Annik Giguère
Université de Sherbrooke

Dedicated to Playing an Active Role in Development and Change

Winston Churchill once said, “Take change by the hand or it will seize you by the throat.” For Annik Giguère, a social services student at the Université de Sherbrooke, this dictum is at the heart of her commitment and gives direction to her numerous actions. “Tomorrow will be the result of what we have helped build today through community involvement,” she stated. You need only look at what this young mother has achieved so far to understand that her secret to change is above all to focus your energies not on fighting the past but on building the future!

In order to succeed, she chose to get involved in her community. She had only just moved to Wotton when she was chosen to take part in Femmes et démocratie municipale, a summer school course on municipal politics offered by ÉNAP. She firmly believes that it is at this level that you can bring about change. Despite popular belief, it is possible to be both clearheaded and show solidarity!

In 2005 when she was elected as a municipal councillor in Wotton, a small town of 1,500 inhabitants, she became the youngest representative of the MRC des Sources. Aware that the future of rural areas depends on their ability to diversify their economy and curb the rural exodus of young people, Annik is a member of several economic, cultural, social and sustainable development committees.

“The examples of her commitment bear witness to a great resolve to make a civic contribution to the greater well-being of her community,” pointed out Claude Larose, Mayor of Saint-Camille. Annik is interested in numerous activities such as carrying out fieldwork, mobilizing farmers so that they diversify their crops, taking preventive action for the elderly, participating in a cooperative for youth entrepreneurship and establishing a twinning scheme with peasants in Mali.

In her concern to help, a few years ago she also became involved in community organizations that assist the destitute including the Halifax chapter of Food Not Bombs. For over two years, she went out three times a week with a small team of volunteers to recover food in supermarkets and restaurants that would otherwise have been thrown out and used it to prepare meals for the homeless. And as the saying goes, “it is better to teach a man to fish than give him a fish.” This is what she did when working with the Phoenix Youth Programmes, teaching cooking techniques to young homeless people enrolled in a social re-integration program while at the same time trying to give them support and guidance.

Annik also worked in Mali during an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, helping street children and women prisoners. Moreover, her contribution to raising funds for a project to build a community school in an underprivileged neighbourhood turned out to be highly beneficial as many Mali children can now receive quality schooling in a stimulating environment.

American anthropologist Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” It goes without saying that Annik Giguère decided to take change by the hand a long time ago!

Annik Giguère
Université de Sherbrooke