Homeless encampment under Ville-Marie Expressway dismantled, residents evicted

The 20 or so Montrealers living in an encampment under the Ville-Marie expressway were evicted on Tuesday morning, as ordered by a judge at the end of June.

Officers were seen barricading the entrance of the encampment, which is on Atwater Ave.

Trucks were onsite being filled with belongings of residents.

Police at the entrance of the Ville-Marie encampment. (Credit: Felisha Adam, CityNews image)

It’s to make way for repairs to the expressway planned by Transport Quebec, which were to have started last fall.

Transport Quebec estimates $35 million worth of maintenance work on the structure that supports the overpass – which they say should take up to three years.

A judge said the deteriorating state of the highway not only presented a risk to commuters driving on it, but to the residents living below it too.

Repairs to be done to the Ville-Marie expressway. (Credit: Felisha Adam, CityNews image)

The ruling comes after lawyers for the unhoused there appealed a spring decision by the Quebec Superior Court, which had given residents until mid June to leave. Advocates for the community have said they need more time to help people living there find housing.

“We are still waiting for help and there’s no help at all, no help at all,” says Jacco Stuben a resident of the encampment for over seven years. He has been advocating for other residents, including himself, to stay, since the initial eviction date was set last in November 2022.

“Just give us a hand, you cannot just put us in the middle of the street…it’s not fair!” he pleaded.

“Kicking people out of encampment, it protects institutions it protects them from liability it protects political image, but it actually doesn’t protect the most marginalized people they’ll just die quietly somewhere,” says David Chapman, the Director of Resilience Montreal.

According to Chapman while 17 out of the 20 some residents living in the encampment are currently in the process of obtaining government subsidized housing only two have been able to get housing so far, due to administrative red tap and a lack of resources, all other residents are among those being evicted.

• Community living under Ville-Marie expressway must leave: Quebec Appeal Court rules
• Lawyers for homeless community living under Ville-Marie expressway appeal court decision to evict
• Homeless camp under Ville-Marie Expressway: Eviction delayed until June 15, injunction extended
• Petition urges Quebec government to find funds to house those living under Ville-Marie Expressway
• Interim injunction to suspend eviction of homeless people under Ville-Marie Expressway for 10 days
• Lawsuit to stop evictions of homeless under Ville-Marie Expressway

The group was initially asked to leave in November, with two weeks’ notice – but they were able to get an injunction and the eviction date was moved to March.

That’s when the Mobile Legal Clinic first filed court documents that asked for the eviction to be pushed to July 15 – and also asked for the Transport Ministry to come up with a plan to find homes for the residents.

The eviction was then scheduled for April 12, but delayed by 10 days.

At the end of April, the Quebec Superior Court renewed the legal clinic’s request for an injunction for another seven weeks.

On June 6, the court refused to renew the injunction and said there were resources available to the members of the tent community which they were choosing to ignore.

Advocates demanding a stop to the eviction of the Ville-Marie encampment. (Credit: Felisha Adam, CityNews image)

Then on June 30, they were informed they had to leave by July 15.

“It’s very, very upsetting, the people today who are leaving have not been provided housing their being scattered across the city they lose community they lose resources they lose safety that they have here, and no one is doing anything about it,” says a Montreal Autonomous Tenants’ Union member who wanted to be kept anonymous.

“This is a government entity saying there is no solution they are literally the government, they could just provide a solution and decided it’s a priority,” the member added.

Residents of the encampment, like Jacco (left), gathering during the eviction. (Credit: Felisha Adam, CityNews image)

For Chapman, the eviction will force those in the encampment to find unsafe spaces to live in, without community or resources. He says most of those being evicted, will try and find hidden places so that they do not risk being evicted once more.

“The end result of all of this is that we are pushing people to disappear, does that sound like a humane thing to do? Does that sound like a responsible government?” questioned Chapman.

– With files from Felisha Adam