CLSCs in Quebec: thirty years of community action

Local community service centres (CLSCs) emerged in Quebec in the early 1970s, in the context of the reform of Quebec's healthcare system and the North American movement for popular clinics or Neighbourhood Health Centers. The first CLSCs-primary healthcare institutions before the World Health Organization (WHO) popularized the concept-were mandated to offer a range of basic health and social services, while developing community action. The latter, defined as the art and method of getting the population to take part in identifying and solving health and social problems through information, education and group discussions, gradually asserted itself, thanks to the activism of a new category of professionals: community practitioners. Covering the entire province, throughout their existence, the 160 CLSCs were veritable laboratories for community organizations and a remarkable creative force behind the development of a policy of home support services and mental health in the community. Although their structure changed many times, particularly in the current context of reform to implement 95 local integrated service networks in the province, it continues to be a source of inspiration and of major actors.