Portrait et analyse des stratégies à base territoriale pour contrer la pauvreté et l'exclusion dans le territoire de La Petite-Patrie à Montréal. Conditions d’une action intégrée

The subject of this PhD thesis is the fight against poverty. It aims at identify the conditions that promote transitioning out of poverty within an urban environment- in this case the Petite-Patrie district of Montreal-through an integrated territorial approach (ITA). This research fits into the various initiatives of fighting against poverty and exclusion in Quebec. This research is based on the following fundamental assumption: the use of an integrated territorial approach in the fight against poverty allows: (1) to implement conditions promoting a transition out of poverty and (2) to reverse the processes that lead to poverty, and, at the same time improve standards of living and quality of life of residents of a specific territory. The findings of this research make it possible: (1) to contribute to understanding the various mechanisms of the fight against poverty by considering the various stakeholders in a specific territory, and (2) to highlight the various types of designs and implementations of policies and development strategies, both at the State and Civil society levels, while taking into account that integrated intervention mechanisms should be developed where local and regional initiatives meet /interact with new types of public policies dealing with fight against poverty. The research led to three findings:  (1) while most researchers agree that poverty has many dimensions, it is impossible to refer to only one poverty; there are many aspects or types of poverty.  The various types of poverty encountered in the Petite-Patrie district support this assumption. It also calls for multiple and relevant strategies;  (2) people living in poverty can be assessed according to their abilities to act or react and divided in two groups: the first group cover people living in poverty who take some initiatives according to their abilities to act; the second group cover people whose abilities to act have been reduced, may be permanently, by their living conditions. People’s abilities to act or the lack thereof, will impact the strategies implemented in the fight against poverty. Any public policy dealing with transitioning out of poverty in a specific territory must make sure there are resources available close to the people targeted, in order to support the development of a more effective integrated territorial approach in the fight against poverty when targeting people who are more disenfranchised.  (3) In order to promote the prerequisites for an integrated approach in the fight against poverty in a specific territory, the relevant stakeholders must rely on collaboration, on alliances between the various sectors of society, upon an inclusive leadership and upon formal and functional linkages between the various institutions involved. There is also the need to use a dual approach -promoting employment and upholding human rights- two key factors in any intervention targeting people living in poverty in a specific territory, and taken into account by the local stakeholders. This dual approach allows intervening using different ways for the two groups defined. The integrated approach is essentially a strategy for coordinating a variety of measures.

Keyphrases: Local, Portrait, Conditions, Exclusion, Poverty, Specific territory, Integrated territorial approach, Conditions, Local, Stakeholders, Exclusion