By Éric Gagnon Poulin, Laval University

Following a major public consultation across Quebec in 2008–2009, the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity identified the fight against prejudice as a priority element to better combat poverty: “[…] certain areas of intervention emerge as fundamental according to a majority of practitioners: […] notably fighting against the prejudices conveyed toward people in situations of poverty” (MESS, 2010: 17).

In the wake of this finding, several organizations decided to list the main prejudices conveyed in popular discourse. Marc De Koninck, president of the social committee of Centraide Québec Chaudière-Appalaches, groups the most recurring prejudices toward people in poverty into five categories: appearance (the poor are dirty, fat, negligent, etc.); behaviors (they gamble, smoke, drink, etc.); skills (they do not know how to express themselves, present themselves, have no education, etc.); moral values (they exploit society, are lazy, prone to criminality, etc.); contribution (they bring nothing, do not contribute to social and economic life, etc.) [De Koninck 2011: 17, 18]. In short, a series of characteristics relating to individuals’ personalities. A person who holds these kinds of prejudices is unlikely to understand the real structural issues represented by this polysemic social phenomenon. “Why engage in the fight against poverty if we consider that the problem does not concern us or that it is explained by the faulty behaviors of poor people?” (Champoux, De Koninck, 2004: 3). If a person or a media outlet adopted De Koninck’s categories to describe an immigrant, a woman, or a homosexual in public, these statements would cause an outcry and would certainly be denounced. Unfortunately, “[c]lass prejudices, despite their similarities, are hardly mentioned” (Pickett and Wilkinson, 2010: 189). Indeed, what one can sometimes read or hear in the media on the subject is disconcerting, for example:

• Speaking of welfare recipients who are fit to work, because I always make the distinction, in general. Why do they vote? Why do they have the right to vote, stated Sylvain Bouchard ofFM 93.3 in 2008;
• We're doing some cleaning here! I don't give a damn where we put the trash afterwards. You castrate them first, said Carl Monette speaking about homeless people onRadio X in 2012.

Such comments in the mass media have a great impact on public opinion in general and on the way poor people perceive themselves, because they are once again held solely responsible for their condition.

For its part, ATD Quart Monde[1], an international movement for the eradication of poverty present in Quebec since 1982, has catalogued several popular prejudices and attempts to deconstruct them using statistical data. For example:

• One can live well on social assistance., the amount of social assistance for a single person (with the GST credit) amounts to $704 per month, whereas the Market Basket Measure for that same person is set at $1,437 per month in Montreal (CEPE, 2014);
• The poor don't want to work; out of ten people in poverty, five work, four are not in a position to work, and one person is excluded from the labor market (Institut de la statistique du Québec, 2013);
• There is no one more fraudulent than a welfare recipient., frauds against social assistance represent $0.069 billion per year, while tax evasion amounts to $3.5 billion per year (Revenu Québec, 2012; MESS, 2009);
• We can't afford to end poverty, the indirect costs of poverty are $24.4 billion per year, whereas a guaranteed minimum income for all would be $13.1 billion per year (Canadian Council on Social Welfare, 2011);
• Quebec is an egalitarian society, after tax, 99% of the population earns on average $28,800 per year, while 1% earns $256,700 per year (IRIS, 2012 in ATDQM, 2015).

Comparing the official discourse to popular discourse, one finds that there are two types of “poor” in the collective imagination, the “good” and the “bad” poor. The reasons why the former find themselves in poverty seem to be beyond their control or systemic. The “good poor” is someone who ended up in that situation a bit by chance, by bad luck. One assumes it is someone who lost their job, who experienced a separation or illness, but who is hardworking and seizes the opportunities offered to them. It is believed that they can get out of it and may even become a model of success for others if they manage to do so. By contrast, the “bad poor” has a choice. One imagines that they are poor generation after generation and that they are lazy. It is believed that they have no desire to participate in social life, commit fraud, and do not respect institutions. Their situation is seen as permanent and without remedy. The causes of their situation are therefore individualized. The first case attracts a certain sympathy, while the second generates persistent prejudices within popular discourse and thereby influences official discourse and the policies that result from it, such as theworkfare. With this dual conception of the “poor,” it becomes difficult to understand the entire problem.

In the wake of the announcement of the second government action plan to fight poverty in 2010, citizens questioned the government's choice. “Why subsidize poverty? By making it comfortable, we encourage people to live off the system” (De Koninck, 2011: 9). At the time of debates on the adoption of the Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion in 2002, the project did not go without opposition, even within the Council of Ministers: “Why not a law to fight the rain?” a young minister is said to have declared (Noël, 2002: 110). These inherent contradictions in discourses on poverty hinder efforts to understand a broader social phenomenon. “In short, prejudices allow those who convey them [consciously or not] to exclude others from paths of competition and to justify, in their own interest, the social inequalities that favor them” (Deniger, 2012: 11).

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Funding

This research,Poverty and Social Inequalities in Chaudière-Appalaches: Experience and Representations, is funded by theQuebec Research Fund – Society and Culture (FRQSC) [Grant 201216].

Note

[1] ATD Quart Monde was created in 1957 by Joseph Wrésinski, with families from a shantytown in a Parisian suburb. Today, 400 permanent volunteers work in 30 countries around the world. The international ATD Quart Monde movement holds consultative status with the UN, UNESCO, UNICEF, the ILO and the Council of Europe. It was the originator of the first October 17 gathering in 1987, which became the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (ATDQM, 2014).

Bibliography

ATD Quart Monde, 2015,Misconceptions about Poverty: Vignettes to Share! Online: http://www.atdquartmonde.ca/idees-fausses-sur-la-pauvrete-des-vignettes-a-partager.

CHAMPOUX, Louis, Marc DE KONINCK, 2004.The future is today: let's dare even more!Quebec: Centraide Québec Chaudière-Appalaches.

DE KONINCK, Marc et al., 2011,A prejudice is sticking a label on someone: the fight against poverty stops where our prejudices begin. Quebec: Centraide Québec et Chaudière-Appalaches.

MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL SOLIDARITY (MESS), 2010,Governmental Action Plan for Solidarity and Social Inclusion 2010–2015: Quebec Mobilized Against Poverty.Government of Quebec.

NOËL, Alain, 2002,A law against poverty: the new Quebec approach to combating poverty and social exclusion. Lien social et politiques.

WILKINSON, Richard and Kate PICKETT. 2010.Equality is Better: Why wealth gaps ruin our societies. Montreal: Écosociété.