Martine St-Victor: How bingo and a new TV show restored my faith in humanity

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What a summer this has been. As an observer of American politics, I watched as the year’s warmest season brought its share of whiplash-worthy dénouements. But here in Quebec, smaller stories reminded me of essentials I have too often ignored.

On a sunny June day, I spent an afternoon at a community centre in Verdun. Its activities are diverse, but I chose one I hadn’t played in years: bingo.

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I grabbed the last seat and eyed the long table, where players already had their cards. The man next to me was named Joe. Gallantly, he acknowledged me by tipping his baseball cap. As the game caller cleared her throat and finalized the last details before starting to shout combinations of letters and numbers, I chatted with Joe.

I quickly learned he had been a firefighter in Verdun for decades. He told me about the long line of firefighters in his family. Little did he know my reverence for those who choose that calling and have the bravery to run toward what the rest of us run away from.

I didn’t want the bingo to start. I preferred to bask in Joe’s story longer. Besides, I felt I had already won by meeting him.

After winners were declared and the bingo machine stopped spinning, I finally continued my exchange with Joe. His stories served as a history of the neighbourhood and its people, including their hardships and small victories. I left the community centre happy, feeling like I understood Montreal better. And I had met an incredible man, a hero, who has lived an extraordinary life.

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Later in the summer, I was reminded that all lives have a touch of the extraordinary in them.

Lost in the recent maelstrom of news, including an assassination attempt on a former U.S. president and the electoral withdrawal of the country’s current commander-in-chief, was the death of American TV host Phil Donahue at the age of 88. When he gave Donahue the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in May, Joe Biden encapsulated why the man who ruled the talk-show world for decades was legendary: “Phil Donahue broadcast the power of personal stories in living rooms all across America. He helped change hearts and minds through honest and open dialogue … and spoke to our better angels.”

Just as I was sinking into the nostalgia of the Donahue show, I remembered impactful television still exists and that one of its greatest emissaries is Montreal’s Sophie Fouron. The award-winning journalist and TV host has never shone brighter than on Chassés-croisés, which premières this week. On her new show, Fouron dares to approach Montrealers, mostly randomly, to chat them up and ask about their lives, often turning pastoral areas of the city into sites for confessionals. In many ways, Fouron graduated summa cum laude from the school of Donahue.

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I got my hands on the first three episodes of Chassés-croisés. It doesn’t take long to see that this social experiment is a smashing success. In the première, we are introduced to cancer survivor Raphaëlle Tousignant, bicycle instructor Pape Amadou Touré and Wolf Thyma, a medical doctor by way of law school. In one of the show’s crescendos, Thyma, who was raised with four siblings in a household that faced daily financial challenges, says all that paled next to the fact he grew up rich with love.

Chassés-croisés is a feel-good show, and it made me cry with relief at its most pressing message: The human spirit is beautiful and resilient. Joe had reminded me of that same fact earlier this summer. It’s a simple thought, but in a world where the tendency is often to highlight the worst and the broken, I’ll take all the reminders that beauty and resilience prevail.

Chassés-croisés airs Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on TV5 starting Sept. 13, and will also be available on tv5unis.ca.

Martine St-Victor is the general manager of Edelman Montreal and a media commentator. Instagram and X: @martinemontreal

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