Montreal café owner calls for more protection for small businesses after three attacks
Posted July 5, 2026 12:00 pm.
After her café was robbed and vandalized three times in a year, one Montreal café owner says enough is enough.
Waking up yet with another break-in left me overwhelmed and deeply frustrated. Claudia Gamboa, the owner of Oh My Deer Café, took to social media, calling on Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada to step in, saying small business owners need more support to deal with theft and repeat crime.
“So last July was the first robbery. So they entered by this tiny window that in my mind, like an adult cannot fit there. But they managed,” Gamboa explained. “The second vandalism was in November. So somebody just hit the window. Then now in June, so it’s the third act of vandalism, but the second robbery.
“This time was more the infrastructure because they just stole between $80 and $100, but the damage of the window, the door, it’s up to $2,000,” said Gamboa.
While Gamboa doesn’t believe her café was specifically targeted, she says repeated break-ins and vandalism are becoming a growing problem for small businesses. She’s calling on the City of Montreal to take action, whether through a dedicated police unit to investigate these crimes or more surveillance cameras in key intersections.
“I’m calling on her. Please make a small team on the police just to investigate these things because imagine if all this small business like me have been like happened this very often. It’s very discouraging,” said Gamboa.
The café is in an area the Mayor pointed out where there is a visibly homeless community, and this remains a top priority – addressing the needs of this population. She also acknowledged the challenges faced by merchants and residents in these areas.
“I know that’s not the answer for merchants and citizens, but we have something that’s a humanitarian crisis in our hands, which is the homelessness we have in our city right now. And I have to jungle with making sure that people feel safe in their home and in their business, and making sure that I give the support to community organizations to address the issue of homelessness, and that’s gonna take some time,” said Mayor Martinez Ferrada on June 29.
Gamboa says, “I think that is the perfect opportunity for her [Mayor Martinez Ferrada] to stand up, say like, okay, I’m going to do something about it.”
