The Second portrait of homelessness in Quebec, published by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) in 2022, states that between 2018 and 2021, there was a “significant increase in the number of people in homelessness, particularly in Montreal and Gatineau”. In Gatineau, according to the MSSS, this increase was substantial during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the demand for emergency accommodation increasing by 18%.
Despite this notable increase, there is only one shelter in the region, Gîte Ami, which has only 59 places in emergency accommodation. There is no emergency accommodation specifically for homeless women.
Until 2021, the City of Gatineau, assisted by its police department, dismantled camps organized by homeless people. For two years, this dismantling would have been replaced by a “cleaning up” carried out using mechanical shovels and trucks and during which the personal effects which are not removed from the site are destroyed or thrown away.
For the Canadian Human Rights Commission, this cleanup poses the same problems as dismantling. Indeed, in the absence of sufficient places in shelters, this practice is a violation of the rights to life, liberty and security of the person protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and recognized by decisions recent court cases in several provinces.
Faced with the lack of places in emergency accommodation, the City and the Outaouais Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSSO), in collaboration with community organizations, opened a heat drop-in centre. However, the place does not meet people’s needs, in addition to being unsanitary.
During the month of January, the toilets were clogged, and no plumber agreed to intervene; a situation that the City and the CISSSO have chosen not to remedy. An unbearable smell of excrement was the daily life of users and workers at the drop-in center for more than a month. To remedy the lack of functional toilets, chemical toilets were installed outside, in winter conditions that reached minus 40 degrees.
On February 13, a water leak forced the evacuation of people at the heat drop-off. A bus from the Service de transport de l’Outaouais was chartered to temporarily house the evacuees. The authorities claimed to have found no other solution, despite suggestions from organizations in the region. This deplorable situation, which contravenes the most basic human rights, ended on February 15.
Previous experiences of natural disasters in Gatineau demonstrate, however, that the City and the CISSSO can mobilize resources quickly. Since 2017, these authorities have managed one tornado, two floods, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic. In these unexpected situations, these authorities have quickly found solutions that do not jeopardize the life, liberty and security of individuals. Should we conclude that in the eyes of public authorities, some lives are worth more than others?
The City of Gatineau announced the closure of the heat shelter next May without presenting a plan for reopening in other premises, let alone a plan for the construction of social housing, which would nevertheless constitute a lasting solution. The CISSSO disclaims all responsibility, referring it instead, as is often the case, to community organizations, which already lack resources and means. In the absence of a viable solution, homeless people will have no choice but to sleep on the streets or set up new camps, which threatens their survival and increases the risk of their going to court.
The lack of will on the part of the City and the CISSSO to find lasting solutions and to offer conditions that do not infringe on the rights of people experiencing homelessness indicates obvious discrimination based on social status. It also reveals the disturbing disengagement of the State with regard to its own obligations in social matters, which it is our duty to denounce.
*Co-signed this text:
Marie-Eve Sylvestre, Civil Law Section of the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Suzanne Bouclin, Associate Professor, University of Ottawa
Bellot Celine, University of Montreal
Mathieu Déziel, citizen
Malorie Kanaan, Master’s Candidate in Law and Social Justice at the University of Ottawa
Adréanne Provost-auger, BRAS Outaouais
Nicolas Renaud, CIPTO
Kamie Ouellette, addiction prevention educator, CIPTO
Alexandre Gallant, CRIO Mobilization Officer
Melissa Laporte
Mathieu Déziel, The Tureen of Friendship of Gatineau
Janick Allyson, CIPTO
Angelique Maurier, Envol SRT
Tiffany Kabasele, Center Mechtilde
Catherine Dubé, Outaouais PSI Network
Cathy Michaud, citizen and community worker
Denis Ritchot
Mathilde Robichaud, BRAS Ouataouais
April Bergeron, Outaouais Bras
Marie-Pier Goyette
Noemie Dompierre, Bras Outaouais
Micheline Morin, citizen
Eugène michaud, citizen
Tania Cretes
Alexandra D. Miller, citizen
Nancy Malette, Adojeune Inc.
Sandra Poulin, street worker in Bras outaouais
Rachel Desjardins
Ann-Esther Lehman, Intern at CIDSO
Erika, Demers, CIDSO
Laurent Paradis-Charette, Sociology teacher, Cégep de l’Outaouais
Louise Saumier
Emilie Grenon, citizen and resident of Old Hull
Zoe Lafontaine
Chantal Léon, community social worker
Annie Castonguay, lecturer in social work at Collège Universel
Jeanette Plante
Sophie Lepin
Jean-François, community worker
Cynthia Estenssoro, worker at BRAS Outaouais
Marie-Pier Lacroix
Emilie Corneau, student researcher, Uottawa, CIDSO
Éliane Laprade, socio-artistic worker (LAB)
Myriam Gauthier, Speaker
Bianca Reitano
Erica Leblanc Deschatelets
Etienne Proulx, CIPTO
Marianne Gagnon
Marie-Eve Parent
Gabrielle Fillion
Melika Saidane
Tanya Dykstra
Arianne Pittet
Melanie Parent, citizen
Jade Rancourt
Guillaume Vermette
Janie Yelle, former head of the HC of Hull and Gatineau
Simon Chartrand-Paquette
Elsa Gauthier, street worker CIPTO
Camille McCooeye
Patrick C. Pilotte, sociologist, Cégep Outaouais
Sara Lambert, Research Manager, CIDSO
Yannick Boulay, Coordinator, Entre-Nous Community Center
Léonie Couture, Speaker at the Lab (Cipto)
Emmanuelle Beaudry-Plouffe, Citizen
Alex David
Sylvie Trudel, Mobilization Officer, Aylmer Sector Partners
Josee Dubeau
Emilie Laframboise
Jennifer Lynn Parent, gcd
Nadia de Grandpre
Marie Helene Bellemare
Melissa Barrette intervener
Audrey kingsbury, speaker
Yves Séguin, Managing Director, CIPTO
Geneviève Gratton, Director, Outaouais Community Justice Center
Étienne Senécal, social work student, University of Quebec in Outaouais
Alexis, citizen
Étienne Pichet (Speaker at Mon Chez Nous)
Rebecca Labelle, Rights-Access Outaouais Coordinator
Gabriel Pallotta, president of the Quebec roaming SOLIDARITY network
Marc Beauchamp, General Manager, Les Oeuvres Isidore Ostiguy
Veronic St-Pierre
François Roy, coordinator, Logemen’occupy
Sasha Mia Yakimishan
Cassandra Lafrenière, Avenue des Jeunes
Pierre-Luc Baulne, Gatineau Adds
Jean Cebastien Baulne
Michel Kasongo, Soup Kitchen of Hull Inc.
Gabrielle Turner, resident of the island of Hull
Nathaniel Oliveri-Pilotte, street work
Hélène Gélinas-Surprenant, Member of the Board of Directors, Soupe populaire de Hull inc.
Thomas Côté, Tenant Committee
Bernard St-Jacques, Rights Ahead Clinic
Sandra Hebert
Mario Come
Céline Lefebvre, Maison Libère-Elles
Coco Simone Finken, Resident of Gatineau
Patricia Fortin-Boileau, volunteer