Petition launched calling for Montreal mayor, police to address crime in Chinatown
Posted September 6, 2023 9:51 am.
Last Updated September 6, 2023 7:31 pm.
Over 200 Chinatown residents are demanding concrete change, with a petition calling on Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and the Montreal police to address issues of crime and drug use in the neighbourhood.
“We are fed up, we are angry,” said Bill Wong, a resident of Chinatown. “We want our elected official to be responsible, to be accountable.”
“With this petition, we are saying that just because we are Chinese, or seniors, a woman living alone, people living with disability or grandparents does not mean we are nobody or that we have no need or rights,” he added.
Over the summer, residents and merchants have mobilized to denounce the lack of public safety and public health in Chinatown.
At a press conference Wednesday, residents spoke of what they called unsustainable conditions.
“It is not normal to walk to a daycare and have drug deals done in broad daylight in the window, crack being smoked in front of the windows in front of these children, people defecating in public,” said resident Phil Chu.
“Most recently, my family and I were walking to take the metro at Place des Arts. My family found the victim that passed away on Monday. We called 911. I’m still dealing with this trauma today,” Chu said, referring to the fatal stabbing of a 47-year-old man.
Last month, residents who said they are living in constant fear due to increasing crime asked Mayor Plante to come spend an evening with them in the neighbourhood, so she can better understand how bad the situation was. The group is now renewing those calls.
“Even if Mayor Plante comes down to Chinatown, we don’t want it just to be a symbolic visit,” said Bryant Chang, vice president of the Chinese Association of Montreal. “We want to see concrete action from that visit.”
Property damage captured by residents in Montreal’s Chinatown (Felisha Adam, CityNews Image)
“We see criminal activities that are beyond description, this just cannot continue on,” says Bryant Chang, the vice-president of the Chinese Association of Montreal at a press conference on Aug. 17.
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They are demanding a borough-wide action plan to address crime in the area.
Many seniors in the neighbourhood are also demanding access once again to the YMCA in Complexe Guy-Favreau that has become a shelter for the homeless.
The spokesperson for the Cabinet of the Mayor and Montreal’s Executive Committee told CityNews in a statement:
“Montreal is facing complex issues, with a significant increase in vulnerability caused in particular by the overdose, mental health and housing crisis that is raging across the country. This crisis of vulnerabilities is also felt in Chinatown and we are very sensitive to the impacts generated on cohabitation in this emblematic district that our administration has particularly at heart.
“We are present on the ground, alongside the Chinatown Round Table with whom we are currently working on several actions that will offer short, medium and long-term solutions. […] Several meetings with partners took place during which we reiterated our commitment to support them and work with them.”
Fo Niemi, executive director of CRARR, leads press conference about safety in Montreal’s Chinatown Sept. 6, 2023. (Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews)
Sign at press conference about safety in Montreal’s Chinatown Sept. 6, 2023. (Alyssia Rubertucci, CityNews)
Meanwhile, the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) is helping put together their own community safety and crime prevention plan.
“We have met with the commander of the police station 21, who has been doing some follow-up and despite what the city’s plan is,” said Fo Niemi of CRARR. “We think that our plan could be more closer to people because it’s being developed with the people, for the people.”
In an emailed statement to CityNews, the SPVM says it has increased the police presence — including investigators — in the area since the start of the year. The police force says it’s made several arrests related to narcotics in the neighbourhood.
It says the neighbourhood police station (PDQ 21) has been listening to the concerns of the area’s residents and merchants “for many years.”
“The head of Neighborhood Station 21 is in constant contact with the representatives of Chinatown, and multiplies meetings with them,” SPVM spokesperson Caroline Labelle wrote. “The neighborhood station (PDQ) 21 is aware that residents and merchants of Chinatown may feel insecure in the current context. It continues to do everything possible to ensure the safety of the sector, in collaboration with its partners in the municipal, health and social services and community networks.
“Every day, police officers from neighborhood station (PDQ) 21 are in action on the ground to respond to emergency calls and intervene.”
The SPVM says it has been working with city officials for the past few months to tackle issues of homelessness and public safety in Chinatown.
“The current situation is part of a broader problem and touches on complex issues, including those related to homelessness, mental health, addiction, and the housing crisis,” said Labelle. “No intervention, no actor can claim, on its own, to provide a single solution to all of such complex issues, which have an impact on urban safety and social cohabitation in Montreal.”
Chu says the neighbourhood is desperate for more intervention.
“I implore the city, Mayor Plante, Robert Beaudry, anyone is involved: this community, Ville-Marie, we need help.”
