It’s impossible to do multiple maneuvers when we have campers in the area where we work, Department of Transportation spokeswoman Sarah Bensadoun told Radio-Canada.
Unfortunately, for security reasons, they cannot stay on site. That’s why they need to find alternative housing, and that’s why the ministry is also working with partners who have that expertise, she added.
The extensive work started last September should continue in the autumn to repair the structure and pavement of the motorway between the Turcot interchange and the Ville-Marie tunnel.
An initial dismantling of the camp was scheduled to take place on November 10, but homeless people asked for more time to relocate as winter approached. The Ministry had given them a reprieve.
But now that work is due to resume in the spring, once weather conditions permit. They must last until 2025.
A dozen people sheltering under a section of Montreal’s Ville-Marie freeway have been given an ultimatum by the Department of Transportation. Report by Mathieu Prost.
Front workers on site
The Quebec Ministry of Health and the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal are among the partners working with the Ministry of Transport on this dossier.
Frontline workers from the CIUSSS have visited the site several times to provide services, including nursing, to the homeless squatting the site, a spokesman told Radio-Canada.
“The CIUSSS team focuses on care and prevention and strives to guide the homeless population to the services they need. Campers have the right to refuse services and often do so. Campers have been advised that they will need to move. »
— A quote from Carl Thériault, spokesman for the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal
For its part, the City of Montreal says it has mobilized socio-community support officers to provide human support to vulnerable people with the help of mixed SPVM teams for appropriate resources and shelter.
About fifteen homeless people have been camping there for several years.
Photo: Radio Canada / Elyse Allard
Federal housing prosecutor Marie-Josée Houle says she is very concerned by the news. She calls the evictions a violation of human rights.
In an interview with Radio-Canada, she called on the Quebec government to impose a moratorium on dismantling camps in Montreal to find solutions for these people. This is really alarming for us. […] It’s a forced move, there are many examples across the country showing it doesn’t work, and the results are always disastrous, she said.
Commissioned a year ago by the federal government to investigate the housing situation in the country, Ms Houle claims to have visited the camp in question last week.
“You have no right to force her to leave. A construction site is very noisy and dangerous, but solutions have to be found. […] In the meantime, we need to find another location that would be more suitable. [pour les itinérants]. »
— A quote from Marie-Josée Houle, federal housing attorney
The camps are a physical manifestation of the divide that exists in our housing system, she lamented. This system is broken […] and leads to the exclusion of several people. There are currently not enough options that are sufficient for all needs.