The team
The Board of Directors
Seven administrations make up the board of directors, with four user members and three support members.
Management
Cohabitat Village VITAL is managed by a general management that currently works on a volunteer basis. The president of the board of directors is currently fulfilling this role.
Louise Lariviere
Originally from Joliette, in Lanaudière, where she was completing a classical studies program, Larivière left for Jonquière, where the first media communications course was being held. Art and Media Technology. Following this opening to the world, she went to explore Europe and settled in London, England, where she lived for nine years and obtained the Proficiency in English Studies[1], from the University of Cambridge. Back in Quebec, she was accepted into the School of Public and Community Affairs (Special Commission on the Practice of Accountancy) and graduated from Concordia University four years later. Louise Larivière's professional life has always revolved around communication, whether as an analyst, researcher, reporter, or Film director or as a public writer.
Louise Larivière presents herself as a committed person, whether for social or environmental causes. In 1998, she founded Productions de L'Oeil, a company specializing in ‘blitz’ reporting with the goal of public exhibition; she acted there successively as designer, director, and producer.[2]. From 2002 to 2005, she directed Reporters Communication, a non-profit organization producing documentary photography exhibitions, presented in galleries and outdoors. In 2006, she founded Boréal Communication, whose mission was to design and execute RESPECT, a ‘bird's-eye view’ report on Canada's boreal forest; exhibitions were presented at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre, The Forks in Winnipeg, and Montreal's Biosphere. She was making a documentary Take Me to the River and co-directed the short film, Eagle, which deserved the award Innovation from the NFB in 2011.
From 2010 to 2015, she helped enhance organizations' visibility with donors. For nine years, Larivière balanced her professional life with her role as a caregiver, accompanying my mother until her death. In 2016, following a request from SSVP Canada, she was producing a pan-Canadian report, the main outcome of which was the drafting of the Mission, a book highlighting the work of volunteers from east to west of the country. In 2020, she contributed to the preservation of the Saint-Jean-de-Matha Rectory, a heritage site threatened by real estate speculators. In 2022, she conceived and directed a Reportage on aging, interviewed 100 people aged 60 and over living in the Lanaudière region, which led to the writing of the memoir Âge VITAL. Since 2022, Louise Larivière has been passionately working on setting up a housing cooperative for seniors.
She has authored six books, The Eye of Minganie following Metropolis Seen by 30 Renowned Reporters in 1999, I am Montreal In 2003 and I am reading M in 2007, The Mission, Vital Age: A Memoir in 2022, as well as several articles.
In 2023, she accepted the presidency of Cohabitat Village VITAL, solidarity cooperative whose intention is to create cohousing for seniors in the six RCMs of Lanaudière and wherever seniors feel the need to turn to this housing alternative.
[1]Considered a certificate in English mastery, the Proficiency (CPE) is the highest qualification offered by the University of Cambridge at the C2 (CEFR) level.
[2] A press review corroborating these achievements is available upon request.