“You explain their realities to other health professionals, who sometimes show more flexibility in return.”
Bridging the gap between two worlds
You can feel Juliette’s determination when she says: “we raise awareness among institutions about their realities and needs.” The voices she and her outreach team amplify belong to sex workers, Indigenous people, people experiencing homelessness, and migrants with precarious status. In short: people who are often marginalized, judged, discriminated against, yet who have the same rights as everyone else in Quebec. “It’s a big part of the job,” adds Lucie-Catherine, a nurse working with Indigenous communities. “You explain their realities to other health professionals, who sometimes show more flexibility in return.”
Healing while defending human rights
Raising awareness on the ground is one of the ways our teams engage in advocacy—that is, defending the rights of those the health system fails to reach. They are not alone in this: “we also have a department dedicated to advocacy, which the field team helps inform with their experience,” Juliette explains. The goal? “To change the system,” to push laws toward a fairer model. Like in 2021, when lawmakers ruled that children born in Quebec to migrant parents with precarious status were entitled to free healthcare, just like any other child in the province. The result of years spent advocating for this cause alongside our partners.
“We have the power to act on two levels: the individual and the system.”
Ultimately, to quote Juliette, the goal is to “have the power to act on two levels: the individual and the system.” Two levels that align with Médecins du Monde’s guiding principles: “healing without judgment” for individuals, and “also healing the injustice” that, unfortunately, still excludes far too many people in our society.