Réseau Compassion Network celebrating 25 years

St. Boniface

Réseau Compassion Network — a francophone organization that’s responsible for a family of health, social, and human service agencies in Manitoba — is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

To help celebrate the landmark, the organization has created a bilingual travelling exhibition that captures the history of Réseau Compassion Network, its achievements, projects and challenges, as well as its vision for the future. The exhibit was curated by Annie Langlois.

RCN’s services cover five main areas: primary, community and mental health care; acute care; long-term care; comprehensive services for people with developmental disabilities; and housing and social services.

The St. Boniface-based network is responsible for 13 agencies, which include Actionmarguerite, Aulneau Renewal Centre, Centre de santé Saint-Boniface, Centre Flavie, Sara Riel, and St. Amant.

The exhibition will be on display at many of these agencies — ones that have space to house it — in the coming months. At press time, it was at Actionmarguerite in St. Boniface (185 Despins St.).

Daniel Lussier, the chief executive officer of Réseau Compassion Network, spoke recently about how the organization — which was founded by the Grey Nuns in 2000 — is taking an opportunity to acknowledge the integral role of the nuns; reflect, recognize and honour the countless figures that have played a part in its 25-year journey; and look forward to the path ahead.

“Where are the new and emerging needs? What can we do to help? There are lots of examples,” Lussier said.

One of many examples is Les suites Marion, a residential building on Marion Street that opened in 2023 that’s controlled and operated by the network — some of the units are offered at subsidized rates to individuals and families connected with Réseau’s partner organizations to fill a need in the community and offer safe, affordable housing.

“We’re doing evaluations of the model, and we’ve learned from the model, which includes people that are facing barriers. We’re feeling good about it, and it’s one example of new and emerging needs,” Lussier said.

“Regarding the last 25 years, we’ve hit upon something important to share. Being 25 now, quite simply, makes us very young — this story began in 1844 when the first Grey Nuns arrived in Winnipeg.”

“All those people, their encounters, the stories of challenges, trepidation, suffering, joy, hope, and compassion. Turning 25 is very humbling,” he added.

Dominique Philibert, Réseau Compassion Network’s director of communications, played a key role in organizing the new travelling exhibition.

She explained that while RCN isn’t “the operating mind of these (13) organizations, we support them, and appoint their board members.”

“We support them when they ask. We consider ourselves like a big family. We want our agencies to reach out, when needed.”

Philibert acknowledged the contribution of Langlois during the creation of the new exhibition, noting Langlois spent countless hours exploring the archives during the research process.

“This is quite a story … us wanting to collect all these stories, and highlighting what’s happened in the last 25 years. We went outside the box, and we have accountability for our members. It’s important we keep meeting the needs of our community.”

Go online at reseaucompassionnetwork.ca for more information.