For 50 years, the Marie-Vincent Foundation has been committed to building a world without violence for children and adolescents through essential services, strong partnerships, and innovative initiatives. Discover some of the highlights of our history.
1975: Creation of the Marie-Vincent Foundation
The Marie-Vincent Foundation was established in 1975 to serve the growing needs of children already receiving services from the Marie-Vincent Centre founded ten years earlier by Marguerite Séguin-Desnoyers. The Centre offered social, psychiatric, educational, and psychological services to children aged 5 to 12 experiencing significant socio-emotional problems. Over the years, given the needs and the lack of available resources, the Foundation extended its field of intervention to children who are victims of sexual violence.
1994: Integration into the Montreal Youth Centre
In 1994, the Québec government created youth centres and the Marie-Vincent Centre joined forces with the Montréal Youth Centre. At that point, the Foundation decided to part ways and redefine its mission to help children aged 12 and under who were victims of abuse.
2005: Creation of the Centre d’expertise Marie-Vincent and the Interuniversity Research Chair
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the Foundation created the Centre d’expertise en agression sexuelle Marie-Vincent and the Marie-Vincent Interuniversity Research Chair in Child Sexual Abuse. Through these entities, Marie-Vincent began providing direct services to children 12 and under who were victims of sexual violence and children with sexual behaviour problems. The first child advocacy centre (CAC) in Québec, the Centre d’expertise Marie-Vincent, grouped all relevant services – police, medical, psychosocial, and therapeutic – under one roof.
2009: Development of training programs for professionals working with young people
The first training sessions were made available to the health and social services network in 2013, stemming from an agreement struck with the responsible government department (MSSS). In 2018, a second training agreement was signed with the Ministry of Education, while in 2021, another was concluded with the Ministry of Justice to train professionals in the socio-judicial field.
2016: Expansion of services to include adolescent victims of sexual violence and creation of the Marie-Vincent prevention component
In 2016, Marie-Vincent expanded its services to include support for adolescent victims of sexual violence. The prevention service was created the same year, and discussions began for the eventual roll-out of the Lantern program for 0–5-year-olds in 2019. In 2017, the prevention component for teens was added.
2022: Opening of a second Marie-Vincent centre in Montérégie to address the growing number of requests for support and to broaden the scope of interventions.
2025: Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Marie-Vincent Foundation as well as the 20th anniversary of the Centre d’expertise en agression sexuelle and the Marie-Vincent Interuniversity Research Chair in Child Sexual Abuse.
