Misconceptions campaign

The campaign

The campaign “End the misconceptions about poverty” conducted in Quebec in 2013-2014 started from the observation that, despite many advances, misconceptions continue to spread and spread in all walks of life. They are a daily burden on people living in poverty and are a real obstacle for these people.

The campaign has enabled people living in poverty, volunteers and friends of the ATD Fourth World movement to create together simple, clear and effective tools to put an end to these misconceptions about poverty: manual, fact sheets , online quiz, forum theatre, etc.

Here is the le facebook link of the campaign from the time, along with an article analyzing the policies built on these misconceptions.

Campaign tools

Check out these tools that are still going strong (all in French):

  • The handbook against misconceptions about poverty, a small 12-page booklet that debunks 4 misconceptions, with clear and well-researched arguments.
  • The argument sheets. These sheets are intended for all those who would like to succeed in answering and, perhaps, convincing a colleague, a stranger or an elected official who repeats one of these myths without thinking about it.
  • The three shorts videos produced (see also below).
  • The Quiz of the ideas about poverty.
  • The link to the French campaign against misconceptions on the ATD French website
  • The book “En finir avec les idées reçues sur la pauvreté” (France). This book addresses more than 80 received ideas on subjects as broad as fraud, immigration, social minima, employment, placement of children… It is aimed at all curious citizens, in search of information simple and precise on the subject.

Thanks to donors, 10,000 paper copies of the handbook against misconceptions in Quebec were printed and then distributed. You can still order or pick up our tools against misconceptions about poverty for free to distribute them around you. Especially :

  • Two double-sided sheets (postcard format 4 x 6 inches) (“The poor do not want to work” and “People on welfare have it easy”).
  • Two posters (format 11 x 17 inches) (“The poor do not want to work” and “People on welfare have it easy”).
  • Le handbook (12-page booklet)

Contact us for this.

The misconceptions

Here are 12 vignettes from our handbook against misconceptions. They are also partly developed here (in French):

Everyone can fight misconceptions and together we can continue to learn how to fight misconceptions and put the fight against prejudice at the heart of public debate. Together, let’s no longer remain silent in the face of misconceptions about poverty!

Some misconceptions deconstructed in video (in French):