Federal MPs Élisabeth Brière and Marie-Claude Bibeau met with over 20 community representatives in the region on Tuesday to get the pulse on their needs and see how the Canadian government can support them.

The organizations represented at this virtual meeting, such as Community Development Corporations (CDC) and Volunteer Action Centers (CAB), as well as food aid organizations, organizations for victims of domestic violence, young people, families, and seniors, provide essential services to vulnerable populations in our communities all year round. 

Growing distress and increase needs on the ground, burnout and mental health issues as well as access to human and financial resources are among the fundamental challenges that the pandemic has exacerbated.  To cope with this, community sector players must double their creativity to innovate in funding and to adapt their services. 

Since last May, Centraide Estrie has supported 73 projects for a total amount of $ 1,096,362, thanks to the Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF). This fund helps organizations provide essential services to vulnerable people during the pandemic. The ECSF also helped with deploying the 2-1-1 information and local referral community service. We are very grateful for the confidence shown by the Government of Canada and we thank them for allowing us to keep our communities strong.” says Marie-Hélène Wolfe, Executive Director of Centraide Estrie. 

Regular and emergency financial assistance, such as the $ 2 million from ECSF in Estrie or the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS), has acted as a "life buoy" for organizations. The participants asked for the continuation of these programs and thanked the two federal MPs for their follow-ups and moral support, as a real "breath of fresh air" throughout the pandemic. 

“Sherbrooke’s community workers are doing essential front-line work in our fight against the pandemic. While I have been in close contact with these key players of our community since last March, I found it important, during the second wave of the pandemic, to maintain this link and ensure that our government's measures in place to cope with the crisis are adapted to the reality on the ground. I wanted to reassure the organizations: we have been there for you with important measures, we are there for you now and we are going to pass true this, all together. Thank you for your commitment to our community!’’ stated Élisabeth Brière, parliamentary secretary and Sherbrooke MP. 

“These regular conversations with leaders in our community are very important so that we can ensure the appropriate recommendations are taken into account when aid programs are developed. These community workers are real heroes and it’s important that we be there to support them” commented Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Compton-Stanstead MP.