Background
In March 1981, a few women from the community, concerned about the status of women, met with the aim of exchanging and advancing the cause of women. A common desire to participate in the development of humanitarian projects, in a perspective of equal social power relations, motivated them and led them to formalise their action by incorporating under the name of the Comité pour l’avancement des femmes gaspésiennes (Committee for the Advancement of Gaspesian Women). Amongst the themes that interest them, one area on which they chose to focus energy is violence against women. They tried to pinpoint the different facets of this issue in order to define the objectives they hoped to achieve: make the population aware of the extent of the problem, denounce violence in all its forms, and provide the necessary assistance to women and children who had been abused in a conjugal context.
Since December 1983, the resource has been offering women who have been abused in a conjugal context and their children free accommodation, including reception, information, referral, support, intervention and accompaniment services when dealing with social, medical, legal or community services.
In 1992, the members of the board of directors organised a contest for people living in the MRC du Rocher-Percé to choose a name for the house. This is how it became L’Orée de Pabos in July 1993. During the 1990s, the involvement and hard work of the director, Blanche Morin, contributed significantly to the expansion of the services offered and to the reputation of the resource. In 2010, following her death, the Board of Directors decided to rename the house in her honour.
