in Quebec,” the letter said.
Jacob Fontaine, vice president of external affairs for the University of Sherbrooke Students’ Union, claims that “some people have to go into debt without compensation to complete their internship.” Given the rising cost of living, we will never be able to solve the labor shortage if people drop out or delay because they do not have the financial means to complete their studies.”
Annabelle Berthiaume, assistant professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Sherbrooke, believes that “interns with education, health and social care workers share a lack of recognition for their work, a work of care or caring, which has been very pronounced in the past .” socially assigned to women. That’s the crux of the matter.”
“The demand for remuneration for internships is therefore a demand for recognition of this caring work in which thousands of interns in Quebec take part and which deserves remuneration,” emphasizes Ms. Berthiaume. A salary would, in the vast majority, allow these students greater financial autonomy from their families, their spouses and, given their debt, even the banks. »
Where does the government stand on this issue? Simon Savignac, press secretary in the office of the Minister of Higher Education, responds that Minister Pascale Déry “is committed to paying for certain full-time internships in the public sector. Different scenarios are currently being examined, we will approach things in turn.”
A horizon was not specified.
What there is to know
Since 2016, teaching and health students have been fighting to pay for their compulsory internships, some of which last several hundred hours.
That mobilization has led Quebec to create scholarships that remain largely inadequate in the eyes of young people resuming the fight this fall, while the cost of living is skyrocketing.
Supported by a corresponding motion from the National Assembly, the students are demanding real remuneration for these internships in areas with clear female dominance.