Our projects
Our difference is your strength
List of projects
InterAidance Service
Creation and operationalization of InterAidance resources since August 2020, funded by the Foundation of Greater Montreal, Fonds Collectif Femmes Action Montréal (FGM), Secrétariat à la condition Fémine (SCF), in partnership with organizations, such as INDCP; COCON; MESV, University of Ottawa School of Social Work, and the Alliance des Maisons d'hébergement. The service helps break the isolation during the COVID19 pandemic and offers emergency support, accompaniment and psychosocial support to people with disabilities and survivors of violence .
Project Committee for Action and Training for Gender Equality
Funded by the Canadian Women's Foundation and implemented in partnership with INDCP. The Project Committee for Action and Training for Gender Equality by the Canadian Women's Foundation and implemented in partnership with INDCP. The project aims to build the capacity of people with disabilities (PWDs) to better access strategic information to participate in the decision-making process, to be better equipped for active participation in inclusive and joint consultation tables, to better prepare for NPO administration, and to sit on a board of directors. The idea is also to have a bank of candidates for future participation on NPO boards.
Deployment of the project began in October 2022 with the development of the detailed action plan, the establishment of the project team and the recruitment of trainers. The project plans to organize a series of training workshops from February to April 2023 on the Policy, essential concepts and approach, terminology in the field of disability and inclusion; inclusive and parity governance, gender equality and EDI, and equity, diversity, and inclusion and cultural safety. An awareness campaign is also planned for March 2023 to cover International Women's Rights Day.
Pantry Sentries
Having received funding under the Canadian Healthy Communities Fund's call for projects, the INÉÉI-PSH, in collaboration with various partners, including Santropol Roulant and Def Phy Sans limite, carried out an initiative led by people with disabilities, focusing on community action and citizen PairAidance, with a view to improving the autonomy and food security of people in vulnerable situations, particularly people with disabilities.
Les Sentinelles du garde-manger (SDGM), un projet qui était d’une durée de 30 semaines, avaient débuté en novembre 2021.
In collaboration with various partners, including Santropol Roulant and Def Phy Sans limite, the First Nations Human Resources Development Commission of Quebec, we presented an initiative led by people with disabilities (PWD), based on community action and citizen PairAidance, with a view to improving the autonomy and food security of people in vulnerable situations, particularly PWD.
More specifically, the Pantry Sentries were designed to meet the crying need for referrals and support in connection with food aid, which had been directed to the INÉÉI-PSH's InterAidance service since the start of the pandemic.
Technosocial Innovation Project with Université de Montréal
Action-research partnership
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the intensification of violence against women and the growing need for support from public services and organizations, we have had to review our ways of reaching the women and caregivers we serve. We have had to innovate and sometimes adapt. Through the InterAidance service, we had developed our approaches, our training courses and our online support-counseling services. We also became aware of new training needs expressed by our clientele, with regard to violence against women with disabilities (FSH).
As a result, we have developed a partnership with the Université de Montréal's School of Rehabilitation, and more specifically with Dr. Martine Lévesque and her research team, thanks to financial support from the Université de Montréal's Program to Support Innovative Technosocial Projects. This partnership is an ongoing project designed to strengthen our expertise and our ability to reach as many stakeholders and professionals as possible. In particular, this project will enable us to develop new training content specific to types of disability in women, as well as expand our skills and expertise with information technologies in support of awareness-raising, experiential knowledge-sharing and pedagogy.
Feminist community response to eliminate gender-based violence
Pan-Canadian partnership (IRIS)
This Canada-wide project, carried out in partnership with the Institute for Research on Inclusion and Society (IRIS), involves setting up a solidarity network bringing together marginalized groups, including Aboriginal, immigrant, racialized and refugee people, people living with mental health challenges, and front-line resource workers. The network has been set up in Charlottetown, Saint John, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
The project objectives include
- Identify the gaps in support;
- Conduct a systematic analysis of gender-based violence in each city;
- Identify institutional gaps and the needs of target groups, in order to implement specific organizational and community measures
- Achieve major changes towards prevention and a more effective response to the structural violence experienced by these populations.
This first meeting was a great opportunity to respond appropriately to these challenges, since its aim was to bring together members of different communities and social and community groups in the Greater Montreal area who work with people in vulnerable or marginalized situations.
Days of Peace "At the crossroads of solidarities: inclusive paths and crossroads views".
