The Civic Incubator is a MIS program that aims to prototype and bring to maturity ideas for projects with social and environmental impact, imagined by engaged citizens, collectives and NPOs.
The project leaders of the 2024 cohort
With 2 Hands
Mission: To counter feelings of powerlessness and immobility in the face of the scale and urgency of the socio-ecological transition through a combination of awareness-raising and collective creation.
“We believe that reactivating our individual and collective imaginations is a weapon with powerful potential for imagining and visualizing a world that is more united, more joyful, and more respectful of living things, and for enabling us to regain confidence in our ability to take action for this world.”—Laure Colin and Marie Schultz
Agora
Mission: To develop the resilience of communities by enabling better communication with and between members of the population, local stakeholders, and municipal authorities.
“In this era of social networks and smart cities, existing technologies still don’t enable simple, fluid communication between officials and residents of a given territory, and between individuals sharing the same living space. This ability to communicate ‘with’ and ‘between’ people who are geographically proximate to one another is nonetheless indispensable in the development of social capital, an essential ingredient in the resilience and solidarity of communities.”—Carol Rancourt
Building A Supportive Community in Peter-McGill
Mission: To empower the vulnerable residents of Montreal’s Peter-McGill neighbourhood through participatory urban-planning projects that are vectors of creation for social ties.
“We’re committed to developing a project by and for the neighbourhood’s most vulnerable residents. Given that one of our objectives is to enable greater autonomy, we want their experiences and contributions to strengthen their ability to respond to existing challenges in the public sphere.”—Emily Coghlan and Emma Campbell
Bylbo
Mission: To enable the public to reappropriate the mechanism of lobbying to address the social challenges that matter most to them.
“The vast majority of lobbying activities serve the corporate world. Most of us are unfamiliar with lobbying and view it negatively, which is why Bylbo seeks to make it accessible to as many people as possible.”—Antoine Jobin and Félix Gagnon
Climat en Chef Catering
Mission: To accelerate the socio-ecological transition by promoting greener practices among players in the food system.
“Certain human activities contribute significantly to our exceeding of six of the nine planetary limits. It is today a certainty that by changing the way we eat, we can substantially reduce greenhouse-gas emissions on a global scale.”—Jean-Christophe Mortreux and Thomas Guinaudeau
Sustainable and Resilient Cities Collective
Mission: To support cities and communities gripped by climatic events through reconstruction and collective resilience-building by cross-fertilizing knowledge and placing the individual at the heart of the process.
“The approach we take is multidisciplinary and collaborative. We encourage the proliferation of ideas and call on our collective intelligence to tackle the complex challenges we face.”—Ophélie Chabant and Julie Bergeron
Developing A Community-Based Collective Indoor Urban-Farming Network
Mission: To meet the dietary needs of Montrealers by ensuring affordable access to healthy food.
“Imagine being able to eat fresh vegetables twelve months a year in Montreal,
grown locally by the community, via a network of indoor urban farms set up in vacant spaces in corporate and public buildings.”—Michel Poulin and Marie-Claude Gagnon
EnviroSocial: Human Collectives Dwelling on the Land and Respecting Nature
Mission: To responsibly and innovatively maximize the agricultural and educational potential of the territory of the Grand Parc de l’Ouest de Montréal by raising community awareness about the need to protect nature.
“Our project proposes to connect the people of the Montreal West neighbourhood with their immediate environment by teaching them environmentally friendly agricultural techniques that draw inspiration from multicultural, technologically innovative approaches.”—Nicolas Dugal and Alexandre Godley
Black Men: Being and Well-Being
Mission: To improve the health and mental well-being of Black and African-descended men, and to participate in their self-actualization.
“Men and women often experience similar mental health challenges, but the difference is that men are much less likely to talk about them. Preconceived ideas about masculinity are still very much present, as are the prejudices faced by men who do seek help. And yet, self-care would benefit from being understood as a form of social justice and an aid in the fight against systemic racism.”—Jordy Belance
Intu. Cooking - Cuisine Intuitive
Mission: To use food as a lever for creating intercommunity and intergenerational social links, through educational activities for young people, assistance for the most vulnerable, and an innovative supply method in the heart of the Haitian community.
“I’ve seen so many people experiencing difficulty for whom a good meal makes all the difference in their day. Cooking is a source of happiness; that’s what I want to convey with my project.”—Gytana TLight
Je suis Montréal
Mission: To foster inclusion through individual and collective community transformation by addressing the question of identity in Montreal through art and new narratives.
“Je Suis Montréal offers an inclusive space for Blacks, Indigenous people, and other people of colour to express themselves, share their experiences and, above all, claim a different narrative to create empowerment in our communities, so that we all have a place at the table.”—Taïna Mueth
Art-Science Intersectionality To Co-Create Meaning In Education
Mission: To place art-science intersectionality at the center of learning in education, so that it plays an active social role in the evolution of the perception of skills and the psychological and psychosocial development of young people.
