Homeless people who had pitched their tents in a park in Ahuntsic packed up Thursday morning, as requested by the City of Montreal, but most of them only plan to move their camp to a less visible location.
“I’ve already spotted another location,” Pierre confides as he finishes packing his few belongings – two bags of clothes, a tent, a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad.
Installed in the Basile-Routhier park for a few weeks, with six other people whose tents were scattered on the site, Pierre had even had time to plant tomatoes, which he will try to pick up later, he says.
For Scott DeRapp, breaking camp is more complicated: the 50-year-old man, who has made the park his home for more than a year, has amassed a lot of things in his two tents.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Scott DeRapp
“People are so smart, they kept bringing me stock,” he explains, busy sorting out what he can bring to his next camp. “It pains me to have to throw away things that are still good. »
On Monday, campers at Parc Basile-Routhier received a notice from the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville asking them to leave the premises before Thursday. It seems that complaints from the neighborhood prompted the authorities to proceed with the eviction.
Around 11 a.m., in the presence of several police officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), municipal employees dismantled one of the campsites. The camper installed at this place had left the same morning, taking some belongings. Tent, mattress, sleeping bag, chair and other equipment were loaded into a red city van.
“We asked the borough to find a place to store this person’s belongings,” said agent Jean-Pierre Brabant, spokesperson for the SPVM. “We are concerned about the human side. »
Other campers left the site on Wednesday.
More details to come.