Opération Nez rouge offers Montrealers a safe ride home this holiday season

Montreal holiday partygoers will be able to return home safely after a night out, thanks to Opération Nez rouge, an initiative that has been around since 1984.

“It started in 1984 in Quebec City at first, and then in the following years, many other operations started. So, Montreal has been open since 1989. Now it’s 47 communities in Quebec, almost 70 around Canada, that offer Operation Red Nose every Christmas time, every holiday, the month of December usually,” said Amélie Poirier, the coordinator of Opération Nez Rouge.

Last year, more than 30,000 rides were offered all around Canada. 

The non-profit helps prevent impaired driving with volunteers who pick up people and their vehicles and bring them right to their doors.

“It’s really about offering a safe ride home service,” said Poirier. “A team of volunteers goes with their own car, comes to your house, picks you up with your car as well, and drives you back safely to your home—all that without you having to drive.”

Poirier spoke about the importance of raising awareness for impaired driving.

“We know it’s been better now, but we still see some of the impacts and accidents that happen every year. Even this year in Montreal, there’s been some accidents in the first weekend, so around the 29th of November and even last week. So it’s never enough. We still need to raise awareness. We still need to offer resources and different options to go back safe for your evening out. And Operation Red Nose is always a really good one during your holidays to plan your evening out and know that you can come back safe with us,” she expressed.

Since the initiative began, more than 2.4 million rides have been given throughout Canada. This year, in Quebec, there have been 5,895 so far.

“Once they call us, they have to give us the car exactly as it is, the number of places in the car, how many people they have to drop off on their way, what the address of the destination is, and then a team accepts the ride, comes to pick you up, comes inside the bar or house, says hi, and looks for Mr. Mrs. Then they get you in your own car and drive you back safely to your home so you have your car tomorrow when you wake up with no danger ahead,” explained Poirier.

A team is made up of three volunteers.

“One of them is the driver of the volunteer’s car. Then there is the partner, who is kind of the co-pilot, the one making sure we can find the client and stuff like that. And finally, the driver of the client’s car. So then, in your own car, you’ll have two volunteers getting in the car: one to drive and the other to make sure everything goes smoothly. The third one stays behind with their car to be able to pick up the volunteers again once we get to your final destination,” said Poirier.

On Thursday night, a Longueuil resident whom CityNews spoke to called for a ride.

“The main reason is that I don’t want to take any chances. I know there’s going to be some controls tonight, and even though I didn’t drink that much, I just don’t want to take any chances. I think it’s being responsible, and I don’t want to cause any harm by having an accident or being involved in something like that,” said Pierre Lefebvre, an Opération Nez Rouge passenger.

From November 29, Nez Rouge operates every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, running until December 31st. It will also be in effect on Wednesday, December 18th, and on December 24th and December 25th.

Poirier says the operation has been going great so far.

“It’s been great. Obviously, this is a very monumental operation that has been going on for 40 years now around Quebec, the province of Quebec.”

Poirier added, “We’re really confident that it’s going to pick up, pick the pace up, and re-become what it once was and still is for so many Quebecers.”

To get a ride, call 514-256-2510 or 1-866-DESJARDINS, or use the application to request one. The lines are open from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.

The service is free, but donations are encouraged, with all the money used for youth and sports in different communities.

“Here in Montreal, it’s for the Fondation CÉGEP de Montréal. All of the money is reinvested in the CÉGEP with the sports teams and many of the students’ projects. And so each and every community has its own sports team. And so all of the money that we raise is for youth sports and youth in general,” said Poirier.

“People mostly associate Nez Rouge with drunk driving, to avoid drunk driving, but we’ve—I’ve brought back people to their places who were just tired or didn’t feel comfortable driving in the snow, during a snowstorm and stuff like that,” explained Jean-Michel Marcoux, a volunteer with Opération Nez Rouge.

“So, you meet a lot of people, and once you get to experience that, you realize that the good you’re doing is just saving people from bad accidents, whether it’s because they’re drunk, tired, or just not comfortable with driving in the snow,” he added.

“There’s more to Nez Rouge than just driving people around. There’s a lot of roles that can be fulfilled inside of the organization, and one of them is going out with the mascot, and that is a very, very fun part. You get to go to random parties, and you’re with the mascot selling stuff to collect funds and also incentivize that we are here to get you back home safe. In the central here, when we go to a party, usually like 15 or 20 minutes after, the phones start ringing from that place. So we see the impact that we create by going out with the mascot and crashing those parties and bringing the big Nez Rouge inside, and everybody likes it.”