On October 1, 2022, for the 4th year running, the Institut National pour l'Équité, l'Égalité et l'Inclusion des personnes en situation de handicap (INÉI-PSH) and its partners presented the workshop "À la croisée des solidarités: parcours inclusifs et regards croisés". This event was scheduled as part of the eighth Journées de la Paix 2022, organized by the Network for Peace and Social Harmony.
Under the direction of Selma Kouidri, Executive Director of INÉÉI-PSH, and graĉe to the great generosity of our guests and partners, our team presented artistic performances and a rich and unifying panel discussion, aimed at highlighting the testimonies, exchanges and solidarities that make up the strength of our communities, which we want to be fair, safe, egalitarian and inclusive.
Our aim was to lay the foundations for building solidarity, bringing together communities who could then consolidate our foundations to express their right to a harmonious society and an inclusive space through various artistic means. To this end, we have brought to the fore a cross-section of views on an inclusive and harmonious society.
Artistic expression is ideally suited to convey this common goal: painting and dance are powerful vectors for bringing communities together in solidarity and, above all, for concretely expressing the right to a harmonious society and an inclusive space. These performances were followed by a panel discussion on the emancipation journeys of the presenters, their empowerment and their contribution to linking different Montreal communities from diverse backgrounds and paths in the fight against racism and ableism.
Days of Peace "So similar in our differences"
As part of the 2019 Days of Peace, organized by the Peace Network, a special event for reflection and sharing on difference. A panel during which, people with disabilities (PSH) will testify to their journey by crossing their views on fairness, equality and social inclusion. By expressing their views on these values of peace and social cohesion, people with disabilities are offering us a collective therapy, which will help to highlight existing solutions to certain persistent problems, as well as raising awareness of their experiences, actions and hopes.
Their differences are our strengths.
In the face of the lack of professional inclusion and social participation of people with disabilities, these atypical paths, often fraught with obstacles and rarely inclusive, are nonetheless inspiring.
Sharing and reflecting on difference at the launch of Peace Days 2019, a sharing and reflection event by and for people with disabilities. 8 INÉÉI-PSH members took part in the event.
The panel presented their testimonies of their journeys initiating an open and inclusive dialogue. A beautiful reflection and sharing Invitation to the 2019 Days of Peace Launch Evening: Celebrating difference and working together for peace" and participation in the panel "How has your difference made you strong?
Project: "Acting against gender-based violence: raising awareness for better prevention" (AGBV)
An initiative of INÉÉI-PSH and INDCP, with financial support from the Gender Equality Fund/Greater Montreal Foundation and Mr. Andrés Fontecilla, MP Laurier-Dorion - QC Solidaire. ACVS is the testimony and words of women and men with disabilities who want to contribute to a sustainable solution for building safer, more egalitarian communities.
It's also about taking back power and speaking out about harmonious, egalitarian intimate relationships, breaking down taboos and proposing appropriate strategies and means of prevention and support. An initiative by and for people with disabilities, its primary aim is to raise awareness and prevent gender-based violence and its repercussions. It is also a means of promoting safe behavior and egalitarian relationships.
Our objectives
- Liberating speech and empowerment;
- Start a movement of solidarity to promote safe communities for all ;
- Women and men with disabilities take collective action to promote gender equality and healthy intimate relationships;
- Contributing to social transformation;
- Better understand gender-based violence, detect its signs and repercussions, enable early detection and promote effective intervention.
Days of Peace: At the crossroads of violence and security: migrant and racialized women with disabilities
This virtual event offered a unique opportunity to bring together players involved in the fight against violence against women, particularly that affecting migrant and racialized women with disabilities. Organized as part of the Days of Peace, the event highlighted the dynamics underlying the multiple forms of violence faced by these women, while exploring avenues towards truly inclusive and safe solutions.
The event tackled the complex intersections between migration, racialization, disability and violence, which kept racialized and migrant women with disabilities at the crossroads of support strategies that were often conceived without them and excluded them. The panellists discussed the structural and social obstacles that make these women vulnerable, as well as the levers that can be mobilized to improve their safety and their pathway out of violence. The panel was followed by an artistic performance by Alicia Pauld entitled “Ligne(s)”.
INÉÉI-PSH invited all those working with women, people with disabilities and migrants, in health services, public bodies or community organizations, as well as anyone interested, to :
- Open dialogue with local players to better understand the power dynamics and specific obstacles these women face.
- Create links between organizations and individuals involved in the fight against violence, to foster collaboration for lasting societal change.
- Discuss societal courses of action to curb violence, by reflecting together on concrete initiatives and public policies to be implemented.