Social Economy Day: sustaining the sector and its role in regional development

With a strategic plan for the next three years, the Pôle d’économie sociale Gaspésie-les Iles, held its annual general meeting last Thursday at the Maison de la culture, a first on the archipelago since its founding in 2014.

The president of the Pole, Sandra McNeil, explains that she has initiated a reflection that could lead to a sectoral agreement with the various levels of government, allowing to perpetuate the activities of the organization and to support the growth of the sector.

The two representatives from the Islands on the Board of Directors are Roméo Deraspe from the Corporation d’aide à domicile l’Essentiel and Charles-Eugène Cyr, Director of Diffusion communautaire des Iles.

The latter was re-elected, emphasizing that he was soon ready to pass the torch.

This fall, the Pôle will organize a workshop on the issue of housing in the Islands in order to develop solutions adapted to the community.

Sandra McNeil specifies that similar initiatives have been launched in two Gaspesian MRCs and that they are part of a desire to position the social economy as a lever for the development of territories and communities.

Finally, the Chantier de l’Économie sociale will soon begin a provincial tour that will lead to the first summit on this issue since 2006.

The objective of the pan-Quebec approach is to plan the exit from the crisis and to consolidate the place of this part of the economy in the recovery.