[1][2] In 1911, the Archbishop of Montreal, Paul Bruchési with the Society of Jesus created the foundation École sociale populaire to help the Catholic Church adapt to the needs of people living in the expanding urban centres of the 20th-century.

[3] It drew its inspiration from Catholic social teaching laid out in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum in 1891.

[4] In 1983, the Society of Jesus in French-speaking Canada created the centre to follow in the tradition of the foundation and took over publication of Relations.

It is concerned with the themes of social justice, gender equality, religious pluralism and the welfare of refugees.

Inspired by the Second Vatican Council and the then Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Pedro Arrupe it is orientated towards social justice and liberation theology.