What We Do

The FRB is dedicated to protecting the environment in the public interest by:

  • Conserving and restoring the ecosystems, banks, and biodiversity of the Bouchard Creek area over the long term.
  • Reducing pollution and rehabilitating polluted waters in Bouchard Creek.
  • Documenting the creek’s condition and ongoing restoration efforts.
  • Creating educational toolkits and conducting awareness campaigns targeting the public, local businesses, schools, and policymakers to promote ecosystem and biodiversity conservation in the Bouchard Creek watershed.

The Bouchard Creek Foundation is a unique organization in Dorval, on the island of Montréal, Quebec. The creek begins at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL), and flows into the St. Lawrence River.

Our vision is to think in decades, restore this creek by 2040, and make it a model for other urban waterways. We see Bouchard Creek as a true sandbox to test innovations that are reusable elsewhere, scalable, and powered by emerging technologies like 3D printing, AI platforms, rich consolidated watershed data, and augmented reality visualization.

Since 2021, with a 100% volunteer team, we have launched clean-ups, engaged schools, and developed our first digital tools to document the health of the watershed. We recently launched a 5 year program of projects built on $2.1 million of grants, donations and in-kind support through an amazing network of partners.

In the short term, we want to expand our volunteer base. In the medium term, we will strengthen our educational and technological partnerships. And in the long term, we want other lost urban creeks in Montréal and beyond to be restored benefitting from our methods and tools.

Accomplishments

FRB RESULTS 2021 - 2025

  • Led by two retired pro bono executives from global enterprises who covered FRB core operating costs out of pocket, and relying exclusively on the generosity of local organizations and volunteers, the Fondation Ruisseau Bouchard (FRB) and its partners have secured over $2 million in grants and donations to support a five-year (2024–2029) program aimed at restoring and protecting Bouchard Creek.
  • Forged long-term partnerships with six schools, reaching over 4,000 students and securing in-kind leadership and staff support valued at more than $500,000.
  • Co-developed with GRAME a scalable field guide to support businesses and citizen groups in organizing clean-ups—making community-based action accessible and replicable.
  • Completed in-depth historical research on the creek’s transformation since the 17th century using Dorval and BANQ archives.
  • Analyzed 13 years of water quality data from seven monitoring stations on the Bouchard creek published by the City of Montreal.
  • Engaged the Université de Montréal team behind the original topological 3D watersheds mapping of the entire Island of Montreal, securing access to the source data.
  • Extracted watershed-specific data from this 2018 island-wide topographic survey to approximate the perimeter of the current Bouchard watershed.
  • Pioneered Canada’s first digital twin of an urban creek and its watershed, co-developed with Université Laval.
  • Integrated publicly available ownership data (municipal, provincial, federal) by municipal lot within the watershed, laying the groundwork for targeted engagement with owners: businesses, institutions and private homeowners.
  • Invited by the City of Montreal to submit a formal brief to its Consultation publique sur l’avenir de l’eau de Montréal (Oct 2023).
  • Positioned environmental action as a strategic investment, incentivizing site-level improvements on residential, institutional, and commercial properties.
  • Secured endorsements from a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including public agencies, corporate leaders, and grassroots organizations.
  • Demonstrated high-impact outcomes without permanent staff or offices, driven by disciplined partnerships and a volunteer-led model.

Projects

In addition to previous and developing projects, our current program of projects is Les Amis du ruisseau Bouchard. The program objectives are:

INCREASE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE HEALTH OF THE CREEK

IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF BOUCHARD CREEK

CREATE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND AWARENESS IN PROTECTING BOUCHARD CREEK

FACILITATE THE REPRODCIBILITY AND OUTREACH OF THE PROJECT

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