May 11, 2020 COVID-19 Organization

Montréal – With COVID-19 causing financial hardship for many Québec households, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is substantially increasing the support it provides to various front-line organizations that are dedicated to helping consumers, including seniors.

With this additional support, the AMF is more than doubling, to $830,000, the annual amount it is providing to the 37 family economy cooperative associations (Associations coopératives d'économie familiale – ACEFs), Québec’s consumer associations and three seniors associations for 2020-2021. The additional contribution is intended to help these community organizations more effectively respond to the growing number of requests for assistance and financial advice from individuals and households in Québec that are struggling to make ends meet. The AMF is also making its financial education expertise and resources available to them as well as tools to facilitate their communications with its target consumer audience.

“Our multi-facetted support for front-line organizations represents a significant contribution that could have a direct impact on many households and seniors facing financial hardship,” said Louis Morisset, AMF President and CEO. “It’s a concrete step that builds on joint efforts on the ground and the other measures introduced by the AMF since the beginning of the public health crisis to assist consumers,” Mr. Morisset added.

In the spring of 2019, the AMF announced that it was providing $2 million in financial support over five years to the ACEFs and consumers associations. In light of the anticipated growth in needs related to the COVID-19 crisis, the AMF will pay all this financial support in four years instead of five, thereby doubling the amount initially planned for 2020-2021.

Option consommateurs and the members of the Union des consommateurs and the Coalition des associations de consommateurs du Québec comprise the group of 37 community organizations offering budget consulting services. The main seniors associations in Québec are the Association québécoise des retraité(e)s des secteurs public et parapublic (AQRP), the Association des retraitées et retraités de l’éducation et des autres services publics du Québec (AREQ-CSQ) and the seniors network Réseau FADOQ, formerly known as the Fédération de l’Âge d’Or du Québec.

The Autorité des marchés financiers is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec’s financial sector.

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