Editorial: A Glimpse Inside Boiron Canada

I had dinner with a friend recently at a well-known Montreal eatery. While this normally wouldn’t be anything worth writing about, I couldn’t help but notice a small, delicate bottle proudly displayed on each table in the restaurant.  Attached to it with a raw cord was a simple manuscript label that read: My Sister’s Olive Oil, Kalamata, Greece.

This note piqued my interest, to say the least. I joked about the bottle’s name with our waiter and he assured me that it was no laughing matter. Not only was the oil produced in Kalamata, Greece, but it was indeed made by the restaurateur’s sister. She and her family cultivated the olives and pressed them every season with the greatest care to extract their precious gold liquid, then shipped the oil to her brother in Montreal.

I have always been curious about the background of the products I use, flipping the packages over to discover their origins. With luck, I find a short, personal tale explaining the company’s rich history; their ingredients, their manufacturing process, their employees, and their values.

I often wonder if the people buying our homeopathic medicines ask themselves the same types of questions:
Who is Boiron? How are their medicines made? Where do their ingredients come from?

While a lot of this information can be found on our website, not much is said about the team that works day in and day out to ensure that Canadian families have access to Boiron’s high-quality medicines. Wouldn’t it be great if, much like the olive oil on my table, our consumers could get a glimpse into the backstory of Boiron Canada’s tireless workforce?

If only our consumers could meet Xavier Colin, our in-house Doctor of Pharmacy, who oversees that products being brought to Canadians are beyond reproach. And Guylaine Deschambault with more than 25 years of experience at Boiron Canada, who continues to look after our laboratory in Saint-Bruno, Quebec, as well as every customer-care concern possible. And of course, there’s Youssef Shenouda, a newly minted (and very proud) Canadian who handles and ships each product leaving our headquarters with great care so that they eventually find their way into your homes.

This is just a fraction of the deeply committed, passionate, and proud colleagues that I have the pleasure of working with each day as President CEO of Boiron Canada. While we might not be related by blood, our small team sure feels like family to me.

Daniel Dereser
President CEO Boiron Canada