The Converse introduces you to “The wisdom of Hood ”, a series that gives voice to pillars who embody the living memory of Montreal's various neighborhoods. First portrait, that of two twin sisters Ginette and Gisèle Allen, born in Haiti 67 years ago. Today, they devote their lives to facilitating and beautifying the lives of their neighbours.
Saint-Michel district, on the edge of Crémazie Boulevard. Along the 1Re Avenue, cars pass by and the city is heard to the rhythm of the still mild days of September. In the local asphalt landscape, a building that could pass for an elementary school stands out on the horizon. Inside, a host of community organizations that are well established in the neighborhood.
On the ground floor, the Carrefour populaire de Saint-Michel, where warm-faced people are busy distributing food aid, school supplies and other comforts. On the upper floor are the offices of Entraide Bénévolo Kouzin Kouzin'. That's where La Converse meets up with Ginette and Gisèle for an afternoon.
Kouzin Kouzin': The Allen Sisters' Playground
“I have a philosophy: “My enemy is time. My ally is time,” says Ginette right away. It is this attitude that allows him not to worry too much and to keep his feet on the ground and his head held high to carry out the mission of his organization. Kouzin Kouzin' supports families and young children in the Saint-Michel neighborhood through its homework help service, its affordable summer day camp as well as socio-cultural outings.
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Kouzin Kouzin' was founded three decades ago in order to match adolescents and children from the Haitian community with mentors. Quickly, however, the organization extended its services to the entire population of Saint-Michel, regardless of origin. The era was marked by delinquency and violence, which made the headlines and caused concern among families in the neighborhood. Innovative, Kouzin Kouzin''s twinning approach allows several cohorts of young Michelois to stay focused on success. In 2018, Ginette took over from the founder of the organization, who was determined to continue her work. In need of staff, she asked her sister Gisèle, who was quick to become a volunteer.
For six years now, this almost fusional duo, which welcomes us in almost matching outfits, has held the organization at arm's length. Ginette, Kouzin Kouzin''s pillar, is a versatile woman who takes care of everything. Housekeeping, helping children with homework, advice for adults in difficulty, drafting painstaking administrative documents — everything goes. Listening to Ginette, we quickly understand that the organization does a lot, but that the means to recruit the next generation are limited. “Sometimes, Gisèle comes to give me a hand. She came to help me this summer with the day camp when a 16-year-old young employee let me go along the way. What do you want me to do with the kids? We had no choice, it was Gisèle who was still there with another volunteer,” she explains. On the other side of the table, Gisèle remains silent, but nods her head, in a movement of obvious complicity with her twin.
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Ginette and Gisèle were 18 years old when they arrived in Quebec with their father and their three brothers and sisters to find their mother, who had already settled very close by, on L.-O.-David Street. “We immediately settled in her house. We all lived in a 3 1/2. My mother slept on the sofa with my father,” says Gisèle.
The sense of mutual aid, inherited from the country of birth, will make you forget the cramped housing and the meager income that their mother receives working in a textile factory on Chabanel Street. Moreover, it is in the textile industry, on this same street, that Gisèle and Ginette will have their first job, two months after their arrival.
At the end of this first encounter with the Quebec working world, Ginette and Gisèle decided to go back to school. In the meantime, they have become moms themselves. Again, family support is essential. Jeannine, their mother, takes care of her grandchildren while the twins study to become secretaries. “I was beautiful, radiant, I wanted to welcome and guide people, (...) I had a strange dream, finally, huh! ” recalls Ginette. Gisèle follows the same path with the same fervour.
However, both will quickly become disenchanted after their studies, when they will be confronted with racism. “In 1986, I was employed at the Ministry of Education, but it was always for small contracts, tsé, contracts for a black woman, there” says Giselle. Ginette agrees and goes on: “At the time, we didn't want little black people in the offices; that was the context, and then that's it. They hired you, but it was for three or four weeks, no more. Afterwards, we always found a reason to deport you,” she recalls.
Time passes, and the experience ends up building a shell for them. Renowned in the neighborhood for their brawling side and their strong character, the Allen twins have no cold feet or the tongue in their pocket. “The rest of us don't let ourselves get carried away,” says Gisèle, who says she expects steadfastly anyone who would take her by surprise in her home. The same goes for Ginette. “We're like wasps. You better not come into our niche,” she said, her eyes full of mischief and her index finger raised.
When asked where their fighting spirit comes from, Ginette's face lights up: “Our great-grandfather, Richard Allen, is an African American who freed himself and who is famous for his fight for the abolition of slavery. He is the first black person to have founded an evangelical episcopal church for Afro-descent communities in the United States. He also helped several maroons (fugitives in search of freedom, editor's note) to settle in Haiti. He did a lot for black people's rights. Solidarity and fighting are in our family DNA! ”
This heritage animates Ginette and Gisèle, who cannot resist the call to serve the community. The twins adapted and made a career in various fields, from administration to retail, including hospitals and senior centers in Montreal. It is on the strength of these experiences that they now make Kouzin Kouzin' live and move forward.
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The (unloved) neighborhood of the Allen twins
At any time of the day, Ginette is called upon by neighborhood residents. They know that they can always count on it, even if it sometimes goes beyond the organization's competence. During our visit to Kouzin Kouzin''s offices, some residents were there to pick up a letter that was supposed to unblock an application for family allowances, others for a document that would support their permanent residence procedures for humanitarian reasons, or to ask when homework help would resume. “Most of those who pass by here are newcomers, immigrants, including many single-parent women, often working women. precarious”, specifies the director of Kouzin Kouzin'.
A member of the board of directors of Kouzin Kouzin', involved body and soul in the life of Michel, Alexandre Boucher Bonneau speaks enthusiastically about Ginette, with whom he talks often, and about his sister Gisèle. He remembers meeting them at the Carrefour Popolo, but also at neighborhood festivals, during gatherings at the Maison d'Haïti or during Saint-Jean Day celebrations.
“There are a lot of Allens in Saint-Michel; they are very present in the community. This family of Haitian origin has been living in the neighborhood for nearly 40 or 50 years. I and my family have lived here longer,” notes Alexandre. “Saint-Michel has had it for a long time. A lot of people are mobilizing, working to improve the situation, but we remain a forgotten, entrenched neighborhood. We will not hide it, Saint-Michel is one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in Montreal and Quebec,” he continues about the neighborhood where he was born. For him, the enormity of the task should not diminish the importance of the Allen sisters' persistence in changing things.
In a way, the love that Ginette and Gisèle have for their neighborhood also translates into a form of loyalty: for nothing in the world they would leave. “It's a significant place for us, it's everything we've always known. (...) I couldn't be better elsewhere, even if others say the opposite,” says Gisèle. The two sisters look serious before continuing: “Many Haitians have left Saint-Michel. They went to Laval, to Repentigny to buy houses, because they no longer want to know anything about Saint-Michel,” says Ginette. “They leave because, often, they have young children, and they know that there is crime in Saint-Michel,” begins Gisèle. “Of course there is, but the problem has been transposed elsewhere.” So, they go to Longueuil, and that's it,” adds Ginette.
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Picture: Pablo Ortiz
Her face hardened somewhat as she continued: “The truth is that Saint-Michel has been over-hyped. All the coverage he received repeated that it was a bad neighborhood. I think this is an exaggeration. Young people have also been singled out a lot, especially young Black people. However, it's always good that young people get together, right? If it were a group of young white people, we wouldn't care, nobody would call the police,” says the director, obviously annoyed.
The twins believe that, despite its tarnished image, Saint-Michel is not a dangerous place. On the contrary, it is there that they can communicate with neighbours, take part in neighborhood life and avoid isolation — another scourge that threatens the most vulnerable residents of Michelois.
While they both agree that the built heritage of Saint-Michel has changed a lot over the years, Ginette and Gisèle regret that with the technological shift, several services are dematerializing and becoming less accessible, especially for the elderly. “At the digital level, there are services that do not meet the needs of those left behind. Women or men of a certain age, those who are 80, 79, you ask them to go and make an appointment online. All health appointments are now booked on the computer. [A lot of old people] are not good at it! ” recalls Gisèle. Lack of digital literacy, lack of access to adequate equipment and an Internet connection — the two sisters insist that the neighborhood is marked by a real digital divide.
Inexhaustible on the complex issues that arise and arise in the neighborhood, Gisèle softens when she mentions her fellow citizens. “When you go out, when you really meet people, when you take the time to talk to them, when you take the time to talk to them, they start telling you their problems. You hear them, you listen to them, but sometimes you feel powerless,” she confides.
However, the list of grievances that stick to the neighborhood should not overshadow the great stories that take place there. “Our own children and many other young people care about the neighborhood and are committed to it every day. It is not true that there are only thugs here. Success (...) also exists in Saint-Michel”, says Ginette. She rejects stereotypes and explains that she differs from her twin by her pragmatism.
In this rising generation that is mobilizing, Ginette sees the future and the salvation of Saint-Michel. “Today, the neighborhood is more mixed than ever. In Kouzin Kouzin', we welcome young Haitians, but also young North Africans, young Latinos, young Sri Lankans. These young people are living and growing together. And that comforts me a lot, it gives me a lot of hope.”
Ginette never thinks about retirement. She began dreaming of becoming a French teacher at CEGEP, she who still knew how to spell out at once the fables and plays she learned as a child. Gisèle has taken hers, but she still devotes a lot of time to supporting her sister and Kouzin Kouzin'. “We're keeping busy. There is always something to do, to manage, to deal with. That is our life; and we love our life”, affirms Gisèle forcefully.