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The first YMCA-the Young Men's Christian Association-was founded in London, England in 1844 by George Williams, age 23. It was a religious (Evangelical Protestant) movement for young men who had left their families and migrated from outlying areas to jobs in London. Its goal was their character development. It provided fellowship and opportunities for constructive use of leisure time.

At the world's fair that took place in London in 1851, YMCA pamphlets were distributed to visitors from all over the world, including a number of Montrealers who judged that it would fulfill a need in their city.

An inaugural meeting of the Montreal YMCA took place at St. Helen Street Baptist Church in November 1851. The Montreal YMCA can claim to be the first in North America, although YMCAs started up in Boston, New York, Toronto, and other North American cities about the same time.

The North American YMCAs formed a confederation in 1854. The World Alliance of YMCAs was formed in 1855.

In 1853, the Montreal YMCA hired its first paid employee, Samuel Massey. He worked as a missionary to young men in Montreal. As an adjunct to its religious mission, in the 1850s the Montreal YMCA created a social centre in rented quarters where young men could gather. It included a library and reading room. The Y began offering lectures, an employment service, and charitable relief to the indigent.

The first Montreal YMCA building was erected in 1873 on Victoria Square.

That year, the first evening educational courses were held, in French and shorthand. Services were added for younger boys and immigrants. Sports were added in the late 1880s. War work-services to military personnel-was first undertaken during the Boer War. Foreign service-outreach to other countries-became important early in the twentieth century.

Expansion was rapid, and in 1892 the Montreal YMCA created new quarters on Dominion Square, where the Sun Life building now stands. In the Dominion Square Y building there were meeting rooms, a reading room and a library, club and class rooms, an auditorium, a gymnasium, locker and shower rooms, a swimming pool, a bowling alley, and a dining room.

In 1894, a boys' summer camp was opened in the Laurentians north of Montreal. Outdoor programs have been part of the Association's programming ever since.

In 1912, the Central/Downtown Branch of the Montreal Association moved to new quarters on Drummond Street. That year, the Association opened the Westmount Branch and the North Branch (now YMCA du Parc). Other branches and various satellite units have existed at various times throughout the Metropolitan Montreal region.

In 1931 the Downtown Branch was remodeled and a 500-room residential annex was added to provide low-cost accommodation and meals for men. The residence would later serve as accommodation for refugees. (In 2001 as part of a major renovation of the YMCA Centre-ville, the downtown residence was demolished. The Y opened refugee accommodation in the former Reddy Memorial Hospital on Tupper Street.)

The Montreal YMCA has offered many programs, including physical and aquatics programs and social programs. The educational programs grew to become one of Concordia University founding institutions, Sir George Williams College/University. In the 1970s a shift in government policy in Quebec meant increased emphasis on community recreational programs, and the YMCA provided input and management services for these programs. Community development programs, including immigrant, crime prevention, and offender rehabilitation programs, were added.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Metropolitan Montreal Association included the YMCA Centre-ville, the du Parc YMCA, the Guy-Favreau YMCA, the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve YMCA, the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce YMCA, the Pointe Saint-Charles YMCA, the Saint-Laurent YMCA, the West Island YMCA, the Westmount YMCA, Kamp Kanawana, the YMCA residence for refugee claimants, and the YMCA International Language school and the YMCA Foundation and Metropolitan services offices which were located in the same building as the YMCA Centre-ville.

Yves Charbonneau was born in 1934 in a working-class neighborhood in the east end of Montreal to Eugène Charbonneau and Dorothée Coulombe.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Yves Charbonneau was a trumpet player in various jazz orchestras. He married Francoise Labonne in 1962. He had three daughters, Nathalie, Sophie, and Julie, and a son. In 1967, together with Guy Thouin, Jean Prefontaine and Maurice Richard, he formed the group Quatuor du Jazz libre du Québec, where he was the trumpet player. In 1968 the group participated the Osstidcho. Thereafter, Charbonneau accompanied Robert Charlebois, L’Infonie, and Plume Latraverse.
From 1970 to 1972, the Quatuor du Jazz libre du Québec build up an artistic and political commune, known as Petit Québec libre, in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Rochelle in the Eastern Townships. After its closure, the quartet opened l’Amorce, an experimental coffeehouse located at 25 St.-Paul E., in Montreal, where they were performing until the club's destruction by fire in June 1974.
After the break-up of Jazz libre du Québec in 1975, Yves Charbonneau improvised in various groups, playing at Conventum and Véhicule Art. In 1987, he began studying photography at the Cegep of Matane, Quebec.
He died on February 22, 2007.

