Générations Actives gets seniors, teens moving

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

As Pierre Lortie approached the finish line of the 1974 Canadian Ski Marathon after a gruelling 60-kilometre trek through the Outaouais, near Montebello, he saw a cheering crowd, a pack of exhausted fellow skiers and a very old man. Race founder Herman “Jack Rabbit” Johannsen, in his late 90s at the time, stood at the finish line shaking finishers’ hands. He told Lortie, “You must come back every year, young man.” Lortie, a university professor specializing in business management, answered, “Yes, sir.” He kept his word. He knew then that skiing would be a lifelong sport for him – as it was for Johannsen, who started skiing at two, lived to be 111 and skied well into his second century.

Decades later, Lortie, now 83, is helping young people learn to ski through Générations Actives, an intergenerational program where seniors introduce students at Quebec City schools, many of whom are recent immigrants or from less privileged families, to winter sports. “I’m no Alex Harvey, but I’ve been skiing all my life, and I figured I could contribute something healthy for those young people.”

Générations Actives was started in July 2023 by Luc Richer, the founder and long- time executive director of Motivaction Jeunesse, an established local nonprofit which provides outdoor sports opportunities for school groups and less privileged youth. “There are not a whole lot of activities for older people who want to do recreation and sports, and there are not really any inter- generational outdoor sports programs at all,” said Richer. In February, he recruited older adult volunteers, many in their 60s and 70s, to team up with high school students for an out- door winter triathlon; a smaller summer event is planned for later this month and Richer is hoping to organize a bigger event in the fall. “I was a little worried that the sauce wouldn’t take, but the students are open-minded,” Richer said. “They were surprised to see seniors who were active and in good shape and enjoying life.”

Dominique Guimond, a French-as-a-second-language teacher at École secondaire De Rochebelle, one of the city’s largest public high schools, jumped at the chance to have her students discover skiing and skating – and a new language – alongside seniors.

“When kids move to a new country, any sports and recreation are put on pause,” she observed. Many of them have also left their grandparents behind, and come from societies where spending time with elders is seen as a valuable learning opportunity. “Some of the students say, ‘They [the seniors] are in better shape than me!’ It’s also a good opportunity to speak French outside the classroom – the seniors aren’t going to adapt their language to my students!”

Lortie and retired auto mechanic and poet Gilles Duclos, 73, are two of the program’s more active volunteers. “We went skiing with the Rochebelle kids in March and they don’t necessarily speak French, so we had to explain a new sport to them with hand gestures,” Duclos recalled. “In January, we were with a private school in Beauport, and I was grouped with three young men and we talked about poetry and electricity and induction motors; at one point I was drawing in the snow to try to teach them the basics of electricity.” Lortie recalled telling a group of teenagers unused to being physically active, “Wake up! I don’t want to go to your funerals!”

“There’s nothing worse than retiring and saying, ‘That’s it, I’ve done enough, I’ll rest,’” said Duclos, who took a part- time job with the Ville de Québec Cyclistes Avertis bike safety education program and started learning Spanish in “retirement.” “Staying home in your bubble is what accelerates aging.”

Lortie’s parting words of advice for both teens and fellow retirees on a bright spring day can be summed up in three words – “Va jouer dehors – Go play outside.”

Générations Actives is actively seeking both seniors and school groups for upcoming activities. If you are a teacher or an active retiree interested in getting involved with the program, contact Luc Richer directly (luc.richer@generationsactives.ca).