Sister
Solange Beauparlant and Sister Rita Labelle are the founding pioneers of Maison
d’amitié; they held their first board meeting in 1975.
The shelter
was officially recognized by the government of Canada as a non-profit
organization on March 29, 1976 and one year later, in April 1977, Maison
d’amitié welcomed a mother and her son; by April 1978, 134 families had seeked
shelter.
In 1989,
the shelter acquired a new home (change of address), yet 15 beds proved to be insufficient due to an increased demand for services; a second home opened its doors in 2006, thus doubling the number of families being sheltered.
In May
2006, in partnership with other shelters across the province, a health line
became available for francophone women in crisis (1-877-FEMAIDE), the first and only
crisis line offered in French to the women of Ontario.
http://www.maisondamitie.ca