Walter Kent Sloan was born September 5, 1924. He joined Sir George Williams University in 1971 as an assistant professor of theatre arts. After the merger of Sir George Williams with Loyola College to form Concordia University in 1974, his title changed to assistant professor of fine arts. He was promoted to associate professor of fine arts in 1983, and became associate professor of theatre in 1987. In addition to teaching, Sloan was active as a set, costume, and props designer for numerous Canadian theatres. He died on November 9, 1991.

Walton Hannah was born in England in 1912. His father, Ian Campbell Hannah, was a teacher of theology, a writer, and a Member of the British House of Commons 1935-1944. His mother, Edith Brand, was an American and developed an international reputation as a painter. They married in 1905. They collaborated on a number of books (1912-1914, possibly other dates), including The Story of Scotland in Stone, which he wrote and she illustrated.

In the 1930s Walton Hannah became an Anglican priest. He collected documentary and other materials on Freemasonry, with the aim of exposing it as an anti-Christian movement. Although in correspondence he claims never to have been a Freemason, he received correspondence from Freemasons who addressed him as Brother; he also appears to have used pseudonyms to hide his identity as a priest. His interest extended to other secret organizations and the occult in general, and he continued to collect materials on these subjects all his life.

In 1952 his book Darkness Visible: A Revelation and Interpretation of Freemasonry was published by Augustine Press. A second book, Christian by Degrees: Masonic Religion Revealed in the Light of Faith, was published by Augustine Press in 1954. He published a number of articles. In the mid-1950s he converted to Roman Catholicism. In 1956 he attended the Pontifical Collegio Beda, a seminary in Rome intended for converted Anglican clergymen wishing to become Catholic priests. (Beda is a branch of the English College, a seminary for English candidates for Roman Catholic priesthood.) Immediately following ordination as a Catholic priest, Hannah moved to Montreal at the invitation of the archbishop, Paul-Émile Cardinal Léger. He served as parish priest at several parishes, including Church of the Ascension in Westmount and St. Willibrord's in Verdun. He was involved with the Catholic Inquiry Forum. He continued corresponding with Freemasons (some of them aware of his status as a Catholic priest) and others, and assembling related materials. He died in Montreal in February 1966 , and at his request his collection and his papers were donated to Concordia University founding institution Loyola College.

Wilfred N. Hall was born in Vancouver July 29, 1908. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1929 with a B.A.Sc. in chemical engineering with first class honours. He worked for Canadian Industries Limited (C.I.L.) for 15 years. In 1945 he moved to what would become Domtar Inc. A few months later, he was appointed vice-president for production and development. In 1950, when Domtar Inc. was created, he was appointed vice-president, operations. In 1955, he was appointed executive vice-president. In 1957 he was appointed president and CEO of Domtar. He worked as a private consultant following retirement in 1967.

He was involved in various groups and associations, serving as president of the Montreal YMCA, among other positions. Hall was active in the language debate in the Quebec through his participation in organizations such as the Quebec Committee for Language Regions, the Dual Language Communities Research Association, and the Positive Action Committee.

He was a long-time member of both the Corporation and Board of Governors of Sir George Williams University. He joined the Corporation in the late 1950s, becoming chair in 1968-1969. Mr. Hall chaired the committee of the YMCA Board of Directors that was responsible for the capital campaign for the erection of the Henry F. Hall Building, known as the Sir George Williams University Building Fund. Mr. Hall was also involved with the official separation of SGWU from the YMCA. (The Y was responsible for the financial and property aspects of SGW until the 1960s. The official separation took was finalized in 1968.)

On October 22, 1965 the SGW Association of Alumni conferred their highest distinction, Honorary Life Membership, on Mr. Hall, for his outstanding contribution to the life and growth of Sir George Williams University. He was awarded an honourary doctoral degree by Concordia University at the convocation at which the Hall Building was officially opened in 1966.

He died in Kitchener, Ontario on November 16, 2006.

