Projets Autochtones breaks ground for new shelter in downtown Montreal

Projets Autochtones du Québec (PAQ) broke ground for the construction of a shelter for Indigenous people experiencing homelessness in downtown Montreal Thursday.

The new facility on Sherbrooke Street West — dubbed PAQ2 — will offer emergency housing and culturally-sensitive support services.

In a press release Thursday, PAQ said that the building will include 50 cubicles, rest areas, computer stations and workspaces for the staff providing services. It will fully be accessible to those with reduced mobility.

The facility will also feature a supervised consumption site in the outdoor courtyard following a harm-reduction approach.

“In the face of persistent systemic inequalities, our solutions must imperatively be rooted in Indigenous ways of being and knowing,” said Stacy Boucher-Anthony, executive director of PAQ.

“As demand on our services remains constant, PAQ2 represents a concrete, dignified, and sustainable answer to improving the living conditions of the people we support,” Boucher-Anthony added.

The $23-million project received funding from all levels of the government as well as community and private sectors.

Benoit Langevin, Montreal’s Executive Committee member responsible for social development and homelessness, said that such partnerships were needed to fill the gaps in the City’s own response to homelessness.

“I’m making an appeal to our higher levels of government: the next elections, the next government must make this a priority like the City of Montreal has done,” Langevin said, speaking to reporters at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Officials say the project is a testament to the intensity of the homelessness crisis. Indigenous people represent 13 per cent of all visible homelessness in Quebec. 

Mandy Gull-Masty, federal minister of Indigenous services, said investing in Indigenous-led project would offer sustainable solution to the community.

“This approach fosters a culturally safe environment that is essential and adapted to the realities of urban Indigenous people experiencing homelessness, who remain overrepresented,” Gull-Masty added.

Ian Lafrenière, Quebec’s minister responsible for First Nations and Inuit relations, said, “This is not the solution. This is part of the solution and that’s why having frontline patrollers is going to be extremely helpful.”

“Our government is proud to support the creation of a permanent, accessible, and culturally safe environment where urban Indigenous communities can receive essential services with dignity and respect for their identity,” said

The shelter is expected to be completed in 2028 and will become the first property fully owned by the PAQ. It will replace its rented facility at Hôtel des Arts it has operated for over 22 years.

However, the project has received mixed response among Montrealers in the neighbourhood.

One resident of the 240-unit apartment building next door, who didn’t want to be identified, expressed concerns.

“They’re vulnerable people who need help,” they said. “It couldn’t be more ‘not in my backyard’ than (saying no to the shelter).”

 Officials say the shelter’s location was chosen to be close to the unhoused Indigenous community downtown. And they point to what happened at Cabot Square as an example of what can happen when resources disappear.

“Most of the resources moved because it was too expensive and citizens realized that it was a nightmare for them because people were still there,” said Lafrenière.

The minister added that addressing homelessness was a shared responsibility which includes the public.