“Creativity is one of those invisible treasures that each of us is disposed to at birth. Nevertheless, this remarkable ability tends to fade over time, even if we have different spheres in which to exercise it. By using cultural mediation as a vector for learning scientific disciplines, isn’t this an extraordinary opportunity to establish a new, creative, and organic form of education?”—Olivier Leogane and Elizabeth Emond
C.A.R.E: Centre d’apprentissage en relations empathiques (the Centre for Learning Empathic Relations)
Mission: To fill in the gaps in sex education in order to sensitize the broader public to issues of consent and emotional intelligence, both essential elements for romantic relationships and sexual practices that are healthy and respectful.
“#MeToo revealed the rape culture that our societies maintain today. As we face contemporary concerns around sexuality and seek to get away from systemic sexism, it’s necessary for us to talk about sex and love openly, in a space where all questions can be asked.”—Maryse Tremblay and Tasha Sarrazin-Audras
Leaders Who Have Autism
Mission: To participate in the positive recognition of the diversity of autistic profiles all over Quebec by promoting initiatives and coordinating autistic leaders and partners working in the milieu of autism around common issues.
“For those wishing to lift up the voices of discriminated people within their community, it’s painful that no network exists to promote access to activist initiatives in autism. By destigmatizing autism, we hope to represent the collective voice of adults who have autism in Québec and encourage them to assert themselves.”—Sarah DeGrâce
PSiNÉMA Workshops
Mission: To use cinema as a vehicle for learning about oneself, one’s mental health, and its representations by democratizing filmmaking among young people who wish to express themselves through this medium.
“The reality of today’s young people is complex. The problems they face are many, and the repercussions can easily touch their mental health, self-esteem, and stability at a crucial moment in their development. Attracting them with the magic of cinema becomes an opportunity to discover and experiment with this form of expression, to encourage creativity and demystify difficulty and illness.”—Geoffroy Beauchemin
HydroEd Projects
Mission: To reduce the risk of food insecurity by using innovative methods to develop food self-sufficiency in communities, through educational projects in hydroponic agriculture.
“In Québec’s community gardens, it is only possible to grow fruit and vegetables for four to five months each year, and the gardens themselves are often inaccessible to people with (limiting) physical conditions. In addition, dedication must be constant, substantial amounts of water must be used, and harvests can be affected or damaged by weather, insects, or animals. Indoor hydroponic greenhouses have the advantage of freeing us from all these constraints.”—Véronique Trépanier
Narrathon
Mission: To empower people living in isolation to take their place in society and develop authentic human connections through the power of stories.
“The growing problem of emotional isolation affects various segments of society. This question affects individuals of all ages, and the causes of this isolation are numerous, ranging from the frenetic nature of everyday life to the social stigmatization of emotional vulnerability. By promoting the value of authentic human connection, our project seeks to show the liberating power of personal storytelling.”—Charlie Leydier-Fauvel
Patience Place Café
Mission: To create a community that supports female immigrants newly settled in Québec in their integration into the job market.
“Immigrants play an essential role in filling the shortage of manpower in the Canadian job market. However, the path from immigration to stable, gainful employment can be discouraging, particularly for women, because of systemic prejudice and discrimination in hiring practices and corporate cultures.”—Carole Issekya
Tired of Dying
Mission: To create public art installations to raise awareness about femicide.
“Every day, women, trans and non-binary people, and—to an overrepresented degree—racialized women are victims of hatred and of physical, psychological, and sexual violence. This very violence can eventually culminate in a femicide. By offering a portrait of gender discrimination and violence, my project names a reality that generally unfolds behind closed doors, and brings it to life in a public space.”—Natalie-Ann Roy
A Step Towards Parc-Nature MHM!
Mission: To restore nature to an industrial zone in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough through collective action protecting biodiversity and promoting access to nature for residents of the neighbourhood.
“We are convinced that the creation of a large park is not only wished for by the community, but also that it will improve access to nature locally and contribute to improved health, quality of life, and the protection of biodiversity. Is there a single municipal administration, a single government, that has ever regretted creating a big park?”—Céline Bizon and Josée Desmeules
The Jury Members of the 2024 Cohort
The MIS team would like to thank the members of the jury who played a key role in the review and evaluation of the applications with their diverse backgrounds and expertise.
From left to right and from top to bottom in the photo:
- Sendy-Loo Emmanuel, doctoral student in communications; President and Founder of the organization WECAN
- LN Saint-Jacques (he.she.they.them), Executive Director of Centrale agricole
- Marie-Madeleine Gianni, Lead, Impact and Network, Startup Montréal, Ashoka Fellow (BET SHE CAN)
- Emily Laliberté, Program Manager – Ville inclusive, Exeko
- François-Xavier Michaux, General Coordinator, Transition en commun
- France Émond, Executive Director, TIESS
- Cécile Vergier, Economic Development Commissioner – Social Innovation, Ville de Montréal
The 2024 cohort of the Civic Incubator is funded by:
