Martin C. Barry

With the month of April nearly here – traditionally the Canadian Cancer Society’s Daffodil Month – public officials from Laval and the North Shore regions gathered at Cité de la Santé hospital in Laval last week for the official of this year’s Daffodil Campaign.

Daffodils for sale

In the Laval and Lanaudière regions, hundreds of fresh-cut daffodils will be going on sale through a network of 1,000 volunteers stationed at 100 points of sale in banks, food stores, senior citizens’ centres and at some businesses. Across the province, nearly two million daffodils will be sold by 20,000 volunteers at a total of 1,800 locations.

For the fourth year, Quebec radio and TV hostess Josée Boudreault will be the official spokesperson for the Daffodil Campaign in this province. “My mother died from lung cancer three years ago a few months before the birth of my daughter, Flavie,” says Boudreault.

“I am hopeful that one day those we love won’t die from lung cancer as my mother did. Support those who are afflicted by cancer. Buy flowers or offer them. That’s a good way to support research against cancer, to support prevention efforts, while giving hope to those who are presently living with this disease.”

Show your support

The Cancer Society says there are a number of things members of the public can do to show their support: buying daffodils between March 30 and April 2 (they are 3 for $5 or 10 for $10); proudly wearing the Cancer Society’s daffodil pin throughout April (they are sold in the same places where the flowers are available or at the Cancer Society’s regional offices).

“People afflicted by cancer want support and want to be heard,” Vimont MNA Jean Rousselle, who is supporting the campaign but was unable personally to attend the launch, said in a statement. “Every day, 370 Quebecers turn to the CCS for support, information and for means to prevent cancer,” added Rousselle, who has taken part in the local Daffodil Campaign for five years. “Last year, 49,500 Quebecers were told they had cancer.”

Support on the North Shore

On the North Shore in the Deux-Montagnes area, local MNA Benoit Charette has taken on the task of being honorary chairman of the regional Daffodil Campaign. “I encourage all the population of the MRC to show support and to buy daffodils from March 30 to April 2 so that the CCS can be there for those and those around them,” he said.

Also from the North Shore, Bois-des-Filion mayor Paul Larocque is supporting this year’s Daffodil Campaign and is serving as honorary president in his region. “I would like to note that I consider this daffodil campaign to be very important for getting our citizens to take concrete actions, whether it’s having fresh flowers at city hall, or wearing the daffodil pin,” he said, while pointing out that he will be serving as a volunteer selling daffodils at a kiosk. “I hope that we are more numerous in 2017 to demonstrate our support for this big cause.”

Rising cancer survival rates

Based on statistics alone, it’s evident that the money raised from the annual Daffodil Campaign is saving lives. Today, according to the CCS, 63 per cent of people who have been told “you have cancer” are alive five years later. As well, for some forms of cancer survival is even better. The survival rate for infant cancers is 82 per cent, breast cancer 88 per cent, prostate cancer 96 per cent and testicular cancer 97 per cent.

Comparatively, during the 1940s the overall survival rate for cancer was 25 per cent. And the CCS points out that a good deal of work remains to be done. Today, every 26 minutes a Quebecer dies of cancer, 50,000 Quebecers learn they have cancer each year, and cancer remains responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths in Quebec.

(TLN)

Alfred-Pellan Liberal MP Angelo Iacono has announced that three organizations from his riding have received financial assistance allowing them to purchase new equipment to facilitate their work.

The announcement was made on behalf of Family, Children and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos as part of the New Horizons program for the well-being of senior citizens.

Here are the projects:

The group wishes to replace and improve its fitness equipment for seniors.
Amount: $1,496

Group: Cercle des Fermières de Saint-François
Title of project : Improvement of equipment
The organization will purchase a loom to facilitate and improve weaving techniques.
Amount: $6,010

Group: Fabrique Saint-Noël-Chabanel
Title of project: Improvement of main room at community centre
The group will be upgrading its floor and replace its chairs in order to accommodate                certain activities.
Amount: $25,000

“The government of Canada is determined to see that Canadian senior citizens can participate in community activities meeting their needs and their range of interests,” Iacono said in a statement. “As part of the New Horizons program for seniors, we finance projects such as those in St-François so that seniors may participate in community activities which are useful and keep them active.”

The federal government has allotted around $35 million to the New Horizons program for seniors with the goal of financing nearly 1,850 community projects which have been approved following a call for proposals for 2016-2017. Since 2004, New Horizons has financed nearly 19,700 projects in hundreds of communities across Canada, for a total investment by the federal government of around $417 million.

The Quebec Provincial Police crime unit has opened up an investigation after a man’s body was found lifeless on highway 13 (in Laval) northbound between highways 440 & 640.

