4.2 Description Of The Initiative

This initiative began in 1997, when a regional meeting was held among 48 community and institutional stakeholders in the Montérégie region on the general theme of developing strategies for food security in the region using partnership and community development strategies anchored in a health determinants approach. This activity was spearheaded by the Régie régionale de la santé et des services sociaux (the Regional Health Authority), with assistance from the Alliance communautaire pour la formation et le développement (ACFD), a local community-based organization. The resulting regional mobilization of partners around poverty and food security led to the implementation of seven multi-sectoral pilot sites for the experimentation of alternative resource structures for social and economic re-integration, stressing a shift from emergency food relief to sustainable self-sufficiency through individual and community empowerment. The seven pilot projects supported during this demonstration phase included community gardens, work placements (with appropriate psycho-social support) in food and agriculture settings for individuals re-integrating into the work force, buying clubs and training and development in food security issues, etc. These projects had the overall aim of improving quality of life, developing competencies and improving access to viable employment in domains targeted for economic development in the region.

The pilot projects were supported by a multi-sectoral group of partners, including the Régie régionale; Emploi et solidarité Québec through three different envelopes (anti-poverty fund, training and development bursaries and an intersectoral action fund); Agriculture Canada through the Canadian Rural Partnership; Ministère de l'éducation du Québec; the Université de Montréal; and several local CLSCs. Health Canada's role in the project was to support a participatory evaluation of the pilot sites in the Montérégie region through the Population Health Fund. Health Canada representatives also participated in the committees overseeing both this project and the provincially funded evaluation research project, described below.

The Montérégie initiative is one among four being studied in a major research program funded by the Conseil québécois de la recherche sociale (CQRS) from November 1998 to April 2001. This study is to examine the effects of alternative food security practices at three levels: on participating individuals, on participating groups and on their communities, with the overall goal of developing knowledge and improving practice and access to food security in both rural and urban regions.

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