Montreal event breaking stigmas around homelessness

“If it happened to you, would you like empathy or would you like people to look at you differently?” questions Annie Archambault spokesperson for ‘Nuit des sans-abris’.

The 34th edition of Nuit des sans-abris’ is taking place in Montreal on Friday night. The province-wide event aimed at raising awareness about homelessness and opening up the dialogue between citizens.

“It’s so important for us because I think it’s a conversation we need to have about what is homelessness and what can bring a period of homelessness and also to show that we’re all the same we’re all humans we all go through different things,” said Archambault.

“They’re human beings at the end of the day, they have hearts too,” said Ulrich Djomo, a community worker with Heberjeunes in Montreal’s Park-Extension neighborhood.

“People who experience homelessness across Quebec if you listen to their stories, it can happen to anyone it can happen to you or me. It’s important to get attention on this subject and support those who are experiencing painful moments,” said Martine Lacroix, a menstrual precarity activist who joined the event to help distribute free menstrual products to those who need them.

“I lived for three years on the streets, I was homeless. It’s pretty difficult living on the street when you sleep on concrete sidewalks in minus 40-degree weather and even in the summer,” said Tommy Leroux, who was homeless after leaving an organization housing youth in Montreal.

Leroux said social housing would be the key to helping many get off the streets. He credits the help of friends for being able to get back on his feet and find housing.

In Quebec – 10,000 are visibly homeless. Nearly half of those people, 4,690, were living in Montreal.  The homeless population in the province – almost doubled in 4 years

Spokesperson Annie Archambault went from being homeless for five years to being a community organizer working to help the homeless population.

“I have the same story as so many women that go through homelessness there are not enough programs there are not enough shelters, there’s not enough dignity, empathy, and self-esteem, it took a place in a program that is so rare for me to have it wasn’t a question of choice, it was a question of luck,” she said. “Today we see a lot of people that work full time that are homeless that cannot find an apartment. There are people that are homeless that got kicked out because of renovation in their house. When I say it can happen to anybody. It happens to everybody.”

“We can’t judge at first glance. Some people think it’s because they don’t want to work but it’s not true it’s because the cost of rent is so high they can’t afford it,” said Djomo.

“I heard that the town of Montreal said today that they refuse to double the budget for homelessness which is horrible especially when we see more and more people don’t want homeless programs, shelters, or apartments to be built in their neighborhood but that’s what we need. People don’t want to see homeless people outside but they don’t want them either in programs,” said Archambault.