At a time when the world is worried about climate change, the growth of social inequalities, human-machine cohabitation, political polarization or the emergence of new diseases, the University of Montreal is launching L’heure est brave , the most ambitious philanthropic campaign in its history. Rather than being discouraged by the bad news that floods news feeds day after day, the University sees this as an opportunity to actively engage in the search for solutions.

“One billion dollars is the objective set by the University of Montreal for this major philanthropic operation. This is unheard of for a French-speaking university here in Quebec, as elsewhere. But it is a sum that matches the ambitions we have for one of the largest university establishments in the world. We have the research expertise, we have the ideas. All we are missing are the means to achieve them,” declared the rector of UdeM, Daniel Jutras.

The Time to Be Brave campaign enters its public phase today, but the “silent” phase has been in full swing for some time now and has achieved 60% of the twin goals of $1 billion and 200,000 gestures of commitment from university graduates. This phase has therefore brought success: we are thinking in particular of the largest donation ever received in Canada for fundamental research, i.e. $159 million from the Courtois Foundation, the donation of $40 million from the Chopin-Péladeau Foundation and Quebecor for support for entrepreneurship or that of Dr. ^Robert  Bissonnette, who donated $6 million for the creation of a center for dermatology research, or of Dr. ^Sadok  Besrour intended to strengthen educational capacities in Tunisia.

The launch activity was also an opportunity to announce two new donations. Indeed, the chancellor, Frantz Saintellemy, and his wife, businesswoman Vickie Joseph, will make a donation intended to support educational innovation using new technologies, thus promoting better accessibility to higher education. And Julien BriseBois, director of the Tampa Bay Lightning and UdeM graduate, will also make a donation. Part of this will be used to create scholarships, among others, for the master’s degree in research on leadership in an organizational context at the School of Industrial Relations of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. While the other part will be paid to the UdeM legal clinic and will allow students of the Faculty of Law to offer a legal support service to the founders of young businesses. This donation is in addition to a donation he made in 2020 to the Carabins women’s hockey team.

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