Éric Bondo is an activist in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

best known for his tenure as coordinator of the

Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec The Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec is an activist organization in the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec, established in 1974. Its purpose is to represent the interests of Quebec residents receiving social assistance. P ...

(FCPASQ) in the mid-2000s.

Activism

Bondo helped create Groupe corporatif de gestion IMPACT, an organization that sought to find employment for students, in early 1995. It was forced to discontinue operations in November of the same year. At its conclusion, the organization's only project was a dépanneur in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. He succeeded

Jean-Yves Desgagnés Jean-Yves Desgagnés is a political activist in the Canadian province of Quebec. He has worked for many years on behalf of people receiving social assistance and has sought election to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec four times. Desgagnés is ...

as FCPASQ coordinator in 2004. In the same year, he led demonstrations against the government of

Jean Charest John James "Jean" Charest (; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012. Prior to that, he was a member of Parliament (MP) between 1984 and 1998. After holding se ...

for its plan to cut $44 million from social assistance, primarily targeted at youth. Claude Bechard, the minister responsible for implementing the decision, had argued that many youth would be able to escape social assistance with the help of their parents. Bondo responded that the government was pursuing "punitive measures" and playing up stereotypes of the poor as parasites, adding that many young welfare recipients do not come from wealthy families and would not be able to seek assistance from this source. He introduced a set of counter-proposals in October 2004, including the recognition of a "prestation minimale." In December 2004, he organized a blockade of Jean Charest's constituency office in

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

. Bondo also criticized the Charest government's requirement, in 2005, that some persons receiving social assistance be required to find jobs with community organizations. He described this as a "cheap labour" plan for the community organizations and as a cosmetic change that would do nothing to resolve the underlying problems of poverty. He condemned a plan to build a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

in one of Montreal's poorest neighbourhoods in December 2005, arguing that it would both increase poverty, by enticing low-income residents to gamble their social assistance cheques, and double or triple the crime rate."Que-Gambling," ''Broadcast News'', 5 December 2005, 2:35 pm; William Marsden, "Casino opposition grows: Coalition demands legislature hearings," ''Montreal Gazette'', 5 December 2005, A7. His term as FCPASQ co-ordinator appears to have ended in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bondo, Eric Living people Canadian anti-poverty activists Activists from Montreal Year of birth missing (living people)