Montreal borough blames misunderstanding after homeless encampment bulldozed

The borough of Montréal-Nord has launched an internal investigation after a homeless encampment was bulldozed — in contradiction of the new administration’s promise to stop the practice.The borough mayor has described it as a “clean-up operation” that went awry, calling it an unfortunate misunderstanding. But for René Marquis, it was a lot more.

Marquis lived in the vacant lot for six months. He said all of his belongings are destroyed or damaged — medication, food, sleeping bags and other possessions.

“Now we have nothing,” Marquis said. “Four years I'm outside. I need help. And nobody helps me now.”

Marquis said he was away on Monday when city workers arrived. They had already started bulldozing by the time he returned. He told the workers he had an agreement with the borough and they left — but not before dumping all of his stuff in a big, muddy pile.

In a statement, borough mayor Christine Black of Ensemble Montréal says people experiencing homelessness have been living on the lot which is otherwise used for storage and heavy machinery training.

Generally, living there is not allowed, but it was accepted because people have nowhere else to go, she says."As a borough, we must show compassion toward those who have less than we do," the statement says, noting there was a need to clean up the site as accumulation had become dangerous for everybody. "I have asked the borough to investigate. We are still missing details to fully understand what happened. Regardless, I have requested that awareness and sensitivity training be provided to employees."

A local organization, Rue Action Prévention (RAP Jeunesse), operates a day shelter near the site and works with the borough to help supervise the encampment. The executive director, René Obregon-Ida, said he wants to know why nobody received any advanced notice about the operation.

“It was destroyed, not dismantled,” he told CBC News, noting there are protocols in place that were not respected.

Black insists it was not a dismantling operation. 

“It's really unfortunate what happened. That’s not how things should be done,” she said. 

She said the City of Montreal plans to create a new framework to deal with encampments to avoid miscommunications like these.  

During her recent campaign, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said she would increase funding to counter homelessness and, rather than simply dismantling, come up with a new policy on encampments aimed at better supervising their cleanliness and safety.

Following an article about the dismantling published by La Presse, Montreal’s blue collar union issued a statement of its own — criticizing the city for inconsistent management.

“Our members perform tasks assigned to them by their superiors, and they never decide when, where or how to intervene in situations involving homeless people,” said Jean-Pierre Lauzon, head of the Syndicat des Cols bleus regroupés de Montréal (SCFP 301), in the news release.