Quebec's top 10 feel-good stories of 2015

There was no shortage of stories that warmed, inspired and wowed us in 2015.

Here are 10 from around Quebec that speak to our capacity for doing good, and having fun.

Malyk Bonnet, teenage hero, saves woman from kidnapping

Laval teen on being called a hero

9 years ago

Duration 0:40

Laval, Que., police are calling 17-year-old Malyk Bonnet a hero after he went to extraordinary lengths to aid the escape of a woman who had been abducted by her ex-boyfriend.

Montreal teenager Malyk Bonnet didn't think he was doing anything heroic when he went to extraordinary lengths to help an abducted woman escape her ex-boyfriend in August.

Bry Bitar sparks school uniform revolution

Bry Bitar, 13, doesn't like gender labels, and the LGBT youth didn't feel right wearing the boys' uniform at school.

So the teen started wearing the girls' uniform instead, and got the English Montreal School Board brainstorming better ways to serve LGBT students.

Daybreak Montreal10:39Royal West Academy's LGBT club a place of solace for students

Royal West Academy is known for offering many extracurricular activities, but this year a new club is making its mark. It's the school's first LGBT Club. Daybreak's Shari Okeke profiles the pioneers of the Royal West LGBT Club.

P.K. goes all the way for the Montreal Children's Hospital

RAW: Child asks P.K. Subban "Who's your favourite Montreal Canadien?"

9 years ago

Duration 3:02

Subban took kids' questions at a news conference at which he announced he'd be giving the Montreal Children's Hospital $10 million.

Montreal's love affair with Habs star P.K. Subban went to a whole new level in September when the defenceman donated $10 million to the Montreal Children's Hospital.

The health-care facility described the donation as "the biggest philanthropic commitment by a sports figure in Canadian history."

Jingle bell #tag

Not content to merely donate $10 million to Montreal's Children Hospital, P.K. Subban challenged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian pop idol Justin Bieber and others to join the #Canadacarols campaign on behalf of pediatric hospitals around the country. 

Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, followed Subban's lead, tweeting out their own bilingual version of Jingle Bells. 

And Bieber? Bieber...

70 birds, 14 guitars, 1 'highly unusual' art installation

70 zebra finches play guitar in Montreal

9 years ago

Duration 1:19

A new exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts showcases birds channelling Jimi Hendrix.

The Byrds they're not, and they don't care. 

French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot calls his installation From here to ear "living music," inspired by the sight of birds on a wire when he was a kid.

His interpretation of that image at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts had 70 zebra finches using the strings of 14 amplified electric guitars and basses as perches. 

Possessed to skate

Watch what Syrelle Lefebvre, 9, can do on a skateboard

9 years ago

Duration 1:25

Syrelle Lefebvre, 9, will compete in her very first skateboarding competition this weekend in Quebec City.

What she lacks in height, 9-year-old skateboarder Syrelle Lefebvre makes up in attitude.

Syrelle starting skating when she was six and this summer competed in the Quebec City Bowl Bash.

Rare leopards get rare delivery

When you're listed as critically endangered, there's no room for risky births. In what's believed to be a first in North America, veterinarians at the Granby Zoo east of Montreal opted for Caesarian section to deliver two Amur leopard cubs in September.

Sadly, one died a few days later, but the other cub is going strong.

Beating swords into beehives

When artist Maryse Goudreau discovered a rusting World War Two-era Bren Gun Carrier buried on the farm she bought in Escuminac, Que., she organized the Festival Tank D'Escuminac.

The event gathered neighbours to help her dig out the wartime relic and drum up ideas for what to do with it.

Someone proposed a beehive, and the rest is history.

As It Happens4:56Quebec community turns Second World War vehicle into beehive

Hiving off a piece of history. A Quebec artist hosts a community festival to help dig out a World War Two tank found on her property, and then gives the tank new life - as a beehive.

He who hovers furthest...

Montrealer Alexandre Duru went from relative obscurity to world's coolest nerd in May after video of him flying a homemade hoverboard around a lake in northern Quebec went viral.

Duru's 250-metre flight earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records and accelerated his plan to have people flying around on hoverboards of their own in the near future.

Canadian develops futuristic hovercraft

9 years ago

Duration 7:51

Canadian inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru has created a hovercraft that has broken a world record.

25,000 Tuques

Danielle Létourneau wanted to provide a warm welcome to Syrian refugees arriving in Quebec, and set knitting needles across the country a-blazing with her 25,000 Tuques campaign.

Launched on Facebook on the end of November, the campaign inspired knitting enthusiasts across Quebec and Canada to purl it up in solidarity with the Syrians.