April 26, 2013

The “Thérèse Ponsable” seniors’ game book, launched Thursday, April 25, at Image d’Outremont, is making waves!

Inspired by a desire to reach out to seniors using humour, this new game book on safety and daily prevention, created by our Relations avec la communauté (RAC) community relations section, will open the way for direct discussions between police and seniors on a wide array of prevention issues.

“We wanted to make a book that included several types of games, because seniors are often fond of word finds, sudoku and crosswords. It’s a way of opening a discussion with them, because some of them would never dare to ‘bother’ the police, even though they are dealing with serious problems, like abuse,” explained Vincent Richer, RAC commander.

“During the development process, we saw that seniors really take the character of Thérèse to heart and enjoy getting into her world. When it comes to road safety, it’s important for the SPVM to review the basic safety rules, because unfortunately, in Montréal, in 2011 and 2012, there were more seniors among traffic fatalities than any other age group. We noticed that they weren’t crossing at intersections and weren’t making eye contact with the other users of the road, so we are repeating these basic rules in a series of different campaigns,” he added.

Our partners – the Fédération de l’Âge d’Or du Québec, which subsequently became the  Réseau FADOQ and Info-Crime Montréal – really believe in the project and are very happy to help us spread the word about it.

We want to thank everyone who attended the launch, including Outremont Mayor Marie Cinq-Mars, Ms. Lécuyer and Mr. Chevalier from the FADOQ, Mr. Turcotte from Info-Crime, Chief-Inspectors Robert Chartrand and Fady Dagher, Outremont police commander François Leblanc, Émilie Casey from the Groupe Maurice, Nicole Parent from Image d’Outremont, all the Image d’Outremont residents, Guy Rondeau et Marilou Nakich of the Éditions petite mine.