Alexandra Chalier, Communications Manager at Women on the Rise, is at the front of empowering women and nonbinary individuals in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood. The organization tackles the pervasive issue of isolation, a factor deeply affecting women’s safety, mental and physical health, and overall life satisfaction. Through educational workshops, service referrals, and a supportive, nonjudgmental environment, Women on the Rise provides a space for connection and growth.
Describe your charity/non-profit/volunteer work in a few sentences.
We help women to help themselves through educational workshops, individual service referrals, and the maintenance of a warm and nonjudgmental atmosphere for women to come together in solidarity. We recognize that each woman or nonbinary person is the expert of what she/they need and our role is to guide their way to achieving it and to make the journey a little smoother and less lonely.
What problem does it aim to solve?
Isolation is one of the key factors that impact women’s safety, mental health, physical health, and life satisfaction. There are many different forces that can impact a woman’s social network, including migration or immigration, abuse or violence in the home, linguistic or cognitive differences that complicate socialization with peers, pregnancy and childbirth, and mental and physical health challenges. Besides this, in the wake of the massive spike of domestic and intimate partner violence against women that began in 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, rates of violence against women have remained higher than pre-pandemic levels in the province of Quebec. Breaking isolation is a constant process, due to the fact that interpersonal relationships take work and require skills that not everyone has access to. We aim to be a safer space where women can peel back the layers of who others expect them to be, and be who they are truly meant to be.
When did you start/join it?
I started working here in November of 2022.
What made you want to get involved?
I wanted to work at Women on the Rise because I was on a personal mission to learn more about being a good neighbour and getting to know people in my area, and this truly has been the perfect place to learn how to do it. It’s a place like no other, not least because our neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse in Montreal. I’ve gone from being a self-doubting person who thought she needed to earn acceptance through giving to others, to realizing how much value we all have just by being ourselves. With a deeper belief in my own self-worth, I am better able to see the worth of others too.
What was the situation like when you started?
When I started out, the organization had just transitioned from their longtime director Grace Campbell to our current director, Nadine Collins. I was Nadine’s first new hire! Besides changing directors, the organization was navigating the big shift from lockdowns and digital activities to resuming in-person services for the first time in about two years. We launched a perinatal mental health support group and later a conjugal violence support group, due to the glaring need for these specialized services in our area.
How has it changed since?
Since I started working here in November 2022, the needs of women have increased drastically in NDG. The increased frequency of extreme weather events has left many of our members and even our office without power several times and has impacted air quality during the summertime. With skyrocketing rent, women are facing more housing precarity and more stress than ever, and the stakes for leaving dangerous relationships are higher. We meet newly arrived women every week who are isolated, nervous, and trying to figure out who they are in their new home city. We have been faced with the harsh reality of meeting more and more women whose empowerment has been put on hold while they search to secure their most fundamental needs of food and safe shelter.
What more needs to be done?
We need policy change to bring down the cost of living so that women have a real chance at financial autonomy, and therefore more control over where they live, with whom, and under what circumstances. We need men to implicate themselves in the effort to end violence against women so that our conjugal violence support group can become obsolete. We need an immigration policy that gives women a chance to integrate into Canadian and Quebecois society and participate fully in the community. We also need climate solutions on a global level to safeguard the rights of women and girls in the future, who are most affected by climate disasters and disruptions in social services.
How can our readers help?
Get to know the women in your neighbourhood, or if you live in NDG, come and spend time with us! There is nothing more powerful than realizing how interconnected we are. Talk about what problems you are seeing, and focus on the small part of the problem that you can have an impact on. It’s important not to get stuck in despair–there is always hope, which means we will always have work to do!
Do you have any events coming up?
We always have a lot going on during Black History Month and Women’s Month so if you would like to get updates, you can subscribe to our email newsletter here. Also, it’s never too early to start promoting our Annual General Meeting which takes place every June!
Where can we follow you?
Website | Newsletter | Facebook | Instagram
PAY IT FORWARD: What is an awesome local charity that you love?
The NDG Depot Community Food Centre. The Depot offers a food bank, a free restaurant, multiple collective gardens, school cooking activities, and a wide range of workshops throughout the year. They promote education and urban agriculture to combat food insecurity and their waiting lists are at an all-time high. Women on the Rise and the Depot very often refer clients to each other and we are grateful to have them as community partners. Donations can be made on their website.
