• Awarded on: December 4, 2003

Frémond Decoste, Fatima, Quebec
Governor General's Caring Canadian Award

From an early age, Frémond Decoste exemplified passion and drive. No stranger to hard times himself, he has dedicated nearly 40 years of his life to the well-being of the underprivileged and to malnourished children. As a member of the Knights of Columbus, he has collected food and distributed Christmas hampers since 1968. He later founded the Club Richelieu and the Fraternité du plus petit, an organization that helps people in crisis, including financial hardship. In 1984, he organized La soupe du Père Roy, the profits going to a missionary caring for abandoned children in Mexico. In Mr. Decoste's honour, the food bank that he set up in 1993 has been named "Les oeuvres de Frémond Decoste."