Operation Red Nose has a positive season, despite a decrease in trips in Quebec

Operation Red Nose reports a positive outcome for its ride-home service during the holiday period, even though a decrease in the number of rides and volunteers was noted for this 42nd edition in Quebec.

In the province, 18,393 rides were provided by 17,735 volunteers who answered the call from Nov. 28 to Dec. 31, according to the report released Monday.

These figures are slightly lower than the previous year, when 19,495 volunteers brought 20,950 asylum seekers safely home.

Marilyn Vigneault, executive director of Operation Red Nose, is far from worried about this decrease.

“We don’t interpret everything negatively because we can say that there may be an increased adoption of responsible behaviour at the population level,” she explained in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“For us, this decrease does not necessarily reflect a disengagement of the population from road safety,” she added.

The weather conditions also “played tricks” on the organization, which had to adapt to the rain and freezing rain that hit the province in December.

“Sometimes, not only did our centers close for safety reasons, but if the centers felt they could remain open, it could still discourage some volunteers and have an impact on their level of involvement,” Vigneault pointed out.

However, a peak in rides home was noted in mid-December, particularly around the weekend of Dec. 13 and 14.

“There are many employee parties in full swing at that time of year, the holiday festivities begin,” the general manager reminded everyone.

“These are weekends where we have seen, among other things, nearly 2400 rides home on Friday night alone in Quebec,” she specified.

Nationally, 22,996 rides home were provided thanks to the involvement of 21,766 good Samaritans.

In New Brunswick, a total of 1,194 safe returns were made with the help of 1,176 volunteers. In contrast to Quebec, the number of trips and volunteers increased compared to the previous year.

Operation Red Nose will indeed be back for the next edition and interested volunteers will be able to express their commitment from November 2026.

“You can never have too many volunteers,” Vigneault emphasized. “The more volunteers we have pitching in, the more effective we are on the ground, both in terms of waiting times and the number of rides we can provide.”

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews