Martin C. Barry

Despite an onerous weight of responsibilities over the past two years following the unexpected arrival of hundreds of refugees in Laval, Agape social services in Chomedey has closed last year’s ledgers with a surplus of around $10,000, which was slightly better than the year before when they just managed to finish in the black.

According to Agape secretary-treasurer Betty McLeod who presented the organization’s financial statements during their annual general meeting on June 20, Agape was able to report the surplus because a subsidy that had been overdue for a year finally came in.

Finished year in the black

“It was money that was owing to us from a year back,” she said, noting that receiving grants and subsidies late from various governments and agencies is an almost standard condition for charitable organizations.

“Had they not paid us we would have been in the red,” she said. However, if it’s any consolation, Agape finished the year a little better off than the previous one, when Agape reported just $2,165 left over when funding also arrived at the last moment.

“Very often when you’re running a charitable organization the problem is that funding promises always come in later,” said Kevin McLeod, Agape’s executive-director. “So very often you have to make your own funding to pay your employees because the funding doesn’t arrive until later.

Fundraisers are necessary

“As a result, you have to make sure that you cover yourself with your own financing,” he added. “Which is why Agape does so many fundraisers in a year because we have to auto-finance a big portion of what we do.”

Agape holds four fundraisers each year. The most successful of them last year was the Lois Hashimoto Annual Memorial Walk in September which brought in a net profit of $8,505. Although Agape’s Annual Golf Tournament was second most successful with a net return of more than $6,000, its future is currently under revision, although the 2017 tournament is still scheduled to take place on Tuesday Sept. 12.

The two other Agape fundraisers are the Denise Williams Annual Seniors’ Love Walk which generated a net profit of $3,611.55, and the Agape Annual Christmas Dinner which produced a profit of $2,224.00.

Valuable help to refugees

According to Agape’s latest annual report, the organization received 218 refugee families for a total of 719 persons between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. Being the only English-speaking charitable organization in Laval, Agape was targeted as a centre of support and help for newly-arrived refugees and immigrants.

“We have been successful in providing members with food, clothing, furniture and services,” the report stated, while adding that a total of 1,401 food baskets were distributed at Christmas 2016 and the demands continued to pour in over the new year. The years 2017-2018 also promise to be challenging years for demands by refugees and immigrants.

“Our generous English speaking community, our Laval English schools, churches and private companies are the reason why we have been able to continue our mission,” said Agape. “We sincerely thank them all for their continued support and look forward to working with them through the new fiscal year.”

Transition House help

According to the report, refugees and immigrants continue to benefit from low cost housing at Agape’s Transition House, and the same services will be offered in 2017-2018. With the support of Health Services Canada (through the Entente Canada-Quebec), Agape received a $20,000 grant enabling the organization to work with the victims of dependencies on alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc. The project was approved for 2016-2017, but the 2017-2018 renewal remained unconfirmed as Agape filed its latest report.

The following people are members of Agape’s 2016-2017 board of directors: Gregory Young (president), Rev. Father Michael Leclerc (vice-president), Elizabeth McLeod (secretary-treasurer), Roderick McLeod (financial advisor), Silvana Sandrin (resource person), Steve Bletas (resource person) and Mike Campolieto (resource person).

Mouvement Lavallois has more than $129,000 saved for election

Martin C. Barry

The Mouvement Lavallois, the party led by Mayor Marc Demers which currently dominates Laval city council, is entering the final stretch before the next municipal election with a record 5,600 signed-up members and a campaign war chest containing more than $129,000.

Funding on a per-vote basis

While the ML is aiming to have as much as $250,000 on hand before the Nov. 5 election, it will be the first time a municipal election takes place in Laval with new rules for political party fundraising since the provincial government brought in changes.

One of the new regulations, which is aimed at levelling the playing field for all parties while discouraging corrupt fundraising practices like those of the former Vaillancourt administration, will see Laval’s municipal parties allotted funding by the city based on the number of votes won in the election.

“They [the government] chose that way to assure that political parties don’t have to rely so much on private donations,” Demers said in an interview with the Laval News on June 11 during a break at the ML’s annual general meeting at Collège Letendre. It was attended by around 120 members.

