The Mission of Youth Hostels affiliated to the International Network is the same everywhere:

''To Help all , especially the young, gain a greater understanding of peoples, places and cultures through hostelling''

The Association of Saint-Laurent Youth Hostels was created in 1938 by Mary Barclay of the Youth Hostel Association of Canada. Her mandate was to develop the youth hostelling movement in Québec and to affiliate it with the Canadian and International network. For nearly 20 years, this association developed thanks to the exceptional work of volunteers who were convinced that travel and inter-cultural encounters in a well supervised milieu represented a unique means of educating young people.

In 1957, John Charlow became the Association's first paid employee. However, he did not accept any remuneration until he had succeeded in sufficiently developing the youth hostelling movement in Québec. Thanks to his efforts, in three years the number of members grew from 600 to 6,000. Ten years after he was hired, he opened the first urban youth hostel in Canada : the Montréal Youth Hostel.

At the end of the 1970s, the name "Saint-Laurent Youth Hostels" was only associated with the Montréal Youth Hostel. Development of the youth hostelling movement in Québec became the responsibility of the "Fédération Québécoise de l'Ajisme" (Québec Federation of Hostelling) which merged in 1989 with the "Organisation pour le tourisme étudiant" (Student Tourism Organization) in Québec to become the "Regroupement pour le Tourisme Jeunesse" (Regroupment for Youth Tourism).

 So far in the history of the Saint-Laurent Youth Hostels, the 1990s have been the years of greatest growth. The Montréal Youth Hostel moved into more spacious quarters which were better adapted to the tastes and needs of its young visitors. Still located at this address, the hostel can now welcome more than 240 people per night as compared with 100 in its former building.

At the end of the decade, the Association created the Mont-Tremblant International Youth Hostel. In so doing, it made the ski centre of the same name much more accessible to the less well-off. In terms of frequentation, this hostel has become the third most important in the entire network of Hostelling International in Québec.

In 65 years, the Association of Saint-Laurent Youth Hostels Inc. has grown from a volunteer organization to having a single employee (1957), to having nearly 45 employees today. Its existence has enabled nearly two million travellers to discover Montréal, the Eastern Townships and the Laurentians, in addition to meeting and getting to know people from all over the globe, and opening their horizons to the world.

All this work over the last 65 years has brought the Association of Saint-Laurent Youth Hostels, and more especially its personnel, recognition in the form of a number of prizes and awards, not only for the Montréal hostel but also for the Mont-Tremblant International Youth Hostel. A survey on satisfaction conducted on clients who were members of Hostelling International placed the Montréal Youth Hostel in ninth place among all the hostels of the network world-wide.

 A tradition of high quality services has been established over these years in which young travellers have always been placed front and centre in all efforts. The quality of the welcome, of the equipment, of tourist information and activities offered today is at the highest level of professionalism. The decade to come should see the Association become even more directly involved in programs to discover sights and conserve them, as well as in protection of the environment, awareness of world cultures, respect for others and the promotion of peace in the world.

The Association of Saint-Laurent Youth Hostels is evolving at the same speed as its social environment. It hopes to continue for a long time furthering its mission  of educating young people by offering them stays which are intelligently-conceived, ethical, safe and affordable.