Creating resourceful families

Family in all its diversity was in the spotlight on Saturday, May 18 in Montreal. The first Salon de la famille de la diversité culturelle was an opportunity to get to know the many businesses and non-profit organizations that support racialized families in Quebec.

"[The intention behind it was] to have fun and celebrate ourselves positively, celebrate our strengths, see the resources that are within the communities, that we can't just wait on the resources offered by the government," Myriam Coppry, founder of the multidisciplinary clinic NunanuQ intercultural services explained.

A number of practitioners and parents were able to share their realities and specific needs as members of cultural communities. Needs of all kinds that often require a culturally sensitive response.

"I've been to therapy before, and of the 6 specialists I met, only one agreed to talk about my spirituality. The others flatly refused [...] But for me, my spirituality is part of my identity [...] If I can't talk about God when expressing myself, especially when I'm in a crisis, and if the person in front of me, who's supposed to help me, can't accept that because they don't understand, that's it, we're no longer speaking the same language," Patsy Faublas, President of Grosame Québec Canada shared.

Grosame refers Afro-descendant people with mental health issues to specialists in the Black community who can take care of them. With the Centre Psy Multiculturel, it is part of a group of culturally competent resources in the field.

"A specialist from my community, even if he or she doesn't share the same beliefs as I do, will understand [...] and will be able to welcome the person I am, with my customs, my language, all my cultural and spiritual baggage, and offer me care based on that," illustrated Ms. Faublas.

From young to old

The Salon was intended to be a place of exchange and information for various segments of the family, such as immigrant parents, caregivers and racialized children.

Parents attending the event were able to find out more about the services offered by K.A.Z coaching, which, among other things, works on self-esteem, emotional intelligence, conflict, and emotion management through group workshops and individual follow-up.

Caregivers were able to find out more about Athalie Entreprise, which helps the elderly and those losing their independence to manage their administrative documents.

We were also able to discover products from Nafa outils éducatifs, the start-up of a mother who's on a mission since her daughter's diagnosis of learning difficulties.

"When I learned of her diagnosis, I did a lot of research, asked around, trained, and read a lot, and then decided to start my own company. At Nafa Outils Éducatifs, we offer educational tools to help children, especially those with special learning needs. And I also thought it was a good thing that it was a racialized mom who was doing it, because it's true that in today's Quebec landscape, it's mostly Quebec companies that sell this kind of product, and when you go to their websites, it's often the same type of children you see, whereas when you come to Nafa, there's a bit of everything," says founder Naminata Diarrassouba.

Affordable summer camp 

Just in time for the summer season, Alakazu announced its affordable summer camp project, payable over several months. Initially a platform for exchanging used toys and clothing, the company has already extended its services to home pickup, online resale and export, in addition to organizing turnkey family celebrations. Always in collaboration with existing services, to make life easier for parents.

"We all know, there's inflation right now, it's very hard, gas is expensive, food is expensive. And I said to myself, "Who's thinking about the parents? I took the time to see from what angle I could approach this, while creating connections. I didn't have the ambition to want to give every service. So I said to myself, you know what, the best way to do it is to connect parents with organizations," said Marc-Kirven Germain of Alakazu. 

Show organizers are already looking forward to next year's edition. They hope to promote resources for other cultural communities.