The Défi Canderel, the fundraiser that has never taken itself very seriously, turned 35 this year. The Montreal event brings together scientists, the corporate community and cancer survivors, replete in some of the least practical running gear. Since 1989, it has used its infectious fun to raise over $25 million for both the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) and Institut du cancer de Montréal (ICM).
An outbreak of Défi fever takes over numerous Montreal offices every year. An example at this year’s event: 15 colleagues wearing matching shiny nylon tracksuits in '80s shades of electric blue, fuchsia and purple. Also on-site was a normally mild-mannered scientist who coaxes tumours onto microchips but looked more like a parody of a used-car salesman, save for the headband that matched his garish suit. It was in that outfit that he took part in the event’s run, four laps around McGill’s Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, this year’s venue.
Ground zero for the Défi can be traced to Jonathan Wener. As many now know, he turned personal tragedy into what has become a vital funding pipeline for cancer research.
In 1989, his wife Susan Wener (BEd’75) was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 36 and he asked her doctor what he could do to make a difference.
“If you want to do something that has value,” he remembers the doctor saying. “Get some money into the hands of researchers, so we can find a cure.”
Wener has always been a natural fundraiser. Growing up, his father raised money for summer camps, his mother for the Jewish community. “As a child, when you see your parents doing it with enthusiasm you get infected by it.”
In the last few decades, he has broken previous fundraising totals as he spearheaded campaigns for the Jewish General Hospital and Concordia University. Around half of his day is spent on Canderel business—he runs one of the country’s biggest real estate firms—the other half on philanthropic work.
Back in 1989, Wener had many corporate connections and some ideas for his Défi Canderel project.
“We wanted to show the public that business had a heart,” he recalls. He also contacted the McGill- and Université de Montréal-affiliated cancer research institutes, and both were happy to become beneficiaries. He wanted it to be a fun run, not a race.
A few images in his head from those early days include wheelbarrows being pushed during the run for people to throw coins and dollar bills into; the late H. Heward Stikeman (BA’35, BCL’38, LLD) being pulled in a Roman chariot by five Stikeman Elliott lawyers; and costumes that ranged from billiard tables to buildings.
Director Morag Park, who joined what is now the GCI during that inaugural year of the Défi, was struck by the madness of the event. She recalls seeing businessmen in tutus, as she and her team did the run dressed up as members of the band The Cure. “It was wild and inspiring.”
The event has grown from a $100,000-a-year fundraiser to one that has more recently been bringing in $2 million from each run. This year’s goal was an ambitious $3 million.
Those funds, says Park, have made a difference in the type of research that can be pursued, her centre’s recruitment efforts and the shot in the arm it gives young scientists.
When asked what accounts for the Défi’s longevity, Park says, “Two words: Jonathan Wener.” She says the larger-than-life force is not just a person who can create an offbeat and engaged event, but someone who inherently knows what cancer research requires.
“He has always believed that the researchers should make the decisions as to what is needed,” she says of the no-strings-attached money for graduate students and postdocs that her centre receives.
“This allows us to recruit the best trainees and to put on the table—year one—a studentship.” Thanks to the Défi runs, the GCI has offered 165 studentships and 55 fellowships in the last three and a half decades.
Park describes a more intangible benefit for the emerging researcher. “This feeling that somebody believes in you is very important at that point in your career. It says you are worth the effort and that Jonathan Wener and the whole business community are stepping up to support you. It continues to give me goosebumps.”
Former Canderel grant recipient Janane Rahbani (PhD’18), says the relative ease of obtaining the Défi funding helps many emerging researchers. “The competition for these grants is only among other postdocs at the Goodman Cancer Institute.” The recently hired assistant professor at the University of Chicago, who researches obesity and metabolism, believes the Canderel grant played a role in his eventually receiving funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. And that work he did at the GCI ended up in a paper he first authored and published in the prestigious journal Nature.
Another grateful recipient, Sheri McDowell (BSc’17, PhD’22), who is currently completing a postdoc at the University of Geneva in the Agora Cancer Research Center, points out that Canderel grants offer a boost to trainees from out of the country. “These trainees may not be able to apply for funding that’s based on nationality, whereas with Canderel, anyone can apply.”
“I get so much energy from you every year. I don’t care how much pressure I was under before I got here today; the energy when I walked into this area from all of you was amazing.”
He will thank lots of people and eventually mention his recent brush with cancer. A malignant tumour on his kidney had been removed this past December. Earlier in our interview, there is nothing resembling self-pity, as he mentions his luck and gratitude for it having been discovered early.
Part of “Team Wenes” is on stage, including two of the Wener grandchildren who go door to door selling cookies for cancer research. “So, the inculcation I got from my parents,” Jonathan says proudly in the interview, “has worked with my grandchildren.”
Wener is optimistic about his succession. “Susan and I have dedicated a huge part of our lives to cancer and we hope it will continue for decades to come.”
A man in his mid-70s, with 35 successful editions of the Défi behind him, is looking to the future. With his family and his community, he has built a lasting legacy for the benefit of all.