Three weeks before the possible overnight closure of the interligne listening service, the spokesman for the organization that helps the LGBTQ+ community expressed the urgency of saving this listening line, considered “crucial” to avoid loss of life.
• Also read: While the government sleeps, Interligne saves lives
“Having used these services several times in the past, I know how much they have changed my life, they saved my life,” said actress and author Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay at the start of the game.
The one who also acts as spokeswoman for Interligne feels threatened by this sword of Damocles.
“It’s critical that this service doesn’t shut down at night because we don’t choose the moment when we get into trouble,” she pounded. “We don’t have any distractions like visiting friends, work or whatever, we’re really alone at night.”
The organization, formerly known as Gai Listening, was forced to announce last September that it could not maintain its nighttime resources for lack of funds unless Quebec intervened.
However, the night service was never funded by the government, instead benefiting from an investment by the City of Montreal.
“Now that the funding with the city has been finalized, we had entered talks with the government a year before the end in hopes that someone would take over and we have had no response from them,” said Interligne’s chief executive. Pascal Vaillancourt.
PHOTO COURTESY/ALEX PAILLON
Faced with labor shortages and uncompetitive salaries, the company fears service quality will be lost. “That’s why we could end up deciding to close the night service,” he said.
A dialogue for renewal
With the return of Lionel Carmant as Minister for Social Services, the Director hopes to be able to pick up the dialogue where it left off, as the donations received will not be enough to save the resource.
“We still have hope, we believe the government has not ignored us on purpose,” Mr Vaillancourt said.
For its part, the Ministry assured that on August 11 it had received the application for improvement under the Support Program for Community Organizations.
“Response to your request for support for the 2022-2023 global mission will be received by the organization in the coming weeks,” the spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Resources said in an email to the QMI Agency for Social Services. Robert Maranda.
Mental Health Recognition
In addition to funding the night shift, Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay would like the organization to be recognized as a mental health association.
“Right now, we are viewed as an organization that helps with everything related to sexual identity and gender diversity while pursuing our calling […]is to give support [sur le plan] mental health,” she said.
The ministry has confirmed that Interligne’s main mission is “sexual orientation and identity”. “In that sense, since their primary mission is to provide services to members of the LGBTQ+ community, it is not primarily about mental health services,” said Mr. Maranda.
“We must recognize the organization as a psychiatric institution because the funding will follow,” the spokesman argued.
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