The story of IRCGM so far

Establishing the Center

Le Conseil des œuvres de Montréal created the Centre de Référence in october 1956, in order to help the Fédération des œuvres de charité canadiennes-françaises, an organization that collected and distributed donations, who were overwhelmed by requests for help. Its mission was to inform and guide people towards appropriate resources. Montréal became the third Canadian city following Toronto and Vancouver to have such a service.

Mrs. Jeanine Boyer was hired as a Service Representative for the Center.

Towards an independent service led by Mrs. Jeannine Boyer

The 1960’s was a decade of social upheaval for Québec, which led to major advances such as, social insurance, hospital insurance and even income security. It was among these big changes that the Center evolved and detached from the Conseil des œuvres, in 1969, and merged with its English counterpart, the Information and Referral Service. These two entities joined forces and became  Le Centre de Référence du Grand Montréal and the Information and Referral Center of Greater Montréal. Jeannine Boyer was named Executive Director.

Birth of a Documentation Service

Jeannine Boyer’s vision was clear: the quality of the referrals depends on the quality of the information and how easily it can be found. Thus, 15 years of collected information had to be compiled and the future of the documentation service had to be ensured. Thus, the new position of Manager of the documentation service was filled by Mrs. Lorraine Bilocq-Lebeau, future Director of the Center.

This service was becoming even more indispensable as community services multiplied in Montréal. The telephone counselors needed to quickly have access to all this new information to correctly refer callers.

Appointment of Lorraine Bilocq-Lebeau

Hired in 1971 as Manager of the documentation service, and later named Assistant Executive Director in 1979, she was the logical choice to take over IRCGM’s reins in 1989. There were significant challenges as Québec had just gone through a long recession scarring the philanthropic world. Her mission was to ensure sustainability and strengthen financing. Two major achievements helped to gain that stability: the opening of two provincial helplines specialized in addiction, and the purchase of a building.

Launch of Gambling: Help and Referral

Opening casinos in Québec became legal. The Société des casinos du Québec, a Loto-Québec subsidiary, requested a provincial helpline, available 24/7 for excessive gamblers, as well as their loved ones. That was how IRCGM established Gambling: Help and Referral, the only such service in Canada at that time. In 2001, the ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux (MSSS) took over the funding for this service.

Purchase of 3155 rue Hochelaga

The project of owning a building had been identified since the Foundation was established in 1983. The rent increases in Montréal, the enormous costs that came with space needed to operate the Center’s services and unstable public financing for community organizations all led to purchasing the building at 3155 rue Hochelaga, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood. IRCGM took over the ground floor and other community organizations occupied the remainder of the three storeys. This building has brought solid financial security to the Foundation, who is still the owner and to the Center, who still resides there.

Photo: The building of the Institut Treccart now occupied by the IRCGM and other non for profits organisations. On the right : the architect Guy Dubreuil, member of the Foundation’s board, who help aquire the building and renovate the 3155 Hochelaga.

The avatar picture: Signature of the aquisition of the 3155 Hochelaga by André Meloche, president of the Fondation of IRCGM, under the attentive eye of Lorraine Bilocq Lebeau.

July 2013 – Pierrette Gagné takes the lead

Wholly present and committed to IRCGM for several years, Mrs. Pierrette Gagné sat on the Board from 1989 to 1995. In 2012, she was appointed Assistant Executive Director in preparation for the transition into her future role. Her career in publishing, in communications and in social development fully prepared her to meet the challenges of IRCGM, such as the achievement of an impressive five-year strategic plan.

By the side of the most vulnerable

The Information and Referral Center’s role with vulnerable communities became clearer while its expertise became increasingly sought after.

IRCGM has always been committed to helping seniors, the Center’s primary callers. Thus, the ministère de la famille, via the QADA programme (Québec Ami Des Aînés) financed a three-year project, 211 Seniors, which allowed Greater Montréal seniors to have access to not only a telephone service, but also a paper and online directory.

Another significant achievement: IRCGM proved its ability to quickly adapt and execute, by developing, at the request of the Mayor of Montréal, the Info-Refugee Helpline, launched in December 2015 in less than one week. The goal of the helpline was to help welcome and support Syrian refugees, newly arrived in the country. IRCGM acted as guide by referring donations from citizens and volunteering offers to designated organizations. Contact with refugees was made easier by a counselor who was fluent in Arabic.

Another increasingly worrying clientele in Greater Montréal was the homeless, whose number kept growing and whose profile kept changing. We saw a lot of homeless women, allophones and even seniors. In 2016, the City of Montréal and the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal requested that IRCGM publish the Directory of Community Resources for the Homeless in Greater Montréal.

Implementation of 211 in Laval pilot project

The 211 service was a promising development vector for IRCGM. The City of Laval was the first to get on board and sign a five-year agreement. The City of Montréal requested an online directory of the city’s organizations. Those were two significant advances for the continuation of implementing 211 in Greater Montréal.