Santropol Roulant is embarking on something new: we are experimenting with positioning ourselves politically. As an organization that has served Montrealers in need for more than 26 years, we know that our work is tied to what’s happening around us. While we do not endorse a particular party or candidate, we have beliefs that influence our work and we’ve decided to be more vocal about them. Mobilizing for social change has always been a strong motivator for our organization and we recognize that mobilizing for social change is inherently political.
Needless to say, we are living in trying times and as we come into this busy election season, both federally and municipally, it seems to us appropriate to start making some of our political positions clear to our members, our community at large and to ourselves.
For those who know us well, who have read our newsletters and attended our AGMs none of our positions should come as a surprise. For others it’s an opportunity to know us better.
Importantly, this is a work in progress: an exercise to help us define ourselves in relation to the events swirling around us.
- We believe that there aren’t strong enough community infrastructure in Montreal to address and prevent harassment. The Roulant therefore stands for communities free of harassment, and for communities that are committed to learning and self-reflecting so that harassment can be prevented at a cultural level. It’s this position that motivates us to hold Women Trans* Femme (WTF) day at Santrovélo that are reserved for people who identify as female, transgender, non-binary, femme, genderqueer, trans-masculine or trans-feminine, to commit ourselves to safer space practices and training, and to constantly work on our safer space policy. This will afford us a way forward if harassment were to happen during our activities. Our central concern is for our community to feel cared for.
- We believe that monoculture kills biodiversity, reduces the quality of the food we eat, and monopolizes funding opportunities. The Roulant therefore stands for diversified agriculture that contributes to healthy ecosystems. It’s this position that motivates us to adopt and promote small-scale intensive organic market gardening practices and the reason we will implement a project fully dedicated to biodiversity and wildlife conservation in 2022 at the farm in Senneville.
- We believe white communities and organizations serving them are more financially supported than communities of color and BIPOC-led organizations. The Roulant therefore stands for transparency regarding funding allocation from major donors, and for more transparent strategies in the world of philanthropy and social services. It’s this position that motivates us to redirect some funding and funders to other organizations who don’t have access to the same privileges as the Roulant.
These are just some of the beliefs that are at the core of the Santropol Roulant. They will inform many of our actions, such as how we deal with different levels of government, with candidates who want our vote and how we spend the money that’s been donated to us.
We’re looking forward to sharing these positions as they relate to the Roulant’s work and the world around us. We will deal with subjects such as social support for seniors, food sovereignty, agricultural labour laws, wealth and privilege distribution, NGOs funding models, social economy, diversity and inclusion, and many others.
Our intention is to express our political positions each month in our newsletter. Whenever possible, these positions will be directly related to events whether they’re local, national or international.
Your feedback will be much appreciated and you can share it with us by email at feedback@santropolroulant.org.
For this newsletter, coming out as it does in the midst of an election season, we invite you to examine the main parties’ policy platforms and see whether they align with your own values. You can also check the Eat Think Vote project from Food Secure Canada.
- Liberal Party
- Conservative Party
- New Democratic Party (fiscal plan)
- Bloc Québécois (in French)
- Green Party Platform 2021
- People’s Party of Canada
You can also check your registration status with Elections Canada and update your informations on September 20th at your polling station.
Thank you for your support and for joining us on this journey,
The Board of Directors of Santropol Roulant