Montreal organization helping those fleeing violence calls for more government action
Posted November 28, 2025 9:00 pm.
Last Updated November 28, 2025 9:38 pm.
Providing free moving and storage services for parents and children experiencing intimate partner violence – that’s Transit Secours’ mission.
With an steady demand of up to 40 requests a month for their services, president of Transit Secours Anathalie Jean-Charles says they’ve had to stop accepting new requests for moving services and partially halt its activities since June 2025 due to a lack of funding.
And according to Transit Secours, is having an impact on many of those seeking their services, which are often are young mothers between the ages of 18 to 29.
That’s why they’ve rented a booth in the Christmas Village at Atwater market, where they’re collecting donations and circulating a petition, calling on the Quebec government to provide sustainable funding to ensure this essential service can meet the needs.
“We’re almost at 2,000 signatures so it’s pretty good for the first two three weeks that we’ve started and we’re hoping to get a lot more,” exclaimed Jean-Charles.
With at least nine cases of femicides recorded in Quebec this year, Transit Secours says they’re making it a point to be there all the way through the final weekend of November, raising awareness at this crucial time – during the 12 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women, leading up to the Dec. 6 anniversary of the 1989 Polytechnique massacre.
“During this period at the end of the year we see a lot more violence because of the isolation,” Jean-Charles began to explain. “And also because of alcohol abuse — so there are a lot more requests from shelters at this period of time and afterwards we usually see a lot of femicides.”
As she emphasized what a critical period this is for people who are going through intimate partner violence.
“This year we really wanted to put forward the impact of intimate partner violence,” she added. “Two of out three women have lived through a situation of sexual, or any kind of violence.”
Over the years, Jean-Charles says they’ve helped many women successfully leave their homes and start anew elsewhere.
“We had a very touching testimony from one of our clients who said that if it wasn’t for our service she would have died at the hands of her abuser because she couldn’t get out of the situation,” Jean-Charles began to explain.
“So when we got in the case we were able to secure the move in a way that it was better for her to get out not with having that challenge of being in a little situation where she could have lost her life.”
Now, within this context of trying to meet significant needs on the ground, combined with the lack of government funding – Transit Secours région de Montréal says they’re making a province-wide transition as Transit Secours Québec.
“We had more difficulties securing finances since the beginning of the year and we decided to break away a little bit from the national organization,” she said. “We hope that in the future we’ll be able to provide not only for the Montreal area but also for the greater, well for all the territory of Quebec.”
