An LGBTQ2S+ helpline in Quebec is set to close its evening service next month due to a lack of funding, which could affect thousands of people.
The Interligne organization announced in mid-September that its nightly assistance and information service risked closing by November 15 due to funding problems.
Speaking to CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday, Interligne talent acquisition specialist Marc-Olivier Guy said the helpline saves lives.
“If you’re waiting until the middle of the night to contact a helpline, it’s probably because there’s something going on during the day that you can’t do it,” Guy said.
“So now, if we’re only open during the day, we’re not going to be there for thousands – tens of thousands – of people who won’t get this life-changing support.”
The helpline provides psychological support and crisis intervention to LGBTQ2S+ people – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit and others – in need.
The organization says the evening helpline takes around a third of Interligne’s calls.
As many as 10,000 people use the evening service each year and the group blamed the “inaction” of the Government of Quebec for the potential end of the helpline.
In an interview with The Canadian Press in September, the organization’s executive director said he needed $300,000 from the Quebec government. The City of Montreal had previously agreed to fund the night service for a few years before it disappeared.
Watch the full interview with Marc-Olivier Guy at the top of the article. With files from The Canadian Press.