Wilson Griffith McConnell was born on March 3rd, 1908, as the eldest of four children of John W. McConnell and Lily Griffith. His father, John Wilson McConnell, was a well known Montreal personality and one of the richest men in Canada. Wilson Griffith McConnell was managing his father's sugar refinery, St.-Lawrence sugar.
Together with his wife Marjorie Wallace McConnell, he had one daugther, Jill.
As a jazz fan, Wilson Griffith McConnell was a collector of music recordings and recording equipment.
Wilson Griffith McConnell died on January 12, 1966.

Wynne Francis was born on September 2, 1918 and died on August 2, 2000 in Montreal, QC at age 81. Francis obtained her BA in English from Sir George Williams University in 1942 and an MA in English from McGill University in 1963 with a specialization in Canadian Literature. She began her career in 1942 teaching at Sir George Williams University (SGW) in the English and Humanities department. In 1967 she became a full professor in the department of English at SGW and continued teaching after the merger in 1974 between Sir George Williams University and Loyola College at Concordia University until her retirement in 1991.

Francis’ legacy is maintained and her name honoured with the annual Wynne Francis Award for Graduate Study in Canadian Poetry.

W. Earle McLaughlin was appointed Chancellor at the September 17, 1981 Board of Governors meeting. His five-year term began on January 1st, 1982. A former chief executive officer of the Royal Bank of Canada, McLaughlin was installed as Chancellor at the Spring 1992 Convocation Ceremony. He was a member of several Board sub-committees, including the Executive, Finance, Audit, and Graduation Ceremonies committees. Citing health reasons, McLaughlin stepped down from his role at the end of his term, on December 31, 1986. He was named Chancellor Emeritus at the inaugural induction ceremony of the honorific title held October 18, 1989. McLaughlin passed away in 1991.

• W. Earle McLaughlin received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree (LL. D.) at the Fall 1988 Convocation ceremony.
• In 1991, W. Earle McLaughlin was honoured by a plaque placed in the Concert Hall foyer that reads: The Foyer of the Concert Hall was made possible through the generous contribution of Royal Bank of Canada in honour of W. Earle McLaughlin (1982-86). McLaughlin was unable to attend ceremony due to illness.

William Buxton was a professor at the department of Communication studies. He first graduated from the University of Alberta in 1969, before completing his MA in Philosophy at Oxford University and a MSc in Politics at London University. Buxton then obtained his doctorate from the Die Freie Universitat Berlin in 1980 and his post-doctorate from Harvard University the following year. Buxton joined Concordia’s Communication Studies department in 1990 and was promoted to full professor on June 1, 1992. He became a Fellow of the School of Community and Public Affairs and Lonergan University College shortly after. Buxton retired from Concordia University in 2017. He’s the author of more than 50 books, articles and papers.

• While studying at the University of Alberta, Buxton Obtained the MacEachran Gold Medal in Psychology.
• Buxton organized the Harold Innis and Intellectual Practice for the New Century: Interdisciplinary and Critical Studies conference held at Concordia in October 1994.
• Buxton was scholar-in-residence at the Rockefeller Archive Centre, a division of Rockefeller University in the summer of 2004 to work on his research on the educational radio projects of the Rockefeller Foundation/General Education Board.
• In 2008, Buxton was awarded a Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant for his work ‘Civilizing Canada, Enacting Space, Binding Time: The Possibilist Practice of Harold Adams Innis 1920-1952’.
• William Buxton was elected Secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship Committee for Quebec in 2008.

Walter Boudreau was born in Montreal October 15, 1947 to a musical family. His mother was a pianist; his father, who played alto saxophone in dance bands in Sorel, died just before Walter's birth. Walter Boudreau studied piano from age 7 to 13, then alto saxophone and later tenor saxophone. At 18 he led a jazz quartet. In 1968, with songwriter / poet Raoul Duguay, he founded the Montreal mixed-media music ensemble L'Infonie. Boudreau was the group's conductor and principal composer and arranger. He studied musical analysis at McGill University with Bruce Mather in 1968-1970, and analysis and composition with Serge Garant at Université de Montreal and with Gilles Tremblay at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in 1969-1973. He had internships in Europe with Kagel, Ligeti, Stockhausen, and Xenakis, and with Boulez in Cleveland. A prolific composer, Boudreau has written for various types of musical ensembles and for Quebec films. He won first prize in the 1973 CBC National Competition for Young Composers. In 1982 he was the youngest-ever winner of the Jules-Léger Prize for his compositionOdyssée du Soleil. He has been the artistic director and conductor for the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, and is invited to conduct other orchestras.