Vers un coopératisme social: la Ligue ouvrière catholique et la question du logement dans les années 1940

Abstract

1nitiated during the years 1940 and 1941, the "housing campaign" was an important part of the activities of the Ligue ouvrière catholique canadienne (the Canadian Catholic workers' league) for most of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s. ln particular, the league envisioned co-operative action in the area of housing at the national and local levels as the beginning of a reform of urban society. The Commission nationale de l'habitation (national housing commission) and later the Fédération des coopératives d'habitation du Québec (the federation of housing cooperatives of Quebec) served essentially as forums for promoting social co-operative efforts, based mainly on several experimental new communities or "co-operative villages". This model achieved interesting success in several urban areas in Sherbrooke, in the Mauricie and Bois-Francs regions, and in ihe satellite towns of Montreal. ln spite of some successes, it did not take hold in Montreal until the last half of the 1950s.