Lawyers, province negotiating to find housing for those living under Ville-Marie Expressway

An agreement was reached with the Quebec government stipulating the province has an obligation to find housing for residents of an encampment under Montreal’s Ville-Marie Expressway.

The Mobile Legal Clinic team and homeless advocates were in court Wednesday seeking to suspend the April 1 eviction of people living under the autoroute.

Lawyers were also seeking to negotiate housing for those affected.

The lawsuit was filed against the Quebec government as the eviction was to make way for maintenance work by the transport ministry.

“For the next 10 days, we will be in negotiations with them to find tangible solutions which respect the rights and their needs as human beings,” said Donald Tremblay, the director and founder of the Mobile Legal Clinic. “And it’s pretty unbelievable today in 2023 that we have people living under an autoroute and nothing was done since November to help them find adequate housing.

“Some of these people are gravely ill. They need help. So we’re very happy today that the government made a very important step to recognize their rights and to negotiate and find for them proper housing.

“And we’re not talking about putting these people into shelters. We’re talking about housing. And this is very significant.”

If an agreement isn’t reached in 10 days between the Mobile Legal Clinic team and the Quebec government, they’ll have to return to Superior Court.

“It will be critical,” said David Chapman, the executive director and founder of Resilience Montreal. “I think one of the key transitions that happened today was at first the emphasis was simply on relocation.

“We were able to push for not just simply relocation, but for housing according to not just housing, but according to the rights and needs of the people.”