A Brief History

At the beginning of the 1960s, when there were sharp divisions within the Montreal community, a group comprising both anglophones and francophones, and both religious believers of various denominations and lay people, gathered together to set up a service to help people in trouble.

Thanks to the initiative of Ian Stuchberry, the Anglican pastor of Christ Church Cathedral, and the help of several of his loyal parishoners, Tel-Aide was born. Seeing how big a problem solitude was in our society blighted by communication failures, this group wanted to set up a listening center so that anyone living in solitude could access an attentive and respectful ear.

Several other persons joined the project team, including Victoria Shipton, Director of the Christian Research Center at St. Patrick's Church, and then Sister Dolorès Riopel, who was asked to be the Francophone representative on the team. It became possible to envisage offering a listening service in two languages.

The initial core group quickly recruited other members. Albert Ménard of Radio-Canada joined the team, as did Marcel Boileau, a public relations manager at Bell Canada. These two communications professionals devoted their energies to making Tel-Aide known to the general public, and to attracting volunteer listeners.

At the beginning, Gordon Winch of the Toronto Crisis Center trained the volunteers. Later, it was Tel-Aide volunteers who looked after selecting new listeners, giving them basic training, and coaching them in supervised listening and continuing education sessions.

On January 30, 1971, at a listening center set up in the Atwater Library, Tel-Aide received its first call. From then on, people in difficulty have had access to four telephone lines, two for French and two for English calls. Since its inauguration, Tel-Aide has provided continuous service, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Why the name 'Tel-Aide'? According to Sister Riopel, it was first suggested during a discussion between the founding members. 'Tel' is an abbreviation of 'telephone' in both English and French. 'Aide' serves to spread the word about the mission of the new organization: to aid those who call by offering to listen to them empathically, authentically, and respectfully.