Montreal police to cycle 1,000 km to inspire high schoolers

Ten members of the Montreal police force (SPVM) will be cycling 1,000 km throughout parts of Quebec as part of the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie to raise money and to inspire young people to stay away from a life of crime.

Participating SPVM employees were at police headquarters Friday morning, in downtown Montreal, to unveil their goal and message to about 50 students from five high schools being sponsored as part of the cycling marathon.

“Each school we’re doing it with is to have a positive influence with our kids and to bring them with us in an activity that keeps them on a positive influence and to have a good healthy lifestyle,” said Sébastien Chartier, Inspector for the Tactical and Special Operations division of the SPVM.

“We want to make sure that if the young person is going through some difficult time, they choose the right path, the right family. And this is one of the parts of the family–police officers cycling with them, give them other opportunities,” added SPVM Police Chief Fady Dagher. “Don’t forget the young kids who are going through some trouble, who are going through criminality, it’s around three to five per cent maximum.”

Najya, a student from Rosemount High School, said she felt inspired by the initiative to be involved in more sports.

“I think this event is really good especially for kids who have passion for sport, for example like cycling, football, soccer. It helps them build up a good mental state,” she said, standing behind SPVM headquarters on Friday.

Two teams of five, made up of nine police officers and one civilian employee, will make the trek from June 12 to 15 in the annual health event inspired by Pierre Lavoie who started the first Défi Pierre Lavoie in 1999.

“Schools have plenty of projects, but they often lack funding. So, for years, to date, we’ve given $37 million to schools to purchase equipment,” said Pierre Lavoie, co-founder of the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie, in French. “It’s working very well. The schools are happy.”

Two donations–one for $10,000 from the Caisse Desjardins des policiers et policières, and the other for $6,000, from the Fonds humanitaire de la fraternité des policiers et policières de Montréal–were presented to the SPVM teams. They say it’s money that will help support students to participate in physical activities.

“I think that raising the money to get to all the schools in order to buy equipment for all these activities is a really good thing to do because I find a lot of kids nowadays are really attached to their phones,” said Valentina Giove, a Rosemount High School student.

“Us being physically active, it’s good because it has an effect on our mental health,” added Tiana Barbucci Russell, also a student of Rosemount.

“Eventually we’re going to announce something amazing with Pierre Lavoie. We’re going to be providing bicycles to young kids in the schools,” said Dagher. “All this is about, to give them different opportunities to do some sport and to make sure that they don’t have to pay for it.” 

More than 25 years after its inception, the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie Tour visits schools to raise awareness among young people about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle and to promote the adoption of a healthy lifestyle. There are a number of different physical activities aimed to inspire students at all levels and people of all ages, but the cycling marathon covers the largest distance.

“Physical activity is really good for you because it’s good for your mental, like yourself mentality and physically and it’s just really good what they’re doing for especially all the students in general,” said Giove.