Quebec News and Stories
Teri Shalala and her son Élie share a Red Cross connection
- Mary Teresa Shalala, or Teri to her friends, has been a Walmart associate in Vaudreuil-Dorion for eight years. While the mother of four works evenings and nights taking inventory, her 33-year-old son Élie Langevin is often busy helping people affected by disasters. Despite their differing realities, they share something beyond a family bond: a passion for helping disaster victims. Teri does so through her employer, which has supported the Canadian Red Cross for 14 years, and Élie volunteers for the organization in Quebec.
Fun in the snow for young Joulie and her friends
- Joulie is 12. She arrived in Quebec last winter with her family and thousands of other Syrian refugees. In temperatures of -20°C, Joulie and 69 other young newcomers to Canada experienced their first winter camp with the Scouts from the Notre-Dame-de-l'Annonciation parish in Pierrefonds.
What do you want to ask an aid worker?
- Every year during the first week of February, the Canadian Government recognizes International Development Week. The week aims to encourage Canadians to learn more about, and contribute actively to, international development. It also showcases the work Canadians are doing to make the world a better place.
Providing comfort after a house fire
- The Guay-Bourbonnais family home, in Marieville, Quebec, was completely destroyed by a violent fire.
“I didn’t want help. I just couldn’t accept that I was a disaster victim,” recalls the mother of the family, Caroline. However, in the midst of the chaos, two Red Cross volunteers approached her and said “This disaster has affected you. It’s okay to let yourself be helped.”
A Silver Cross Mother and her Red Cross service
- Red Cross volunteer Nicole Beauchamp, her husband Robert, and their family have long served their community and country. Beauchamp has been with Red Cross for 20 years and spent part of her summer assisting Alberta fire evacuees, first in Edmonton in May and then again in Calgary in June and July.
Friendship born out of shared passion for helping people
- There is an unlikely friendship - Alzinia Pailin is an American Red Cross volunteer from California and Marie Bernatchez is a French speaking Canadian Red Cross volunteer from Quebec. But after being paired together on a three-week deployment in the small town of Lac La Biche, south of Fort McMurray, as part of the Alberta fire response, the two women found much common ground including their work as Red Cross volunteers and quickly became friends.
Alberta fires: expressions of support and compassion from donors to evacuees
- Canadians across the country came together to support evacuated residents from Fort McMurray. To date, more than $135 million has been raised by Canadians from coast to coast to support immediate emergency assistance, re-entry needs, and long-term community rebuilding for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
Laurence Lépine: Providing psychological first aid in Alberta
- Canadian Red Cross volunteer Laurence Lépine is a member of the Safety and Well Being Team working at the Welcome Centres in Fort McMurray. Members of the team have expertise in psychological first aid and assist people under stress in disaster situations. In Fort McMurray, Laurence assists people who have been under mandatory evacuation orders and are returning to homes that may have been damaged or destroyed by the wildfires that ravaged many areas of the northern Alberta community.
No hesitation for Quebec Red Cross volunteer in helping with Alberta fires
- The last few weeks have been busy ones for Cindy Baillargeon, a Red Cross volunteer from the Lanaudière region of Quebec: she spent them in Alberta, helping out Fort McMurray evacuees. When she saw images of the wildfires on the news, she knew that the Red Cross was bound to be involved. It wasn’t long before the call for volunteers came through, and she accepted without a second thought.
15 Tips to be ready for forest fire season
- Starting from May, and continuing through the summer months, forest fires are more likely to occur across the country with British Columbia and the Boreal forest zones of Ontario, Quebec, the Prairie Provinces, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories most at risk. Each year, there are approximately 8,000 forest fires in Canada, causing extensive damage and putting lives in danger. Now is the time to learn how to be ready before, during and after a forest fire.
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