opinion: a 'window is opening' to shift the obesity conversation in quebec
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"i have no idea what 2026 holds for me. all i know is that i want to give back, as much as i can, what i was fortunate enough to receive at a time when i felt i deserved nothing at all," says maude picotte of her journey through obesity.
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i wasn’t always fat.
march 4 is world obesity day. in quebec alone, nearly three million people live with obesity. and yet their experiences remain almost entirely absent from public conversation and political platforms. that was a reality i barely knew existed. until chance decided otherwise.
i have always considered myself a rational, pragmatic person. deeply atheist, borderline impious at times, i hold the conviction that everything that has not yet been explained will be, eventually, as science continues to evolve. human beings are naturally curious. there will always be someone, somewhere, willing to take an interest in the unexplained. and yet, if there is one thing that i’ve always found fascinating, it’s chance; that invisible thread connecting seemingly ordinary moments into decisive turning points you never saw coming.
2025 was a hard year. after nearly fifteen years teaching high school science, i walked away from the job i believed i was meant to do for the rest of my life. when you’ve told everyone who would listen, since the age of five, that “you’re going to be a teacher,” and at no point in your entire academic journey do you deviate from that plan… let’s just say it hits hard. the guilt, the shame, the emptiness. the fear of no longer knowing who you are without the role that made you feel useful, that gave you the sense you were making a real difference.
and so there i was, standing at a crossroads in so many areas of my life, lost in the middle of a competitive sea of wannabe freelance translators on an online platform, trying to figure out who i was, what i wanted, and what on earth an ex-teacher could possibly do next, when chance led me to a job posting that would irreversibly transform my entire existence. priti chawla, founder and executive director of obesity matters, was looking for a part-time communications specialist to join the organization’s french-language division, parlons obésité. i had never heard of this non-profit or its mission, and if i am being completely honest, i did not really have the qualifications for the role, except for being bilingual. i have no idea what pushed me to apply, but i did, and i met priti. thirty minutes later, i had a job.
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as i got to know obesity matters / parlons obésité and my role as communications manager took shape, i fell into the cause completely, body and soul. priti has the rare ability to see potential in people long before they see it in themselves, and her magnetism resonates with her deepest conviction: everyone matters and deserves to be empowered. she reminded me that i am allowed to make mistakes, to be imperfect. she knew a broken version of me, and rather than sweeping the pieces under the rug, she helped me put them back together. for the first time in what felt like forever, i felt genuinely, truly seen. that feeling – of mattering, of making a real difference – is a powerful catalyst for change. and now, it’s my turn to pass it on.
because 3 million people deserve to feel it too.
in 2021, more than 60 per cent of quebec’s population was classified as overweight or living with obesity according to the body mass index; 37 per cent classified as overweight and 28 per cent living with obesity. people who, day after day, face challenges whose true scope remains largely unknown. women and men who, despite every effort, swim against the current in a society that sees their condition as the result of laziness or a lack of willpower for which they alone are responsible. and yet the scientific community (including in the lancet) has recognized obesity as a chronic, multifactorial disease in which nearly 70 per cent is determined by individual genetics. the world health organization has issued guidelines on the use of glp-1 receptor agonists for the long-term treatment of obesity in adults. quebec, for its part, persists in telling them to move more and eat less.
quebec systematically excludes pharmacological treatments from public coverage, not only making access exceedingly difficult, but also preventing the proper evaluation of effectiveness altogether. the absence of formal recognition of obesity as a chronic disease perpetuates a damaging message: that people living with overweight or obesity have no one to blame but themselves. rather than offering the same medical support given for other chronic diseases, we signal that treatments capable of improving health are merely cosmetic indulgences.
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with a provincial election anticipated in october 2026, a strategic window is opening to shift the conversation in quebec. it is in this context that i launched “3 million reasons,” a quebec-focused public awareness and advocacy campaign timed around world obesity day. as part of this initiative, we are collecting the voices and experiences of people living with obesity in quebec through a survey, currently available in french, to generate concrete, quebec-specific data on what it truly means to live with this disease. the findings will inform government consultations, strengthen media engagement, and support future advocacy efforts aimed at improving equitable access to care. quebec residents who wish to participate can complete the survey here.
so, even though i was not always fat, i have chosen to use the platform available to me to speak on behalf of all those who have not always lived with obesity, and especially for those who have carried it their entire lives.
i have no idea what 2026 holds for me. all i know is that i want to give back, as much as i can, what i was fortunate enough to receive at a time when i felt i deserved nothing at all. and if you feel moved to give back too, even just a little, i invite you to join your voice to mine.
because every person deserves to be seen.
because every path is valid.
because every story matters.
because every path is valid.
because every story matters.
because it is time we were counted.
i am a reason. will you be one too?
—
maude picotte is communication and community outreach manager at obesity matters / parlons obésité.
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