Petites-Mains: I Went Looking for a Sandwich and Found a Lesson

By Becca Winkelaar

The field of global health often looks outward, spotlighting work unfolding on the international stage. While it is important to keep a finger on the pulse, such a broad scope can periodically make global health work feel intangible. Research is often massive in scale and reach, with data often the focus rather than the everyday human narrative.   

And yet, everywhere, people continue to do committed work toward a more empathetic, inclusive, and ethical world. “Local health” may be smaller in scale, but it is no less meaningful. To confirm this belief — and because, to be quite frank, I wanted a good sandwich — I set out to visit Petites-Mains, primarily a Montreal-based social integration enterprise for women in need and secondarily a café — essentially, the ideal spot to grab a responsible, internationally inspired bite to eat.  

From the moment I enter the building, tucked away on Saint-Laurent Boulevard across from Parc Jarry, I was met with warmth. Not only was the building’s literal temperature an escape from the late January cold, but the colourful interior décor and the receptionist’s easy smile instantly put me at ease. 

That sense of welcome is not accidental. It is maintained daily by the people who keep Petites-Mains running, many of whom wear more hats than their job titles might suggest. Case in point: I met with Katy Howick, whose official title is “Principal Advisor,” but I quickly came to understand this as an umbrella term for HR administrator, project manager, counsellor, mentor, and, today, personal tour guide.  

Having multiple responsibilities is not exclusive to the people running Petites-Mains but also applies to the organization itself. Self-described as a social integration company sensitive to the challenges faced by migrant women, single parents, and those without income, Petites-Mains’ goal is to help each participant in their programs reach their full potential and carve out a place in Québec’s culture. To do so, the organization offers employment assistance, personalized support, French courses, and paid professional training in a “stream” of the participant’s choosing: sewing, receptionist work, or restauration.  

Any participant (though women are prioritized) can apply to Petites-Mains, learn a trade while getting paid, and graduate from the program with the work experience and cultural know-how necessary to secure a full-time job in Québec. This program can be life-changing for migrant women, in particular, who often arrive at Petites-Mains without the stamina or support necessary to quickly integrate into Québec culture. Those who apply to the “restauration” stream, for instance, operate the Petites-Mains café and catering service next door (and yes, this is where I ultimately found the sandwich I initially sought, and yes again, it was everything I hoped it might be and more).   

What struck me throughout Katy’s tour was Petites-Mains’ self-sufficiency. For every challenge a participant might face, the company appears to have considered a creative solution. Take the following as evidence: First, childcare is an unavoidable obstacle faced by many women trying to enter the workforce. Rather than ignore this reality, the company offers a daycare service. Those in the restauration training program then operate a kitchen separate from the café to feed children who attend the daycare, so that every parent at Petites-Mains can rest assured their child is well looked after while they work.  

Second: The catering service generates revenue, and enough that, should funding unexpectedly fall through, Petites-Mains could still operate. Having this safety net alleviates enough financial stress that Petites-Mains can comfortably invest in itself to ensure it is providing the best possible service — it is this revenue, in fact, which has supported the recent renovation of the café to make room for an expanded kitchen. 

Petites-Mains’ guiding principle became clear throughout my meeting with Katy. Everything they do is centred around participants’ needs.

As we wandered through the sewing factory, where those in the sewing stream were working hard to fill an order, Katy explained that programs, partnerships, and even long-standing practices are not treated as fixed but as tools. If they no longer serve the women Petites-Mains exists for, they are reshaped or set aside.  

This commitment to responsiveness has not always been easy to reconcile with conventional “success”. One of the more difficult realities Katy shared is that Petites-Mains today serves fewer participants than it once did. But it is also not the same organization it was thirty years ago. The needs of women arriving at its doors have shifted — becoming more complex, more layered — and Petites- Mains has chosen depth over breadth. For Katy, the organization’s sustained life exists not despite this evolution, but because of it. 

In her office, I asked Katy whether there was a participant whose story particularly resonated with her. She smiles wide, eyes twinkling, and told me about “Fatima” (name changed for anonymity). When Fatima arrived at Petites-Mains, she was not ready for the full training program. Quiet and understandably withdrawn, she began in the sewing stream. Over the course of the two-year program, something shifted. She began to form connections, gain confidence, and, as Katy put it, find herself again. While working, Fatima finished high school, went on to obtain a design diploma, and ultimately delivered a graduation speech on behalf of her Petites-Mains cohort in front of an audience of hundreds, including Mayor Valérie Plante. 

Katy was quick to add that not every participant has a “Fatima story,” and that this is not the point. Petites-Mains’ goal, she explains, is simply to plant the seed. Whether Katy ever sees the garden that grows from it is beyond her control; all she can hope is that the conversations, the experiences, and the sense of belonging participants encounter at Petites-Mains are enough to start something. Even if that is simply reminding people of who they have always been, and of what they have always been capable of.  

Listening to Katy, I was reminded that much of what frustrates me about global health discourse stems from an insistence on immediacy, visible returns, and measurable outcomes. Petites Mains might be a quieter model, with impact that is not always immediate, but it is rooted in patience and empathy. The impact is continuous, unique to each participant, and deliberate. 

Much of the labour undertaken remains unseen. What is visible (and tastable) to the public instead is the café next door, the grand finale of Katy’s tour. Large windows line the front wall facing Parc Jarry, letting in light despite the grey winter afternoon. I can easily imagine the space in summer, with a terrace out front and fresh, globally inspired cuisine decorating every table. 

Katy and I bid adieu as the café is nearly closing up, the dining floor empty. The space wasn’t quiet though; as I munch on my long-awaited sandwich (for those curious: chicken shish taouk, with sumac, garlic mayonnaise, pickled turnip, on pita), I could hear laughter coming from the kitchen behind the bar. There was a lingering energy in the space — the sense that, had I visited even half an hour earlier, I would have been stuck in a long line. Though at this point, I am admittedly biased, my mind consumed by sandwich, I couldn’t help but feel that with this story, I had been fortunate enough to stumble across an organization that was doing something special, kind, and fundamentally good.  

So take Petites-Mains as your reminder that when global health feels too massive, too distant, too idealistic — sometimes, it can be as simple as listening to one another, extending support, and reorienting your focus toward your own community. 

Rebecca Winkelaar

is a fourth-year BSc Ecological Determinants of Health student at McGill University. Her research with Dr. Maheu-Giroux focuses on global patterns of HIV-related stigma through data analysis and visualization. She participated in the Global Health Scholars Program in 2025-2026 and currently serves as VP Advertising for the Canadian Association for Global Health at McGill. She is especially interested in bridging research and storytelling to make global health more accessible.