The Association des services de réhabilitation sociale du Québec (ASRSQ) presented the first edition of the Cabaret de la seconde chance on October 22, 2015 at the Gesù theatre, located downtown Montreal. More than 320 people were in attendance for this memorable evening.

Actress Guylaine Tremblay was the spokesperson for the event, a unique cabaret that hosted renowned professional artists, social workers and talented individuals who all share the particularity of, at one point in their lives, having had trouble with the law. The actress, well-known for her role as Marie Lamontagne in the popular TV series Unité 9, declared being “firmly convinced that each of us, at any moment in life, could fall into the shadows … and to get back up towards the light, a giving hand must reach out. Believing in a second chance means believing in mankind and the strength of the life within us!”

This event is first and foremost designed to raise awareness, break prejudices and reaffirm the importance of social and community reintegration of offenders, and the participation of the community in that process. People who do not work in the rehabilitation field can have a prejudiced view of offenders, as their sole contact with this world is through media or fiction. And any worker in this field will tell you that fiction is largely stranger than reality in this case! This show aims to present in a positive light, beyond the “offender” label, people who do not enjoy such visibility very often. We have to remember that an offender is more than only that. They can be a father or mother, they have parents, brothers or sisters, can be a bus driver, teacher, nurse, librarian, etc. In other words, we cannot label them solely as “criminals” because they are much more than that. And sometimes, these people can have artistic talents, which we here want to promote. Art can express itself in many different ways, but remains with one universal value of uniting people through emotions. We want to (re) create this feeling of unity.

The 2015 edition of the Cabaret de la seconde chance received the Szabo award in the “Promotion of social reinsertion” category from the École de criminologie of the Université de Montréal.

The event

For this first edition, the event was twofold.

First, at around 6 pm, doors opened to allow spectators to discover the sculptures, photography and paintings of our visual artists. This first part was free entry.

Then, at 8 pm, everyone with a ticket was invited inside the theatre to enjoy a show hosted by Daniel Benson and actor Tony Conte. Performances were diverse, from singing to text reading and a few informative capsules. Mononc’Serge and Sylvie Desgroseillers also took the stage for a musical performance.