Volunteers

Regional activities

Quebec Region

2009 Regional Volunteer Award presented to Sister Marguerite Rivard

On April 20, 2010, Johanne Vallée, Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) Deputy Commissioner for the Quebec Region, honoured five individuals working as volunteers at federal penitentiaries in Quebec. The ceremony was held at the Radisson Hotel in Laval as part of National Volunteer Week.

The honourees were: Soeur Marguerite Rivard, who was awarded the 2009 Regional Volunteer Award; Rachel Cabana; Rolland Sauvageau; Serge Caron and Alain Davied.

In Quebec alone, roughly 2,000 volunteers generously offer their time, presence and expertise to improve the lives of inmates, ex-inmates and their families in our 12 penitentiaries, our half-dozen community correctional centres and all of our administrative offices.

CSC would like to thank them for their commitment, because it is directly related to our mission to protect society while assisting offenders to become law-abiding citizens.

More on their achievements in our institutions

Sœur Marguerite Rivard is a volunteer who has been committed to the reintegration of offenders over the last 30 years, more actively so for the last 20 years. She works with female inmates at Maison Tanguay in Montreal and at the Joliette Institution. In addition to one-on-one daily meetings with inmates, she participates in pastoral care and brings needy women clothes from the Société Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.

Rachel Cabana has volunteered for 10 years with inmates and their families in half a dozen community programs and activities for reintegration and restorative justice. She is also the volunteer chair of the Corporation Jean-Paul Morin, an organization in Laval dedicated to reintegration. She originally worked at La Macaza Institution and is now continuing her work at Leclerc and Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines institutions.

Rolland Sauvageau has volunteered at the Leclerc Institution chapel for 10 years. He was also a reintegration volunteer at Montée Saint-François Institution. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Aumônerie communautaire de Montréal, a community resource committed to reintegration.

Serge Caron is a volunteer pastor who is deeply dedicated to the reintegration of ex-inmates. He is a true charismatic leader who founded the Aumônerie communautaire des régions (Ancre) where he is the head pastor and works with the Cowansville Institution Community Chaplaincy. He was recently awarded the Jacqueline Monast Award for restorative justice, which is awarded each year by Cowansville Institution.

Alain Davied is a volunteer leader dedicated to the well-being of inmates, ex-inmates and their families. With the help of other volunteers from the Evangel Pentecostal Church, every month since 1994, he had led a discussion group with inmates in the chapel at Cowansville Institution and other regional institutions. Furthermore, he personally supports inmates through their reintegration process and is responsible for the Angel Tree Project, an initiative where volunteers give Christmas gifts to inmates’ children.

Left to right: Serge Caron, France Simard, CSC Volunteer Coordinator, Johanne Vallée, Rolland Sauvageau, Soeur Marguerite Rivard, Rachel Cabana, Michel Beauchamp, CSC Regional Chaplain, Vicki Nikolakakos and Marcel Vachon from the National Volunteer Association, and Alain Davied.