A call to the police about a seriously injured person came in at around 11h30am. Unfortunately the man passed away before the Police came on the scene.  The death is being treated as suspicious because on Tuesday morning (March 21, 2017) it was reported a man in his 30s was surrounded by a group of men and beaten before being forced into a car in the parking lot of the Tutti Frutti restaurant in the Ste-Dorothée district of Laval and are believed to be related.

The incident has caused the northbound side of Highway 13 to be closed until further notice. Major traffic problems as drivers are being forced onto the service road.

Martin C. Barry

During an afternoon luncheon held at the Château Royal on Sunday March 5 to mark International Women’s Day, more than 100 members of the Hellenic Women’s Federation of Laval-Electra heard from a Laval woman who made her mark in the world and who offered advice on how others can advance in their careers and lives.

Although the Hellenic Women’s Federation-Electra holds an event like this every year, “this year we took it to another level,” association president Patricia Lagopatis said in an interview with the Laval News. “The organization is actually growing, so we’re very happy,” she added.

‘Bold for Change’

The theme of this year’s meeting was ‘Be Bold for Change.’ The keynote speaker was Dr. Hellen Christodoulou, executive-director for Quebec of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction and a renowned expert in the design and maintenance of bridges, with more than 35 years experience in the domain.

“If there is one thing I can assure you it’s that the word ‘bold’ is not only a word to be used for change, but a word that has transcended over the years and has had a tremendous impact on women’s lives and their efforts for advancement, for respect, for equality and for justice,” Christodoulou said in a speech she delivered in Greek and English.

Christodoulou recalled that towards the beginning of her working life, she was one of only two female engineering graduates in a class of 85. The other woman subsequently decided to pursue a career in a field unrelated to engineering.

Male dominated field

Christodoulou said that the first life-changing moment for her came not long after she became a lead engineer for bridges at Canadian Pacific. It was also the first time that a woman occupied that important role with the company “and it broke every taboo in the book,” she added, referring to the fact bridge engineering was regarded as an almost all male field at that time.

Upon her return from a holiday in Greece that summer, her superior at CP confronted her over a bridge plan which contained a glaring mistake – a variation between the length of two steel beams. Christodoulou (who also holds law degrees as well as an MBA and consequently acquired the habit of carefully documenting everything) had saved her original plans.

A few minutes later, she showed them to the senior administrator while pointing out that the change was made by another engineer. Although he apologized, Christodoulou said she saw an opportunity in the circumstances and seized it: she quit.

Stand your ground

“He was floored,” she said regarding the boss’s reaction. The chief engineer called her a few days later to drop by his office to sit down and talk. “To make a long story short, he says ‘listen, I need you, you have to stay, so what do you want?’ So I named all sorts of things – more vacation, more pay, more whatever. And he says ‘done.’”

Christodoulou said the most important thing she learned from the experience was the value of stepping up. “It’s important that we have to stand our ground,” she said. A year later, the chief engineer retired.

From a staff of 50 engineers, he nominated her as his replacement and Christodoulou took over the department. “Slowly, I saw that the traditional view of women was changing. The traditional male-dominated views were a little bit fading. And we see this more and more today.”

Credibility and merit

Christodoulou said that in all her years as an engineer, “I have witnessed first-hand that women can choose to succeed by many other means. However, I believe that true dignified success is only with credibility and merit. No lies, no backstabbing, no hypocrisy, and certainly not by questionable morality. It’s a choice we make and it’s a choice by which we’ll be judged.”

Among those attending last Sunday’s event were a number of women who’ve made their mark in the world of politics. They included Laval city councillor for Chomedey Aglaia Revelakis, Vimy Liberal MP Eva Nassif, Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board Ward 8 commissioner Vicky Kaliotzakis and former Ahuntsic Liberal MP Eleni Bakopanos (who was the first Greek-born woman to be elected to Canada’s Parliament).

On February 20th, 2017, as part of the McGill Training and Retention of Health Professionals Project, Agape coordinated a field trip to The Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital in Laval. Over 30 fortunate students from Laval Senior Academy High School and North Star Academy Private High School were given a tour of the hospital along with several presentations from health care professionals. Agape is hopeful that many of these students will be motivated to eventually return to work in Laval as bilingual health professionals.

Presentations were given in physio therapy, occupational therapy, nutrition, psychology, social service, kinesiology, and speech therapy. In the afternoon, students were offered a buffet lunch and finished the day with case presentations between therapists and actual patients.

The McGill Training and Retention of Health Professionals Project is funded by Health Canada and contributes to Quebec’s initiatives to ensuring English-speaking Quebecers have access to the full range of health and social services in their own language through measures designed to build and maintain a sufficient complement of health and social services personnel capable of providing services in English.

Agape’s Project “Investing Towards the Future of Health and Social Service in Laval” is in it’s third year and has had much success. This project aims at creating awareness of the needs of the English Speaking Community of Laval, increase understanding and promoting careers in health and social services through collaboration with various key partners.

