Quebeckers Express Their Social SolidarityThe people of Quebec continue to take various creative initiatives to express their social solidarity and keep spirits high in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. These popular expressions have taken all sorts of forms.
Teachers and educational workers have taken other initiatives for their primary and secondary students. Some produce videos to talk to their students, to play games, experiment, or simply tell them that they are thinking of them and encourage them to take care of themselves. To demonstrate people's appreciation of the crucial work being done by all those involved in health care, transportation, the food industry, housekeeping, garbage collection, etc., some citizens suggest that every evening at 8:30 pm, people turn their house or car lights off and on for one minute. Increasingly, rainbow patterns can be seen in the windows of homes, businesses and other buildings, often accompanied with the words. "It's going to be alright." "Rainbow Hunting" is a children's game started by parents at the beginning of the announced quarantine measures. The aim is to look for "rainbows" in the windows of houses when parents take their children for walks. The initiative spread quickly and can now be found across Quebec. It also assists in keeping the collective morale high.
Performers and musicians have been putting their talent in the service of their neighbours and passers-by by performing from their balconies every night. Local entrepreneurs have also decided to contribute: distillers and micro-breweries in various Quebec regions have transformed their production to make disinfectants. They share their experience and work together to meet everyone's needs. Whether it was during the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, the Lac Mégantic tragedy on July 6, 2013, or the massive floods in the spring of 2019, the people of Quebec are always there, searching for and finding ways to express their social solidarity in the face of crises.
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Many Facebook pages
have been created to ensure that people are not
alone as social distancing is implemented. Various
groups have been created online by parents and
their children. Teachers, educators and parents
contribute to them to promote educational
activities, games, and even scientific experiments
that can be tried at home. To cope with the
difficulty of keeping children busy, examples are
provided of schedules to structure their day, as
well as ways to make teenagers aware of measures
to adopt in this time of the pandemic.
Other initiatives
include dance groups sending an entertainer
with a sound system to seniors' residences,
where they invite the seniors to dance on their
balconies. Others offer their services to people
who are vulnerable or who have less income as a
result of the pandemic, such as doing their
shopping, filing their income tax returns,
bringing food to their door, and so on.