The Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation invites young people to meet the river

(Press release) The Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation recently launched a new educational kit: My river and me: a rendezvous for the St. Lawrence, in the presence of Mr. Régis Labeaume, President of the Metropolitan Community of Quebec and Mayor of Quebec.

In front of the students and staff of the École des Grands-Saules (des Ecrivains) and the project partners, Mr. Benoît Mercille, Director General of the Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation, presented My river and me, a kit that invites young people to take part in thinking about the challenges and issues surrounding the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.

Contents of the kit

Did you know that today, nearly 70% of the Quebec population lives along the river and that 45% drinks its water? And that Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario are the largest freshwater ecosystem on the planet?

The kit My river and me contains a a wealth of information allowing young people to learn more about the river and, by the very fact of being well informed on the issues of the protection, development and enhancement of the St. Lawrence. The proposed activities are divided into eight themes: biodiversity and tourism, agriculture and food, health and water supply, pollution and solutions, access to the river and diversity of uses, maritime transport and other economic functions, management and governance. There are also educational activities that can be used by teachers, a map on the biodiversity of the river, a booklet on careers in the maritime industry and a few other documents to help you understand the richness and uniqueness of our Saint-Laurent. .

The importance of the river for the Quebec Metropolitan Community

Mr. Labeaume took the opportunity to explain the attention given to the St. Lawrence River by the Quebec Metropolitan Community. One of the thirteen strategies of Metropolitan land use and development plan deals directly with the St. Lawrence. The Mayor also recalled that the Alliance of Cities of the Great Lakes and St. services and investments that protect and restore the river.

Drawing and photography competition

Mr. Mercille reiterates the invitation to elementary, secondary and college students to participate in the drawing and photography competition My river and me of the Foundation

Monique-Fitz-Back. Prizes worth nearly 5,000 $ will be awarded to the winners who will see their works selected for an exhibition to be held on the sidelines of the Alliance meeting. The competition deadline is May 10, 2012.

Projects to raise awareness among young people in Brundtland green establishments

The Writers' School, where the press conference was held, is part of the Brundtland Green Establishments (EVB-CSQ) movement, of which Monique-Fitz Back is at the origin, and which today has more than 1,300 establishments. This movement encourages young people to take concrete action, at school and in their community, to help build a peaceful, ecological, united and democratic world. For example, young people from the Writers' School regularly participate in an Atlantic salmon egg incubation project, an activity aimed at making them aware of the importance of water quality. A few students spoke at the conference to express their concern about the health of the river and to encourage their peers to take action.

The partners

The educational kit and the competition My river and me were made possible thanks to the participation of the Quebec Metropolitan Community, the main partner of the project, and that of the Brundtland-CSQ Green Establishments, the Saint-Laurent Economic Development Corporation, the David Suzuki Foundation, the University Laval, the Youth Forum of the Capitale-Nationale region, the sectorial labor committee of the maritime industry, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Sustainable Development, the Environment and Parks and AML Cruises .

Mission of the Foundation

The Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation is a charitable organization whose mission is to promote education relating to the environment and a healthy environment in a perspective of sustainable development.