The streets of Montreal cannot become a hospital or an injection center, Valérie Plante said Thursday, renewing her requests for help from Quebec and Ottawa.
The Mayor was in the Village in the morning to inaugurate a new public square for the summer, at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Wolfe streets.
However, the problems of homelessness and incivility in the sector were on everyone’s lips. “Our senior governments must help to ensure that everyone has a roof over their heads,” said Valérie Plante.
“If there is one thing that I am very attached to,” she added, “it is that the street cannot become a hospital, the city cannot become a hospital, the street must not not be housing, the street must not be an injection center either. »
More precisely, Mme Plante asked Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant to accelerate the creation of 24/7 resources and Public Security Minister François Bonnardel not to reduce funding for police squads dedicated to the problem.
Mme Plante says he wants to ensure “that public spaces remain accessible and safe for everyone who comes to take a walk, work, study, have a coffee, have fun.”
In addition to the public square called Place du village, the City of Montreal has allocated a budget of $500,000 to finance local citizen initiatives.