Fundraising rules changing

Noting that moves to change political fundraising rules started as far back as when René Lévesque was Quebec’s Premier, but accelerated with recommendations made by the federal Gomery Commission into the Liberal Sponsorship Scandal, Demers said the current Quebec government followed suit last year with its own political fundraising revisions.

“In Laval, political parties will get about 60 cents every year per vote they get in the election,” said Demers, adding that those rules are now in effect, although the ML will only be declaring that source of revenue at its next annual general meeting.

“It’s not in our report because our report is for last year when we didn’t get anything. But that will be a major change.” According to Demers, most of the ML’s current treasury is being saved for the 2017 election campaign. Although the ML has no office (unlike the former mayor’s Parti Pro des Lavallois), it has one part-time staffer (Loïc Bouffard-Dumas) working one day a week for the party.

Planning ahead strategically

“We keep our expenses at a minimum to keep the money for the campaign,” the mayor said. He suggested the ML is using a very strategic and planned approach to fundraising. “If you start raising money six months before the campaign, it’s not healthy if I can put it that way.

“Because it’s very tough, you have temptation: people might offer you big amounts,” he continued. “We didn’t want to be there. So we started right after the last election doing financing with suppers and things like that to have money available for the campaign. This started three years ago.”

Martin C. Barry

Seven Laval-area groups providing assistance to senior citizens and their caregivers will be benefiting from $1.2 million in subsidies announced by Quebec Minister for Senior Citizens Francine Charbonneau who made the announcement on June 5 at the Place des Aînés community centre in Chomedey.

Mayor Marc Demers, who was on hand for the announcement, said it was good news for seniors as well as for those who take of them. He said organizations like l’Appui Laval do incalculably valuable work and the money they are receiving from Quebec is well spent by the government.

Lending a helping hand

For her part, Charbonneau said the groups chosen to receive the subsidies give back many times more. “Each time you help one person, you are helping a family and who knows how many more people,” she said. “Calculate it any way to like, but each time you reach out to help, you are helping many, many people.”

“For over five years, l’Appui Laval has been committed to increasing its services offered to Laval caregivers,” said Mariette Chalifoux, president of l’Appui Laval, which is serving as an umbrella for the seven recipients of the funding.

“Information, psychological support and respite services which are offered by community organizations provide valuable support to caregivers and contribute in improving their quality of life,” she added. In 2012, according to l’Appui, Quebec had more than 1.13 million family caregivers who provided care and support to a senior. One in 10 caregivers spends more than 20 hours a week on their caregiving duties.

Funding for two years

For the next two years, l’Appui Laval is committed to financially supporting 14 projects presented by the organizations. The projects will allow caregivers who support an elderly person with a loss of autonomy to access various services that meet their needs. The organizations chosen to receive the subsidies are:

The Association lavalloise de parents et amis pour le bien-être mental (ALPABEM), which develops information and training services for caregivers of seniors with mental health issues; The Association lavalloise des personnes aidantes (ALPA), which hosts conferences and provides individual and group support for caregivers of seniors. In addition it offers a home respite service 24/7; the Centre Communautaire le Rendez-Vous des Aînés (CCRVA) and the Comité d’animation du troisième âge de Laval (CLAVA), which provides respite days for caregivers by welcoming seniors to their premises;

Senior Citizens Minister Francine Charbonneau

Some of the organizations

The Coopérative de soutien à domicile de Laval, which is starting a home respite service that will let caregivers get a break for a few hours in order to meet a one-time need; The Services sociaux helléniques du Québec, which in collaboration with ALPA will assist English-speaking and various community caregivers. Their goal is to ensure awareness of the different resources and services offered to them in Laval; The Alzheimer Society Laval, which provides a range of services for caregivers of a person with Alzheimer, including home consultation, respite for one-time need and respite with accompaniment.

As Charbonneau made clear while delivering some of her remarks in English, the provincial government wants to increase the availability of services for English-speaking senior citizens and their caregivers. One of the organizations, Services sociaux helléniques du Québec, will be carrying out some of this mandate.

