The city of Laval has signed a contract with the Information Referral Centre of Greater Montreal to set up a 211 telephone hotline.
211 is an information and referral service for non-urgent community and social services.
The IRCGM would take calls from Laval citizens and help to direct them to various services.
In a statement, IRCGM ceo Pierrette Gagné said "211 will facilitate access to social and community resources for all Laval residents, by phone, seven-days-a-week, from 8 a.m.-6 p.m."
It's available in English and French, with additional support for other languages.
Mathieu Chaurette, Director of the 211 program at IRCGM says they can also accomodate many other languages. "We use an interpretation service so people can join us in 200 languages."
Several major Canadian cities including Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa have 211 lines set up -- but not Montreal.
One might be in works in the future. "For the phone service, it is in negociations right now and we will try to have the whole community of greater Montreal [included] at the same time, probably around next year. But there's nothing official right now" said Chaurette.
The hotline directs to around 5,000 social and comunity resources located in the Greater Montreal area as a whole.
Resources for Physical and Mental Health, Gender Advocacy, and Homelessness are only a few of the ones available.
"You can find foodbanks, you can find services for families, seniors, there are many different services in the comminty for different kinds of people" Chaurette said.
While the 211 number can only be dialed from Laval phones, anyone can visit www.211laval.ca for an online version of the service.
The deal would see the city of Laval paying around $60,000 a year for five years.