Seven people who were living in an encampment in Montreal’s Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie borough will have to find a new place to sleep after it was dismantled Wednesday morning.
The encampment, which was right by train tracks near St-Laurent Boulevard and Bellechasse Street, was illegally set up on land owned by the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway. A dozen railway police officers and other CPKC employees were seen throwing lawn chairs and tarps in the trash as they demanded people pack their things and leave.
Some encampments in the area have been around for years.
Some business owners told Radio-Canada, without giving their names, that they were happy to see the encampment go because it hindered their activities. Other nearby residents and businesses, however, said those at the encampment didn’t cause much disturbance.
CPKC said “warnings had been issued advising those trespassing on private property to vacate the area.”
A spokesperson for the City of Montreal says the city met with those at the encampment a few days ago and the people “didn’t accept its offer for aid.”
It said members of EMMIS, Montreal’s mobile mediation and social intervention team, were present Wednesday.
“We would point out that the City of Montreal’s policy prohibits encampments in public space and that any other public space is not an option,” the city said in a statement to Radio-Canada.
Nowhere to go
But Richard Côté, one of the people who was evicted, says he was never warned and the city should have given them a written notice.
“It’s unacceptable,” he told Radio-Canada. “We’re the butt of the joke.”
Côté had been living in the encampment since March. Last fall, he was living nearby when his tent caught fire.
“I lost everything … I got here and I had nothing, I came here and people gave me blankets,” he said.
Côté says he doesn’t know where he will go next and the city hasn’t offered him an adequate alternative. He also says it’s been impossible to find housing since most places ask for references, and he was even turned away for “being too old.”
His neighbour Bertin Babineau, however, was expecting the eviction, and described some people as “rowdy.”
“But, personally, I don’t think I’ve bothered a child or a runner on the bike path,” he said.
Babineau has been living on the street for four years. When he lost his home, he stayed at a shelter for a while but said it didn’t work out for him.
Now he says he’ll have to find a new place to camp out, but will make sure to make himself “less visible” so people won’t see him and make him relocate again.
Hearing this worries Maxime Bonneau, the head of community organization Pact De Rue, who says the last thing unhoused people need is to be even more isolated.
“It doesn’t help anyone … they’re just going to move their stuff somewhere else,” he said.
Bonneau’s organization is against the dismantling of encampments for the unhoused and says it only further stigmatizes people experiencing homelessness.
The City of Montreal has intervened in 460 homeless encampments in the past year. And with warm weather on the way, front-line workers are expecting to see more.
With the recent heat waves, Bonneau worries some might suffer from heat stroke. Others are dealing with mental illness, physical disability or struggling with addiction and there’s a lack of shelter space.
“As soon as they want to make themselves invisible, they hide in unsafe places. Having a community, people who take care of you and to socialize with, that brings a safety net,” he said.
Montreal estimates there are 4,690 people who are visibly homeless in the city, with 1,600 spots in emergency or transitional shelters.
With resources like hospital beds, rehab centres, crisis centres and social housing taken into account, there are about 7,000 spots across the island, according to the city.
Bonneau says there’s a great need for more long-term adapted resources and financing, rather than “band-aid measures” like temporary emergency shelters that only last a couple of years.