Increased services in English

“We will sensitize and inform mainly in English, in order to facilitate the accessibility of services,” said Chrysoula Beletsiotis, coordinator for the Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal’s caregiver program.

“We will target natural caregivers of the elderly within the anglophone and ethno cultural communities of Ste-Dorothée, Laval-Ouest, Les Îles-Laval, Fabreville-Ouest and Chomedey,” she added. “Even though we have managed to sensitize a significant number of caregivers to date, there are still so many more caregivers of the elderly that need to be reached before they burnout. We have only touched the tip of the iceberg.”

City council pays homage to volunteers during flood crisis

Martin C. Barry

At the beginning of Laval city council’s monthly meeting on June 6, Mayor Marc Demers paid homage to members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Red Cross, municipal employees and volunteers who all did their part to help provide relief during the recent flooding crisis in Laval.

According to the mayor, nearly 1,200 Laval employees were involved in the flood relief effort.

Flood crisis volunteers

“This evening and with the greatest respect, I wish on behalf of all the citizens of Laval, in the presence of the members of the administration, to express our sincerest thanks and acknowledgement for the help and support made to the citizens,” he said.

While it had been only a few weeks since the flood crisis, relatively few questions were put to the mayor about it. One of the only citizens to come forth raising the issue was Sylvain Daoust, who has previously raised questions about province’s and the city’s management of flood zones. Daoust asked Mayor Marc Demers whether the city might seek changes to the 0-20 years flood zone.

Demers told him that the city has no power to change provincial regulations for flood zones. “Only the government of Quebec can do it,” he said. “The city has been making submissions for several months to modify that and has asked to the support of provincial elected officials to change the regulations.”

Flood victims ticketed

The only other resident to raise the flooding issue was Micheline Charbonneau, who said she was among those who were flooded. According to Charbonneau, a number of car owners on flooded streets who moved their vehicles as the water rose later received parking tickets for leaving their cars in no parking zones. Mayor Demers said the executive-committee had asked for parking tolerance in some sectors during the flood crisis and that tickets in question would be re-examined.

Also during question period, Action Laval leader Jean-Claude Gobé raised questions about a condominium in Florida previously owned by former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt and which is said to have been purchased though an offshore company in the Bahamas suspected to be involved in money laundering.

Reminding the mayor that the City of Laval signed an agreement with Vaillancourt prior to the former mayor’s being jailed following his conviction for public corruption, Gobé suggested the city should be doing more to find out who is “hiding” behind the offshore company.

Vaillancourt rumors resurface

“I think, Mr. Mayor, that it would be part of our responsibility and out of respect to the citizens in this situation with Mr. Vaillanourt which was outrageous to take all the measures to recover all the monies possible for reasons having to do with justice and equity,” he continued.

Responding, Demers said he was reluctant to speculate on the issue. “Truly, the condo in question is not something new – it is known by the police authorities,” he said, adding that it had also come to the attention of UPAC and several judges.

Commenting on the fact the condo in question is said to have been sold for a much lower price than the current market value, Demers said, “Everybody knows that real estate a few years ago in Florida got cut to around a third of its value. And it was during this time that the acquisition of this condo was made.”

Demers also noted that the agreement the City of Laval signed with Vaillancourt was scrutinized by several leading legal experts familiar with all the recent municipal corruption issues in Quebec and that the city managed as a result to recover some $10 million from Vaillancourt when most people were doubtful it would be possible.

Former mayor in jail, says Demers

“He is currently in jail and the City of Laval has the money,” said Demers. “It would have been very easy for him to say he was contesting everything, that he would pay lawyers $8 million and he would be left with two, rather than give it to the city.” He told Gobé that what he was asking for “is technically impossible. It’s basic in law.”

Also during the meeting, Chomedey city councillor Aglaia Revelakis, the sole sitting member of council for Action Laval, tabled a motion calling on the council majority to support a resolution to create a new municipal committee for women’s issues in Laval. During the citizens’ question period, the motion was supported by a group of four representatives of the Table de concertation de Laval en condition féminine (TCLCF), including Souad Siala.