Community action, immigration and governance in the city of Montreal

Abstract

In this paper, I address the question of community action in the Canadian province of Quebec. By “community action,” I refer to the set of practices that nonprofit grassroots or community organizations (usually financed with public or private funds) deploy in order to address various issues related to the social conditions of life in their localities. In particular, I explore the evolution of community action in a multiethnic neighborhood in the city of Montreal: Montreal-Nord. In the last years, the community organizations of this borough have experienced significant difficulties when dealing with the challenges posed by neo-liberal urban governance and by the increasing numbers of immigrants coming from Majority World countries (Africa, Asia and Latin America). I argue that the understanding of these difficulties requires a revision of the way in which the relationship between civil society and the institutions of the state has evolved in recent years.