With the help of a former Quebec premier, the Constance-Lethbridge Rehabilitation Foundation has launched its first-ever fundraising campaign. The goal is $750,000 to purchase new equipment and to fund research projects at the NDG-based Constance Lethbridge Rehabilitation Centre.

At an official campaign launch last week, former premier Lucien Bouchard, a member of the honourary committee, lent his support by means of a video testimonial about his personal experience with physical rehabilitation and why he chose to support the fundraising campaign.

For supporters at the launch, Bouchard’s testimonial was considered a privileged moment, since he has until now spoken very little publicly about his own physical rehabilitation following the loss of a leg in 1994.

“I had to go through such a personal transition at one point in my life,” he says during the video. “I know how you feel when you have to go through that, it’s never expected, it falls on you like a thunderstorm. You have to react, you have to find a way out and then the support of institutions like this is critical and it makes a huge difference.

Tom Godber, chair of the campaign, Philip E. Johnston, the foundation’s chair, Ghislaine Prata, the centre’s executive director, and Daniel McNeil, a former client of the centre, all spoke about the foundation’s mission, the continuous improvements in rehabilitation technology, and the constant need to upgrade equipment and continue research projects.

Godber said his involvement came from an awareness that almost 18 per cent of Montrealers live with a permanent incapacity. “I knew that it was imperative that I become involved in the Constance-Lethbridge Foundation’s campaign so that others will become aware of the essential and excellent services the CLRC provides to the Montreal community,” he said.

Also present at the launch were other members of the campaign’s honourary committee, including Philip L. Webster, the committee’s chair, former Alcan CEO David Culver, and Jean-Denis Talon, chairman of the board of AXA Canada Inc., a leading Canadian insurance company. To this point, $278,000, or 37.5 per cent of the campaign goal, has been raised.

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