Démocratiser les loisirs et faciliter l'accès aux activités sportives: évaluation d'une initiative d'économie sociale visant les populations handicapées ou démunies au Québec, Canada

Abstract

The present research evaluates the relevance, the conception, the implementation and the effects of a social entrepreneurship initiative sponsored by the government of Quebec, Canada, aiming at increasing the accessibility to sports and leisure summer camps for underprivileged populations. This paper uses data from a survey conducted in 2009 among 92 summer camps. Results show that the government initiative significantly stimulates the targeted populations' demand for summer camps. However, it appears that, in relation to two other targeted groups, youth and families, disabled persons pay relatively more for similar services. Our analysis concerns a governmental program whose approach is centered on the supply side, while subsidies are granted to the services suppliers, the community-based organizations, rather than being centered on the demand side, in which subsidies would be directly granted to the ultimate beneficiaries of the services, the underprivileged populations. This paper highlights the strengths and limitations of this kind of approach, with the purpose of facilitating decision-making processes and reinforcing collaboration between the government and social entrepreneurship actors, as part of a collective action aiming at the democratization of leisure and sports by supporting underprivileged populations' access to these activities.