A good part of the scenario of WatatatowTélépom Jeunesse from the 1990s, revolved around the youth houses. Where are they today? Do they still exist? Oh, yes, and they may be more central than ever in the lives of thousands of young people on which a benevolent and protective look is placed.
It is 10 a.m., and for two hours already, a dozen adolescents are busy behind the stoves. The paste sausages and the cheese fondants will reach on the large table of food the skewers of fresh fruit and hot desserts. Full of food, good music: it’s party day at the Maison des Jeunes l’espaulier, in Lachine, where we inaugurate, in the basement, collective kitchens.
“At the beginning, they were going a little strong on salt, you are never sure that it will be very good, but it’s so beautiful to see them weave links and work as a team!” “Lances laughing Jordy Bélance, one of the locals.
Photo Édouard Desroches, the press
It is the inauguration day of the collective cuisine of the Maison des Jeunes l’Ascalier, in Lachine.
In accordance with the philosophy of the youth houses, adolescents were consulted from the start in the design of the new kitchen, funded by Metro grocery stores and with the collaboration of Quebec’s food banks.
“A chef works here during the day and the elders of the neighborhood come to transmit their know-how and their recipes,” explains Christelle Onomo Lopes, director general of the Maison des Jeunes de Lachine. We had young people who did not even know how to peel an apple! They also teach them to manage the grocery store, to eat using the leftovers well. »»
Photo Édouard Desroches, the press
Christelle Onomo Lopes, Managing Director of the Maison des Jeunes l’Escalier, in Lachine
They learn to cook to become autonomous, but in the bend, explains Mme Onomo Lopes, some vocations spring up. Some are planning to make it a job and this kitchen – which has been used for a few months, before the official inauguration – offers them a first work experience.
From the library … to the Olympic Games
One of the most comfortable in the kitchen is AFI Adjavon. Aged 18, she arrived in Quebec from Togo at the very end of autumn 2021. The first winter, she said, she went to school and nowhere else. Paralyzed by winter. And at school, “I was just going to the library, I was shy! »»
It was Wilfried Edou, who frequented the same secondary school as she, who suggested that he go to the house of young people where he himself, very involved, was entrusted with the role of coordinator of sports programs.
“The welcome I received was great. At the Maison des Jeunes de Lachine, I found a family, ”says AFI today.
And that’s how it is … that she went to the Paris Olympic Games, launches AFI.
At the Olympic Games?
Photo Édouard Desroches, the press
AFI Adjavob and Wilfried Edou, from the Maison des Jeunes l’Escalier, in Lachine
The director, Christelle Onomo Lopes, had not said anything to the young people. Coming from a family of athletes and determined to move young people whom they find really too inactive, she pushed them to participate in Olympiads by telling them that the big winners of competition would win “a big, big trick”.
They could not have imagined how very this thing was going to be very big: a trip to Paris to attend the Olympic Games last year.
“I am from France, I have a big network there and I put everyone to use. We found sponsors, then cheaper tickets for basketball, soccer and boxing competitions, we reserved youth hostels a stone’s throw from the Bastille… ”, explains Mme Onomo Lopes.
Funding campaigns with a big kicks of lemonade and hot dogs have done the rest.
And this is how eight young people flew to Paris.
Afja Adjavon had never been there. And more than the city, what moved it is to attend the medal ceremony. “It was so touching!” I cried! »»
The Montreal-North Youth House, like a breathing
The Montreal-North Youth House is also very busy: around 200 young people spend it in the year, with a hard core of 40 young people who come on a very regular basis.
We come there to “chill” – there are sofas, an electric piano, computers, a stationary bike, games of all kinds – to spend time between young people, to be helped in your homework. “Yesterday, a mother went to thank me in person so much she was happy with the success of her daughter, it was touching,” says Sheilla Fortuné, director of the Montreal-North Youth House.
Photo Édouard Desroches, the press
La Maison des Jeunes L’Opere, in Montreal-Nord
“We receive a lot of recognition from young people and their parents. They are helped with grammar, math, their oral presentations, ”she says.
As many recent immigrants live in the neighborhood, “there is also a helping hand to parents and young people with school forms of all kinds,” notes Jasmyne Pierre-Blanc, coordinator and psychosocial speaker.
Marie Oulai, 19, talks about the place as a real lifeline. Arriving from Côte d’Ivoire with her mother two years ago, she was bored at home. And she was angry, she said. “I suffered from the absence of my father, who remained in Côte d’Ivoire. I couldn’t even say goodbye to him when we left, he was in another city. »»
Photo Édouard Desroches, the press
Marie Oulai, a young person who frequents the Maison des Jeunes L’Opea, in Montreal-Nord
At the Youth House, she said, she is the big kitchen pro. She also discovered the slam there, who helped her hunt her sadness, she said. “I came here every day, every season, it was an escape for me. It was here, too, that I touched painting for the first time! »»
In Lachine as in Montreal-Nord, all kinds of workshops are offered to young people: on intimidation, sexual exploitation, social networks, self-confidence, hygiene, etc.
Jasmyne Pierre-Blanc, coordinator, says he is touched by the journey of each young person. “I come from Montreal-Nord myself. I was born here, Haitian parents, I experienced what they are going through and the journey of each really touches me. For them, our youth house is their second house. »»
« Un filet social important »
Quebec has a total of 340 youth houses. “In the eyes of the government, we are considered to be part of the first line, as an important social net,” notes Nicholas Legault, director general of the grouping of the Maisons des Jeunes du Québec (RMJQ), which represents the majority of them.
The concept is that they look like real houses, he notes. A large family room, kitchen, sofas … “It is also the place where young people learn democracy. Young people are part of the boards of directors, they participate in decision -making. They have a voice in the chapter on the activities to be done or on the regulations to be implemented in their youth homes. »»
As in school, as in parks, some bad words are released, sometimes insults are made, we also see some skirmishes, often due to “cultural conflicts”, observes Mr. Legault.
But it is a place where we have the young people, kindly, “where we ask them how their day went, if they resolved the problem they had the previous week”.
Mr. Legault does not hide that small miracles are done there, with very little money. “On average, young people must deal with a budget of $ 175,000 per year. »»
