Public consultation on homelessness and social cohabitation in Montreal

Starting Monday, and running until Feb. 28, more than 50 individuals will participate in a public consultation on homelessness and social cohabitation in Montreal.

The event, organized by the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), will feature a significant concentration of expertise, as citizens, researchers, social workers, merchants, and representatives from various organizations will share their experiences and insights.

Philippe Bourke, President of the OCPM, expressed pride in the broad participation in the consultation, stating, “Homelessness is a societal issue that affects everyone and requires the coordinated commitment of many actors. I am therefore very proud to see the extent to which we have been able to encourage such participation, both in number and diversity.”

“This is a consultation that began last summer in July,” Bourke said. “So, the City of Montreal gave the Office de consultation publique the mandate to hold a consultation process.”

The goal is to find solutions to ensure better social cohabitation and a more harmonious integration of resources for people experiencing homelessness. 

This will be in addition to hundreds of written contributions.

The OCPM is inviting diverse voices to contribute.

The consultation will see participants including people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness, organizations such as the Réseau d’aide aux personnes seul et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM), the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, Centraide, the STM, Montreal Downtown, the Movement to End Homelessness in Montreal, and the Collective for the Defense of Mental Health Rights of Montreal, among many others.

“We’re the people that basically have to live with this after the fact, so we need to be consulted,” said Phil Chu, president, of the Chinatown Residents’ Association.

Chu says that consultation with neighbourhoods needs to be done before decisions such as implementing homeless shelters are made.

“We need to be consulted in terms of how our things are going to be handled. And at the same point in time, we need to be followed up afterwards to how the situation is being handled,” Chu said.

“We saw the debacle basically with what happened with the Guy-Favreau, a homeless shelter, which basically led to all the issues within Chinatown — and despite the fact that the shelter has been shut down, we’re still dealing with the remnant effects basically from the shelter being there.” 

Chu recently made the decision to move his family out of Chinatown because of witnessing crime daily.

“We would see drug trafficking, drug consumption, and I’m not talking about marijuana, we’re talking about fentanyl, we’re talking about crack and meth, we’re talking about very hard drugs here,” he added. “I think right before New Year’s, I was almost attacked by a homeless person.”

The Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal, known as RAPSIM, an advocacy group for the homeless population, says that the public consultation is problematic because it opens the door to intolerance towards the homeless community from certain members of the public. 

“We have seen for several months a rise in intolerance, towards people who experience homelessness, a rise in the feeling of insecurity in the face of the presence of people in a situation of homelessness in public places,” said Annie Savage, director of RAPSIM. “A rise in the ‘not in my backyard’ syndrome.”

RAPSIM adds that they would like public authorities to protect the fundamental rights of all people including the homeless population.

“We must not question the need to act, whether it is for the opening of emergency shelters or the establishment of day centres, reception centres,” Savage added.

The consultation sessions are broadcast online and the public is welcome to attend them in person. However, few were in attendance on Monday afternoon. 

“In the end, we try to weigh the concerns that are already legitimate,” Bourke said.

“How do we respond to those concerns, those who feel that it causes them inconvenience? And conversely, how do we ensure that we respond to this crying need for distress experienced by people who need resources and who live on the street?”

The detailed schedule of the consultation includes several hearing sessions at various venues:

At the St-Pierre Centre:

• Monday afternoon & then evening, Feb. 17
• Tuesday afternoon & then evening, Feb. 18

At the Georges-Vanier Cultural Centre:

• Tuesday afternoon & then evening, Feb. 25

At Casa D’Italia:

• Wednesday evening, Feb. 26

All sessions will be available for viewing via webcast, live or as replays, on the consultation webpage (ocpm.qc.ca/itinerance).

In addition, a special hearing session for citizens will be held at the St-Pierre Centre on Feb. 19, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., in a “No Appointment” format.

During these two weeks, the OCPM commission will also visit four Montreal institutions offering services to vulnerable populations to hold hearings of opinions for their clients.

Citizens have until Feb. 28 to submit their opinions or to respond to the online thematic questionnaire available at (ocpm.qc.ca/itinerance/inscription).

Bourke emphasized the significance of the consultation: “The current crisis affects not only people experiencing homelessness, but also the rest of the community. It raises crucial questions about our ability to live together, to care for the most vulnerable among us and to create an inclusive urban environment. Involving all stakeholders and the population in the process of finding a solution is therefore essential.”