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MADD Canada Releases September 6, 2007 Lindsay and St. Catharines students first to see Friday Night, With the start of another school year, MADD Canada today unveiled their new multi-media assembly show that will deliver its important drug and alcohol awareness and risk prevention messages to Canadian students. Friday Night premiered simultaneously at two Ontario high schools as MADD Canada and Presenting Sponsor General Motors of Canada representatives were in Lindsay and St. Catharines to kick off a ten month, cross-country tour that will have this new show viewed by over 600,000 high school students. Margaret Miller, MADD Canada’s National President was on hand in Lindsay and spoke to the high school audience prior to the premiere showing. “It is an understatement to say that we need to do something about our Canadian youth and impaired driving crashes. Road crashes are the number one cause of youth fatalities in Canada -- one in eight people who die on Canada’s roads is a youth. It is a disturbing fact that two out of five teens who are killed on the road have been drinking.” “Young Canadian drivers are over-represented in road crashes and we want to impact these trends and reduce the number of young drivers who are involved in impaired driving incidents.” “These are precisely the reasons why MADD Canada and GM take our impaired driving message directly into high schools, and present our case through moving and stimulating multi-media assembly shows. Our presentations bring the tragic reality of impaired driving to the big screen, speaking to young people in their own language, and with music and video clips that illustrate the harm associated with alcohol, drugs and driving,” says Mrs. Miller. “Friday Night is a striking and sobering reflection that will have students thinking twice about their own actions as well as looking out for the safety of their friends,” and Mrs Miller adds, “Our hope with these productions is that we’ll make an indelible impression on young Canadians – and they will not become an impaired driving statistic.” The tragic crash that took the life of Robert and Margaret Miller’s son Bruce is one of the stories featured in this year’s presentation. The National President comments on her family’s response to the impaired driving crash, “We are proud to be sharing Bruce’s story and carrying on the work Bruce was doing to educate young people. MADD Canada’s multi-media presentations are powerful and, in showing them, we hope to spare young drivers and their families of the pain and loss that our family has had to deal with because of the wrong decisions made by an impaired driver.” MADD and GM partnership keeps the tour on the road Stew Low, Director of Public Relations – General Motors of Canada was present to talk to students before the screening in Lindsay. Mr. Low said: “We trust that this year’s production, Friday Night, like the productions in the past years, will help with the education of the next generation of drivers about safe and sober driving habits and making the right choices. At GM, we believe in the critical work MADD Canada is doing to educate youth and save lives and we are very proud to be part of this important effort.” Mr. Low added: “Safety is our top priority at GM, in the way we work and in the way we build vehicles with features such as OnStar. So, our partnership and our work with MADD Canada to reach out to young Canadians is a natural extension of our corporate mission and our employees’ attitudes towards road safety.” Mrs. Miller comments on the GM partnership: “The continued support of GM gives us the chance to show this production to more young Canadians than ever before. In previous years, our shows have been viewed by over 600,000 students and, now, GM and MADD Canada have our sights on touring these multi-media presentations to even more students this school year. We are very thankful for the support of our partner GM, who is helping to make this popular tour happen -- again this year.” Two new shows are now being booked for schools across the country In a flood of fast-paced, arresting imagery, MADD Canada’s 2007-2008 multi-media assembly programs feature poignant stories of young people, celebrity interviews, clips from a major motion picture, and a contemporary soundtrack – viewed on three giant screens (final set-up size 15' x 45'). Friday Night, this year’s high-school presentation, follows a group of teens through a “not so typical Friday night”, where decisions they make lead to some very preventable tragedies. Some of the major issues addressed in this presentation are marijuana and driving, binge drinking, peer pressure and the havoc left by an impaired driving crash. The production cleverly segues back and forth from the party to a real-life victim to the host. At specific moments in the scene where a bad decision is being made, we cut to a victim story that shows what happened when someone else was in a similar situation and made a bad choice. This is followed by the host who engages the audience and talks about what better choices could have been made to prevent the horrible outcome. MADD Canada is also touring the MADD Scientist and the Quest for Power, an assembly show geared towards elementary school students. This show encourages younger youth to play safe, to keep their brains and bodies healthy, and teaches them how to be pro-active if they detect alcohol in their driver. As the MADD Scientist explains, “it’s all there inside you, but you need to figure it out”. This assembly show has been developed for students in grades 1-6, who will relate to the characters in this show and the interactive nature of the presentation. To preview these new presentations go to www.maddyouth.ca. MADD Canada is the country’s preeminent voice for impaired driving victims. The organization is a grassroots, volunteer driven group that is active in over 100 communities across Canada. Over 750,000 Canadians support MADD Canada's mission to stop impaired driving and to support the victims of this violent crime through their annual donations. General Motors of Canada (GMCL) is engineering and manufacturing advanced environmental technologies ranging from Active Fuel Management (cylinder deactivation) and hybrid systems to E85 biofuel and fuel cell vehicles – more than any other auto company right here in Canada. Headquartered in Oshawa Ontario, GMCL employs more than 19,000 people nationwide. GM of Canada manufactures vehicles, vehicle powertrains, and markets the full range of General Motors vehicles and related services through 743 dealerships and retailers across Canada. Vehicles sold through this network include Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Cadillac. GM plays an active role in communities across the country with programs like GM Community Wheels, which offers a turnkey solution to the transportation needs of community agencies by providing them with GM vehicles; Saturn Kidspace is another program that assists communities in need of safe places for children to play. To date, more than 300 playgrounds have been built as part of this initiative. For further information visit www.maddyouth.ca, or call:
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