Hope for residents of central Montreal neighborhoods who overhear people urinating or defecating near their homes or yards: adding chemical toilets in parks… it works.
Updated yesterday at 7:11 p.m.
This is what the Ombudsman of the City of Montreal, Nadine Mailloux, notes in her annual report released on Monday, which mentions, among other things, the problem caused by the high attendance of parks that lack sanitary facilities.
The Ombudsman says he has received many complaints from citizens “about individuals urinating and defecating on their properties or in their parking lots, the presence of soiled tissues not thrown in the trash or foul odors”.
” Everything is there. Long queues to access the few sanitary facilities, reduced number of toilets available and chemical toilets deemed unsanitary are among the reasons given to explain the phenomenon. »
In some places, there are chemical toilets, but they are not cleaned frequently enough, “which deters people from using them”.
In his report, the Ombudsman of the City of Montreal says that after discussion with officials of the borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, a chemical toilet was installed in the Parc des Carrières, “instantly solving the problems in that sector “.
“A similar problem is resolved in the same way by the borough of Ville-Marie, north of Parc Jeanne-Mance. »
In total, the Ombudsman de Montréal recorded a record number of complaints in 2021, with 2,365 files processed.
At the top of the list are complaints relating to public works, followed by services to citizens and nuisances of all kinds.
On the subject of parks and toilets, Mayor Valérie Plante’s office reacted by saying that with the pandemic, “citizens have reclaimed their parks and their spaces, and more than ever, we understand the importance of preserving them. and to increase them everywhere on the island”.
“Citizens’ habits have changed and they spend more time in our parks, which means that we have to adapt the services within them, that’s what we’re working on. »
The mayor’s office adds that the Ombudsman herself underlined “the excellent cooperation of the boroughs in this file”.
It should be noted that one of the biggest crises in Montreal — the humanitarian crisis of Aboriginal and Inuit homelessness in the Milton-Parc sector — has already been the subject of a separate report and recommendations “which call on the authorities and especially the City of Montreal to take action”