A project for a supervised drug consumption center near an elementary school and a park in Montreal’s Saint-Henri neighborhood is sparking anger and concern in the neighborhood, as the homelessness and overdose crisis creates difficult coexistence with marginalized people in several sectors of the metropolis.
Published at 1:22 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
The overdose prevention center at Maison Benoît-Labre has not yet received the green light from the national director of public health. And the minister responsible for social services, Lionel Carmant, is not yet convinced that it has the necessary social acceptance to move forward.
“We expect more information and more awareness so that everyone involved can have peace of mind. There are still a lot of questions,” Lambert Drainville, Mr. Carmant’s press secretary, said in a telephone interview Thursday.
An information event on Wednesday evening brought together residents and parents from the neighborhood whose children attend the Victor Rousselot School, which is just a stone’s throw from the planned center. A meeting that did not dispel all concerns.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
For Father Raoul Ortez, “such a center has no place near a school.”
“I am anything but reassured,” says Raoul Ortez, a resident of the neighborhood and father of seven children, three of whom are enrolled at the Victor Rousselot School. “Several questions were asked [mercredi] didn’t get any answers. »
“The idea is good. As a society we need to help people who need it. But a center like this has no place near a school,” continues the father, who admits to having been a drug addict in his youth.
Injection and inhalation
The supervised consumption service is a project by Maison Benoît-Labre, which currently runs a day center for homeless people in the basement of the former Saint-Zotique church on Rue Notre-Dame. The organization will soon move to a new building on Greene Avenue, with construction soon to be completed. The brick building will include 36 studios for homeless people and a community center, as well as an overdose prevention center where users can inject or smoke illegal drugs.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The building under construction on Greene Avenue will house homeless housing and a supervised drug center.
It is this center that is causing an outcry.
Right next door, dozens of children are screaming, running and playing in Victor Rousselot Park, which is adjacent to the school of the same name. The park is used for physical education classes and the school’s daycare center.
An online petition opposing the center’s opening has so far garnered 2,691 signatures. Another petition supporting the project received nearly 500.
“We saw with the Cactus Center that it is a disaster for downtown residents. So it will be the same here,” says Raoul Ortez, referring to the supervised injection service installed on a street now nicknamed “Crack Alley.”
Valérie Savoie, a mother from the neighborhood, lives not far from the current location of Maison Benoît-Labre, opposite Sir George Étienne Cartier Park. The park, she says, has become a den of drug dealers and drug users. Residents stopped using it.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Valerie Savoie
“We find syringes, crack pipes and all sorts of trash. There are screams and fights,” she laments.
Montreal Public Health says yes
While it says it “recognizes the concerns raised by parents and residents,” Montreal’s health department has still given its approval to the overdose prevention center project.
“This recommendation was made against the backdrop of the urgency to act on the twin crises of overdoses and homelessness rocking the Montreal region,” explains Luc Fortin, spokesman for Montreal’s regional public health directorate, in a submitted email Answer to questions from La Presse.
The ball is now in the court of the national director of public health, Luc Boileau, who must grant Maison Benoît-Labre an exemption allowing it to welcome users of illegal substances in its future center.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Victor Rousselot Park, next to the Center for the Prevention of Possible Overdoses at Maison Benoît-Labre
Minister Lionel Carmant expects a certain “social acceptance” for the project. “Everyone has to sit at the table and find common ground,” emphasizes press spokesman Lambert Drainville.
“We believe in the project. It is important that we have these types of resources to reduce harm and prevent overdoses. But we understand that there are fears and it is important that we listen to them,” he states.
“The opioid crisis is hitting the city hard and requires urgent action to save lives and curb dangerous drug use on the streets. “The concerns expressed last night by the population of the sector are legitimate and are taken very seriously by all partners,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante’s office responded in a written statement.
Good Neighborhood Committee
“Social acceptance does not mean social unanimity,” notes the general director of Maison Benoît-Labre, Andréane Désilets. “To ensure social acceptance, there must be a plan in place that maintains good communication with the population and ensures the safety of certain public spaces. And that’s exactly what we implemented. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
The general director of Maison Benoît-Labre, Andréane Désilets, in front of the building under construction last August
In fact, so that neighbors of the future center can voice their concerns, a “Good Neighborhood Committee” has been set up.
“But perhaps people do not understand the complexity of the problems of homelessness and consumption,” Ms. Désilets continues.
Currently, drug addicts living in the neighborhood inject or smoke their drugs in public spaces, she recalls.
Residents tell us it happens on their balconies. However, the purpose of our consumption room is precisely to provide a safe place for drug use.
Andréane Désilets, General Director of Maison Benoît-Labre
Andréane Désilets highlights that the gentrification of the Saint-Henri neighborhood in recent years has led to an increase in rental prices, which has left the most disadvantaged people no longer having the means to live there. This also exacerbates the problems of living together.
Nevertheless, she remains optimistic and expects to receive government approval “soon”.
“There will always be resistance to such a project, but we are convinced that it will improve the situation in the community,” she concludes.