History

The Provincial Committee against Tuberculosis came into being in 1938. In order to mobilize efforts to stop the plague and promote public education, this committee brought together Quebec’s anti-tuberculosis leagues. The goal of the doctors and founding specialists was to eliminate the plague that afflicted the Quebec population. A real army took shape to fight the Reaper.

In connection with this action plan, there were educational sessions across the province and the presentation of the film “Health and Happiness”. As a result of these exchanges, more people became involved in the fight against this disease. To counter the epidemic, trucks from Quebec’s anti-tuberculosis leagues traveled the countryside to send X-rays to the public.

As the mortality rate due to white plague dropped significantly in the 1940s and 1950s, the Provincial Tuberculosis Committee reorganized its control plan to combat the morbidity caused by this disease. The organization set up an active screening network, an educational campaign and a massive vaccination campaign to stop the infection.

In 1964, a section dedicated to education was created, and it was in 1967 that funding began for certain research projects in Quebec. That same year, the Orientation Congress of the Provincial Tuberculosis Committee was held, at which the Department of National Revenue recognized it as a not-for-profit corporation that could issue charitable receipts.

In 1969, the Committee became the Quebec Christmas Stamp Society with the goal of once again advancing tuberculosis research. This grouping led to the creation of the Pulmonary Research Chair of the J.-Bégin Foundation of Laval University, in 1970.

The Quebec Christmas Stamp Society contributed to one of the major advancements in the fight against tuberculosis by getting involved in the production and publication of a scientific book on the subject. The book Bacteriological diagnosis of tuberculosis and mycrobacteriosis, written by Doctors Paul Dionne, Édith Mankiewicz and Georges Préfontaine, was published in 1973.

In 1976, the City of Montreal opened its office for the Quebec Christmas Stamp Society. The same year, the organization sent nearly one million two hundred and fifty thousand letters to the friend of the Christmas stamp.

In the late 1970s, tuberculosis being almost completely defeated, the Quebec Christmas Stamp Society became involved in the fight against other respiratory diseases. On June 28, 1979, the Quebec Christmas Stamp Society adopted the name Quebec Lung Association and the acronym recognized today.

In 1982, the Association commemorated the hundred years of the bacillus of Koch. In 1991, the first French-language pulmonology conference was held in Montreal. More than two thousand people from twenty-three different countries were at the rendezvous. The same year, the organization inaugurated its summer camp for young asthmatics.

In 1995 and 1996, the Quebec Lung Association repatriated its regional branches to Montreal to centralize efforts in the fight against respiratory diseases. In 1998 she celebrated her sixtieth birthday and launched the Directory of Services Provided in Quebec for People with Respiratory Diseases. The same year, the Lung 9 line was launched, available everywhere in Quebec.

In preparation for the creation of its first Chair in 2002, the Quebec Lung Association strategically partnered with the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Sherbrooke and the CHUS Clinical Research Center (CRS-CHUS) to creation of Canada’s first Chair in Respiratory Health Research.

On November 4, 2003, the Chair was born with the project entitled “Immuno-pharmacology of asthma: towards a remission of the disease”. The Quebec Lung Association contributed to and helped set up self-help groups throughout Quebec to break the isolation of patients.

In 2007, the organization took a new look with its environmental shift, addressing the issues of climate change and pollution.