Mission, approach and values
Mission
For 40 years, the mandate of the PIaMP (project for interventions with minor prostitutes) has been to lend an empathetic ear and offer support and guidance to people between the ages of 12 and 25 who exchange or are at risk of exchanging sexual services for any form of compensation. Our services are intended not only for young people, but for their friends and family members and for professionals wanting support for their interventions.
Excerpted from the Piamp’s letters patent, 1982:
“To provide a safe space where underage prostitutes are represented and where they can openly express their needs. To maintain a bottom-up decision-making system, from the young people to employees and members of the board of directors so that they can be heard by the different authorities, by reducing distortions and misinformation, and so that all of the PlaMP’s actions and decisions are in their interest.”
At the PIaMP, we believe that:
- Young people are experts about their own situation; let’s let them define it and believe in their capacity for self-determination;
- Each individual can experience the exchange of sexual services in a different way and we respect each person’s reality and choices;
- The exchange of sexual services for any form of compensation may be a catalyst of liberation and/or alienation and represents a complex ecosystem: we need to take a global approach and decompartmentalize interventions.
Our approach
The Piamp uses a global, humanist approach in its interventions, as well as a harm reduction approach. The organization does not take a stance in favour of or against the exchange of sexual services: its actions are based on young people’s everyday reality and the needs they express.
Our values
- Empowerment and autonomy
- Non-judgmental attitude and respect for integrity
- Independent community action
- Open-mindedness and nuanced understanding
- Justice and social inclusion
Mobilization and consultation
The PIaMP team believes that one of the greatest assets in intervention is cooperation and dialogue with partner organizations. That’s why it keeps in regular contact with the other organizations engaged in street and community work in Montreal.
The Piamp is a member of different groups and is active with various agencies:
- ROCAJQ : Regroupement des organismes communautaires autonomes jeunesse du Québec (Coalition of community youth organizations of Quebec)
- RAPSIM : Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (Support network for homeless people in Montreal)
- RIOCM : Regroupement intersectoriel des organismes communautaires à Montréal (Cross-sectoral coalition of community organizations in Montreal)
- TOMS : Table des organismes communautaires montréalais de lutte contre le VIH\SIDA (Issue table for community organizations in Montreal fighting HIV/AIDS)
- TCJVPP : Table de concertation Jeunesse Villeray – Petite-Patrie (Villeray/Petite-Patrie youth issue table)
The PIaMP’s social workers are also members of the Association des Travailleurs et Travailleuses de Rue du Québec (ATTRueQ – Association of Quebec street workers).