Black Led Organizations in Quebec We Can Support Right Now

Montreal’s own history with racist police violence has come into the public eye again with recent police killings in the United States and in Toronto provoking demonstrations and protests here. We hope that COCo’s stance on these issues is already clear: anti-Black racism is rampant in Quebec (and elsewhere, but here is where we work), it is deep rooted, and we’re committed to the work. 

One of the things we wanted to do at this moment is uplift some of the organizations in Montreal who have been doing hard, gruelling work for years to support, protect and fight for Black people. These are organizations you could donate to, volunteer for, partner with – whatever is appropriate for your position and power and ability. 

Organizations Fighting Police Violence

First and foremost, we want to acknowledge and point people towards Hoodstock (who have also been doing amazing work around stopping the spread of COVID in Montréal Nord). 

Another organization that has been organizing against police brutality is Justice for the Victims of Police Killings. The Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations has also led some important cases against police brutality in Montreal (donation button here).  

Organizations Building Up Black Communities

There are lots of Black led organizations in the city that always could use our support: 

• On Our Own (03), who work with young parents. They are always taking donations. http://www.o3onourown.com/
• La Maison d’Haiti 
• Sayaspora, an online space founded in Montreal for young African women 
• Jamaica Association of Montreal inc.
• Afrique au Féminin http://www.afriqueaufeminin.org/
• Women on the Rise 
• The Desta Black Youth Network: https://destabyn.org/ 
• Le CHORRA, working with immigrants in Anjou  https://www.chorra.ca/ 
• Black Community Resource Centre: https://bcrcmontreal.com/
• The Council for Black Aging (self explanatory!) 
• The African Canadian Development and Prevention Network, which focuses more on capacity building 
• The West Island Black Community Association: who offer a wide range of services  
• Black Theatre Workshop
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Montreal has a mentorship program for English speaking Black Youth 
• Librairie Racines – a great place to find resources and to support 
• Ligue des Noirs du Québec 
• For Us Girls, an empowerment, skill-building and leadership development program for Black womxn and girls

Other people have been putting together great lists like this one also- you can find them here and here. We are lucky to have seen many of these groups in action, and we hope you can too! 

If your group does not want to be included on this list, write kirap@coco-net.org and we can take you off! The photo on this image was taken by Sayaspora in one of our workshops with them.