On September 29th 2016, Agape coordinated key presentations at it’s special NPI meeting at Cité de la Santé Hospital with CHSSN consultant/researcher Dr. Joanne Pocock about English Language Health and Social Services Access in Quebec. In March 2016, as part of it’s McGill funding, Agape awarded 3 bursaries of $5000 each to bilingual university students willing to return to Laval to work in Health and Social Services. This year, there will be 2 more bursaries awarded to university students. Deadline for submission is March 24th 2017.

For more information, visit the Agape – McGill project website at www.lavalinitiative.org

Martin C. Barry

RECRUES Laval, a rebranded Commission scolaire de Laval program designed to encourage local entrepreneurship while accompanying young entrepreneurs during the challenges involved getting a business off the ground, got a spectacular launch on Feb. 28 with the announcement of the program’s first graduates.

Graduates from program

Each year, RECRUES Communauté Laval will be selecting 10 young entrepreneurs to take part in the 330-hour program. Coming from a variety of sectors of the economy, they’ll receive instruction from the CSDL’s adult education and professional training department, following which they will fulfill a five-year commitment to the Laval community.

One of the recent graduates from the program is Fadi Khalil, a Chomedey resident who runs an internet/web services consultancy company. While Khalil’s curriculum vitae notes he has a PhD in advanced technology, he needed the extra push provided by the RECRUES program to turn his knowledge into something practical. Another recent graduate, Sophie Saint-Fleury, received help from the program to start a business that assists and helps integrate newly-arrived immigrants to the province.

Encouraging entrepreneurship

“Entrepreneurship is certainly something to be encouraged in order to allow our students to succeed,” said CSDL president Louise Lortie. “By offering such an opportunity to these new entrepreneurs, most of whom are graduates of the launching a business program offered at the CSDL’s Paul-Émile-Dufresne professional training centre, we will be bringing out the will to be entrepreneurs among the students, be they young or young adults, while at the same time the RECRUES entrepreneurs will go on to act as ambassadors in our establishments.”

First launched in 2015-2016 under the banner Moovjee Québec Communauté Laval, the program had 12 graduates that first year. Those who completed the program this year received various forms of training and assistance that the program’s organizers estimate as having a total value of $150,000. The Table d’Action en Entrepreneuriat de Laval played a role in making the program a reality. As well, financial assistance for the program was received from Quebec’s Ministry for the Economy, Science and Innovation (MESI).

A shared economic vision

While the City of Laval had no active part in developing or supporting RECRUES Laval, Laval executive-committee member Raynald Adams attended the launch ceremony in recognition of the fact the city will undoubtedly be drawing benefits from the program. “It does embody the principles that we included in our strategic vision and planning,” he told the Laval News. “These people are developing now what Laval is likely to be like in the future.”

Martin C. Barry

In a bid to support groups dedicated to improving the well-being and continuing development of Laval’s senior citizens, Quebec Minister for Senior Citizens Francine Charbonneau last week announced $318,000 in subsidies to four groups in Laval that provide assistance to seniors.

Grants to five groups

Charbonneau, who is the MNA for Mille-Îles as well as Minister for the Laval Region, made the announcement at the Pavillon du Bois Papineau in Auteuil on Feb. 27. Sainte-Rose MNA Jean Habel was present. Charbonneau told the Laval News that her ministry wants to make sure the organizations receiving the subsidies have enough resources to do their work on behalf of the seniors.

The four organizations receiving the sums under the provincial government’s Québec ami des aînés (QADA) program are DIRA-Laval ($82,180), La Société Alzheimer de Laval ($76,950), Groupe Promo-Santé ($66,350) and le Comité lavallois en abus et violence envers les aînés (CLAVA) ($77,756).

$11 million province-wide

Another group, the Association pour aînés résidant à Laval, is receiving $15,000 under the Initiatives de travail de milieu auprès des aînés en situation de vulnerabilité (ITMAV). The subsidies are part of an $11 million funding package announced earlier in February for more than 100 similar projects supporting the needs of senior citizens across the province.

“If the organizations here this morning were chosen it’s because their proposals were well thought out and taken seriously,” Charbonneau said while addressing the recipients. Referring to a specific type of intervention done for seniors by one of the five groups, Charbonneau noted that members of the National Assembly have begun detailed work on the proposed Bill 115 involving measures to deal with the abuse of senior citizens.

New law to safeguard seniors

“This will be the first law in Quebec to specifically deal with abuse wherever they might be, whether it’s in a private or public residence or in a health establishment,” said Charbonneau. “As you all know as well as myself since you all deal with senior citizens, abuse is something very undesireable.

“It’s not something we want to deal with, but unfortunately it must be dealt with,” she continued. “Let’s hope that this draft bill advances quickly and Quebec has a policy so there is less and less abuse of our senior citizens.”