Christmas Eve will be a busy one for Montreal City Police Department Chief Fady Dagher as he travels the streets of Montreal to support police forces on duty.
Mr. Dagher began his celebrations on December 24 by helping the Montréal-Nord organization Les Fourches de l'Espoir, which serves single people in the neighborhood.
“Many people don’t have anyone to talk to at Christmas,” explains the organization’s founder and director, Brulinda Reyes. We distributed 150 meals, gifts and little treats to ensure that singles in Montreal North have a wonderful Christmas.”
“We’ve been doing this for five years,” she continues. We always have volunteers, like today there are about forty volunteers and about twenty cars who are on site to give a little joy before the Christmas party.
Fady Dagher said he was touched by the people he met.
“There were older people, single people, disabled people,” he says. It was extremely touching to see these faces. They were alone and this was probably the only visitor they would get today. So it was about giving everyone a little hope and being with them.”
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Later in the evening, the head of the SPVM will travel the streets of Montreal to support the police officers present on the scene, accompanied by a person he himself trained in the early 2000s.
“Tonight is special for me,” he said. I find one of the first police officers I trained on the street 23 years later.”
“Simon and I will get in the vehicle to wish all our police officers a Merry Christmas and say a big thank you to them for everything they do and especially for forgoing being with family [pour être en poste]”, he adds.
Watch the full interview in the video above