Hanes: Vulnerable people caught between hyperbole and ignored concerns

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Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre brought his divisive politics to Montreal last week, holding a news conference in a park near a controversial supervised injection site in Saint-Henri.

He denounced the “far-fetched liberalization experiment of drug legalization” at Maison Benoît Labre, which opened last year in the Sud-Ouest borough, and lambasted the “radical bureaucrats” (as well as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mayor Valérie Plante) who have set up “drug dens” outside daycares and schools. He also promised that if elected prime minister, he would shut down such services.

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Poilievre clearly intended to stir up trouble on a hot-button issue that divides this neighbourhood and many others in Montreal. As homelessness, drug addiction and mental health issues rise in the city, a cohabitation crisis has erupted, straining the limits of tolerance.

Montrealers’ concerns are real and legitimate. But the federal opposition leader’s hysterical hyperbole has done nothing. Stirring up fear into frenzy, vilifying the most vulnerable, and ignoring public health best practices will solve nothing.

However, minimizing the problems and offering false assurances — as the Plante administration does in its fight against social ills that spread well beyond the urban core — is also unproductive.

Maison Benoît Labre, the subject of Poilievre’s polarizing rhetoric, is a perfect example. The services it provides are necessary and indispensable. These include safe supplies, a safe environment, and medical care for injection drug users to reduce harm and prevent overdoses. The centre also provides transitional housing for homeless Montrealers suffering from addiction and mental health issues.

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But the opening of the establishment a few steps from the Victor Rousselot school and a small park of the same name was a disaster. Young children witnessed fights, harassment and even sexual acts. Neighbors were assaulted. Drug paraphernalia was left littering the street.

Prior consultations helped mask residents’ concerns, while complaints made after worst-case scenarios proved to be self-fulfilling prophecies were dismissed as “NIMBYism.” A “pause” in the activities of Maison Benoît Labre in June, after some employees left, highlighted the difficulties, if not the impossibility, of managing all the vulnerable people in distress that the center had attracted to the area. The installation of a few pylons and a security fence was not enough to contain the unrest.

Equally alarming things are happening downtown. Last February, staff discovered the lifeless body of a homeless man in the playground of the CPE La Petite Colonie on Stanley Street, raising questions about the opening of a homeless shelter in the basement of the same church where the daycare is also located. When children at the CPE Le Petit Palais on Viger Street West go for a walk, La Presse reports that they now need a police escort after a series of encounters with aggressive and drunk people.

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Radio-Canada recounted the “hell” experienced by residents of condo buildings located near the CACTUS supervised injection site, a stone’s throw from the Quartier des spectacles, nicknamed “crack alley.”

At best, these files have been mishandled. At worst, they have fueled reactionary fears about similar projects elsewhere in Montreal.

In Ahuntsic, residents are angry about plans to open a 50-bed homeless shelter in a building the city wants to buy from a religious congregation. The building is also located near a daycare, schools and a park. Neighbourhood residents say the city is ignoring their concerns about how the facility will fit into their quiet neighbourhood.

Concerns have spread to Rosemont over plans to build an emergency shelter at Sainte-Bibiane Church. Neighbourhood residents tried to collect 5,000 signatures to force public hearings, but the city raised the bar to 15,000, sparking anger.

The Plante administration has consistently maintained its position on implementing these plans, saying that homelessness and vulnerability are spreading throughout Montreal and that services must follow. And it is right on this point. But forcing things without a strategy to foster coexistence does not create the social acceptance that is essential.

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Sensing the growing public backlash, Plante recently announced municipal consultations on homelessness, vulnerability and cohabitation. It would have been a wise move for a mayor who has long sought to prevent the exodus of families from Montreal. But it now appears to be a delaying tactic to appease growing discontent.

The Office de consultation publique de Montréal looks at urban planning issues, such as the redevelopment of the former Blue Bonnets site or the Peel Basin lands. But the hearings have also been useful in lowering the temperature on hot-button social issues, such as systemic racism. They allow citizens to express their frustrations. But they also allow city hall to buy time to mobilize the support of various stakeholders and cover up unpopular decisions.

Time is of the essence. Human tragedies happen every day.

A naked man wielding a knife stormed into a student apartment building in Chinatown last week, reinforcing complaints from residents and local businesses about deteriorating security in the historic neighborhood.

Two lifeless bodies have been found in as many weeks in the Milton Park neighborhood, reports Radio-Canada, the first in an advanced state of decomposition.

More services need to be put in place across the city to address the humanitarian catastrophe of homelessness. But the city must also exercise common sense to avoid disrupting the peace of neighborhoods, jeopardizing residents’ quality of life, and undermining citizens’ sense of security.

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