Fair Trade

Fair trade is a movement that began in church basements in the late 40s with the intention to assure farmers in the south a fair price for their products. Through fair and stable prices, farmers can work with dignity in safe and healthy working conditions.

Emmaus became certified as a Fairtrade Faith Group by Fairtrade Canada in 2016. This means that we are committed to serving Fairtrade-certified coffee, sugar and tea on a regular basis at the church. Emmaus had already been supporting the fair trade movement through the Just Us program for years, so it was an easy transition toward certification. We have been coordinating purchases from Just Us coffee for Church members and others. The advantage of this program for the people of Emmaus is that we can buy high quality, organic, fair trade coffee from a responsible corporate citizen at wholesale prices. The prices for tea, chocolate, and other products are also competitive. Monthly orders with Just Us range from $200-$500.

In the years to come, we will organize events to create more awareness about fair trade.

Refugee Sponsorship

In 2017 Emmaus started to explore how God might be calling us to sponsor a refugee family from Syria. Through a friendship that we had with a Lebanese church that was working with Syrian refugees in Beirut, we were introduced to a beautiful family of 6 that was interested in moving to Canada. The family arrived here in Montreal in July of 2019, and it has been a joy for us to get to know them and to help to get them acclimatized to life here in Canada.

Although our formal financial sponsorship for this family ended in July of 2020, we continue to walk with them in mutual friendship and support. If you are interested in being involved with this initiative, whether by donating to our sponsorship fund to help with extraordinary dental or child expenses (a new member of the family was born here in Montreal!), taking them grocery shopping, driving them to medical or dental appointments, helping them learn to skate, sending messages of encouragement, donating baby stuff and meals after the birth, etc., please let us know. This family is a joy to be with, and we consider it a great honour to walk beside them in mutual friendship and love.

The Open Door Montreal

Mission and objectives

The mission of The Open Door Montréal is to welcome homeless or vulnerable people in the love of Jesus, and to support them on their journey towards emotional, physical and spiritual well-being.

The objectives in our Charter, for which the organization is formed are:

1)    To relieve poverty and promote the well-being of homeless, marginalized and vulnerable people by operating and maintaining a support centre.

2)    To relieve poverty and promote the well-being of homeless, marginalized and vulnerable people through the offer of programs leading to their social reintegration

Our values; integrity, honesty, respect, compassion, perseverance, humility and generosity

History:

The Open Door was started in 1988 by a member of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in response to the increasing numbers of people, both homeless and “working poor”, who came to the church in search of help. Many of them came looking for food, a listening ear, or warm clothing in winter. In June of that year, a small team of volunteers opened a drop-in centre located in a small room under the church hall where, over the next three months, they dedicated three hundred hours to listening to the visitors and helping them with basic needs. After this initial effort, St. Stephen’s Church decided to continue the ministry. A small budget was earmarked for the work; additional financial support came from local donations and the Anglican Diocese of Montreal.

The ministry was then named The Open Door. Services provided were food and clothing, shelter during the day, counselling, referrals to professional mental health and drug addiction counsellors, literacy training, bathroom and shower facilities, and employment assistance. Except for a four-year period from 2003 to 2007, The Open Door has operated out of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, located at 4006 Dorchester Boulevard, Westmount, on the corner of René-Lévesque and Atwater. Until 2009, The Open Door has been a mission of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church. In 2009, Emmaus Anglican Church partnered with St. Stephen’s in running the mission. In 2010, Emmaus Anglican Church accepted sole responsibility for The Open Door. The Open Door was incorporated in July 2018 under a new name – The Open Door Montréal / La Porte ouverte Montréal. Throughout 2018, we were actively involved in the renovation of our new day centre at 3535 Park Avenue, and we moved into that space on December 3, 2018.