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Harelimana looking to help Alouettes build winning culture in Montreal

April has been a busy month for Montreal Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia. Usually, this month is spent focusing on the upcoming CFL Draft and U.S. tryouts, but the Als GM has locked up three key local pieces since the beginning of April. Maciocia signed safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy (through 2025) and kicker David Cote (through 2024) in the first half of April, and he made another important signing on Monday when he extended linebacker Brian Harelimana.

Clearly, the extensions that the organization has handed out over the last three weeks indicate that they want to keep their core of local players intact for the foreseeable future. The fact that Harelimana is part of that core shouldn’t be lost on anyone.

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“It means everything,” Harelimana said of the extension he signed. “Being a kid from Montreal and growing up watching the Alouettes win, means a lot. Especially because I have a couple of seasons under my belt, and we weren’t too far from winning also. Just having the same nucleus, same group and building continuity in our organization is everything.

“We grew up here watching the Alouettes have success. We know what the city is about when the Alouettes win. We know the joy of winning in Montreal. People love you once you’re a winner here. The fact that a lot of us local players played with or against each other, so we know what it takes to get the joy and pride of Quebec. It’s important to have that pride. We’re going to go the extra mile to make our people proud.”

The Alouettes drafted Harelimana out of the University of Montreal in the fourth round of the 2020 CFL Draft. While with the Carabins, the 27-year-old played for Maciocia and current Alouettes special teams coordinator Byron Archambault.

Harelimana, who grew up in Laval and Pierrefonds, played in eight games during his rookie season in 2021. Last year, he played in all 18 contests, and made three starts at weak-side linebacker Weeks 3, 4 and 6 when Chris Ackie was sidelined with an injury.

He managed to accumulate an impressive three quarterback sacks and nine tackles during those three outings. He also forced a fumble in the second game of the season against the Toronto Argonauts.

Ironically enough, all three of those sacks came in two games against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where Cody Fajardo was the quarterback and Jason Maas was the offensive coordinator. Fajardo signed with the Alouettes in February, while Maas was hired as the team’s head coach in December.

“I’ll have a couple of chats with (Fajardo) during training camp,” Harelimana said. “I’ll make sure he remembers (laughs). Obviously, we can’t touch the quarterbacks, but I’ll try to whisper a couple of things in his hears just to remind him that I was around and that I can still be around for sure.”

When you’re around Harelimana, you can immediately tell that he has an outgoing personality and that he’s a natural leader. He’s smart, articulate, and well-spoken, and it’s easy to see why he was an important part of the leadership groups with the Vanier Cheetahs (CEGEP) and the Carabins (USports) during his time at those schools.

Not only is there room for him to grow into a bigger role on the field in 2023, but there’s also going to be an opportunity for him to be more vocal in the locker room. With the departure of veterans like Geno Lewis and Trevor Harris, Harelimana is hoping to become a key part of the Alouettes’ leadership group heading into his third season.

He and Maas have even had a conversation about the type of winning culture that needs to be built within the organization.

“Coach Maas gave me a call not too long ago, and we spoke,” he said. “I learned to know him, and he got to know me too. We’re excited to get to work with each other. He gave me praise for the good games I had against them, because he was coordinator out there (in Saskatchewan).

“The journey, the 20-plus weeks that we have together, learning to win and battling together, there is going to be ups and downs, but being resilient throughout that is what makes the story really good. That’s what I told him I was looking forward to in 2023, the process, the journey, and enjoying every moment. Because tomorrow is not promised and we’re going to make the most out of what we have today. He agreed with me, and we had a great talk. I think that’s something we’re all going to try to instill in this team moving forward, so that for the next few years, Montreal is going to have a culture that people will recognize.”