After several exits on Monday, only eight people remained homeless on Tuesday when the police came by.
The court had given them until 9 a.m. Tuesday morning to put their belongings in the boxes provided.
Last month, the Quebec Court of Appeals ruled, requiring that the 20 people living under that stretch of freeway west of downtown be barred from staying there after July 15.
However, organizations working with people affected by homelessness say that finding shelter has been more than difficult for them due to a lack of resources.
The residents of this improvised camp were first ordered to leave the site last November with two weeks’ notice.
However, the people living in the camp were given a reprieve to move as winter approached.
Several police officers were on site when the last tents were being dismantled on Tuesday.
Photo: Radio Canada/David Chapman/CBC
The Mobile Legal Clinic then enabled the homeless group to obtain two court injunctions to postpone the dismantling.
That’s not fair, said Jacco Stuben, who claims to have lived under that stretch of highway several times over the past decade.
“I have moved and have always worked with them. But the problem is that they want to kick everyone out for something. »
— A quote from Jacco Stuben, a camp inmate
Officials attempted to gain access to the site so employees from the Quebec Department of Transportation could conduct repair work on Route 136.
“We need to make sure highways and infrastructure are safe,” said Sarah Bensadoun, the department’s communications director. We do not have the expertise to relocate residents, so we ask our partners to work with us.
A loss of help and resources
For his part, David Chapman, director of Resilience Montreal, which supports the community located under the highway, said that forcing vulnerable people to leave the camp will prompt them to seek out more dangerous places, such as forested areas and abandoned buildings, to do so escape sight of the authorities.
It works like this: If the authorities can see you, they will deport you, Chapman added. Is it responsible for government leaders to make some of our society’s most marginalized people disappear?
For addicts who may be self-isolating to find shelter, the risk of an overdose will increase, he continued.
The eviction also complicates the work of the mental health organizations, which have established links with camp residents, added Marie-Pier Therrien, communications director at the Old Brewery Mission.
They have their support team here, mostly the people from the CIUSSS, the road workers. You now her. If they change their territory, they lose this protective net.