Media Advisory - Vital Signs Report: Is Montréal Healthy?

MONTREAL, Sept. 27, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - On Tuesday, October 2 at 11:00 am, the Foundation of Greater Montréal (FGM) will release a report entitled Vital Signs of Greater Montréal 2012, in order to direct political and community action in the city. FGM President and CEO, Marina Boulos, as well as several speakers from different backgrounds, will paint an overall picture of what is going well - and not so well - in Greater Montréal, in regard to the economy, employment, the gap between rich and poor, education, health, housing, safety, as well as the environment.

This report, when compared to other Canadian cities, and to its own recent past, shows the following trends in Greater Montréal today:

• More unemployment, more poverty, more children receiving food aid, and more homelessness, but fewer shelter beds, fewer charitable donations, and fewer volunteers;
• Less high school dropouts, more postsecondary graduates;
• Fewer invention patents, fewer hours worked per week, but more immigrants leaving the island;
• Fewer residents who have a family doctor, less obesity and fewer smokers, better overall mental health, but more stressed-out residents, and youth contracting HIV at a younger age;
• Fewer serious crimes, but more victims of family violence, fewer reported cases of sexual assault, more street gang crime, but fewer murders and crimes against property;
• Increased water consumption, more fine particles in the air, more public transit use, etc.

Launch Details:

11:00 AM to Noon - PUBLIC LAUNCH
La Grande Bibliothèque Auditorium, 475 de Maisonneuve East, at the corner of Berri

• Marina Boulos, President and CEO, Foundation of Greater Montréal
• Marie-France Raynault, Department Head of Preventative Medicine and Public Health at CHUM
• Michel Venne, CEO, Institut du Nouveau Monde
• Sonia Côté, Program Coordinator, Chez Soi project, Montréal
• Gabriel Bran Lopez, CEO, Fusion Jeunesse

More than one hundred directors of local community organizations, as well as other major stakeholders, are expected to attend the launch.

The FGM will conclude the event with an announcement of a $25,000 Sustainable Development prize to a not-for-profit organization.

Media representatives are also invited to attend the Allstream Morning Trends breakfast-conference of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montréal, on October 2 at 7:30 am. Mr. Richard W. Pound, Partner at Stikeman Elliot and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation of Greater Montréal, will speak about Vital Signs of Greater Montréal 2012. Mr. Pound will be available for onsite interviews after 9:00 am. Location: Hilton Montréal Bonaventure, 900 de La Gauchetière Street West.

About the Foundation of Greater Montréal
The Foundation of Greater Montreal (www.fgmtl.org) is a charitable organization dedicated to the well-being of the Greater Montreal community. It establishes and manages permanent endowment funds and distributes their income in the form of grants to charitable organizations working in the areas of health, social services, arts and culture, education, and the environment. The FGM currently manages over 340 funds worth over $120 million. Since its creation, it has distributed grants totalling almost $9 million to non-profit organizations in the Greater Montréal area.

About Vital Signs
Vital Signs is a community check-up conducted by community foundations across Canada that measures the vitality of our communities, identifies significant trends, and assigns grades in a range of areas critical to quality of life. It is coordinated nationally by Community Foundations of Canada. This year, 13 Canadian community foundations will simultaneously publish local reports.

For more information about Vital Signs initiatives across Canada, please visit: http://www.vitalsignscanada.ca

SOURCE: FOUNDATION OF GREATER MONTREAL

For interviews or to obtain a copy of the report:

Eloi Courchesne, 514-923-3564, [email protected], or Danie Deschênes, 514-577-9102, [email protected]