Frustration, sadness, sense of urgency: the homeless community mourns the death of a second homeless person in 10 days in the metropolis, in the midst of very cold weather. This time, it’s a 64-year-old woman who was found dead near the Berri-UQAM metro station early Thursday after having suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest.
Updated yesterday at 10:51 p.m.
“It’s utterly sad. I can’t even find the words right now,” said Accueil Bonneau’s general manager, Fiona Crossling, in the offices of her organization, which is very close to the premises.
The tragedy occurred at the corner of rue Saint-Denis and boulevard De Maisonneuve. It was outside the metro entrance that the sixty-year-old was found in a state of cardiorespiratory arrest by paramedics on Thursday, around 1 a.m. A call had been made to 911 in the preceding minutes. Resuscitation maneuvers were performed, but his death was finally pronounced on the spot.
We do not know so far the cause of the triggering of this respiratory arrest and, therefore, of death. The file was transferred to the coroner’s office, so that it can conduct its own investigation. According to our information, several objects were found alongside the woman, who would be known to several organizations in the area. The lady, who wore several layers of clothing to face the polar temperatures, would also have a history of drug use.
According to Mme Crossling, the situation illustrates above all that organizations on the move simply can’t do it anymore.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Fiona Crossling, General Manager of Accueil Bonneau
All resources are trying to do their best to accommodate everyone, but there is a severe shortage of places and staff. In the street, everyone is looking everywhere for a place to go to sleep. It’s not normal.
Fiona Crossling, General Manager of Accueil Bonneau
“This is not the first year that we have experienced winter in Quebec. And yet, we are still putting in place emergency measures that change every day. If we invested all this money in long-term housing, with support, we wouldn’t be there, ”continues the manager. She finds it “very frustrating” to hear the different levels of government pass the buck to each other, with nothing changing. “We announce big projects, big plans, big financing, but we haven’t received anything as guidelines. We don’t even know how it’s going to translate, so that we can help these people get out of the street. »
A culture to change?
For the assistant director of emergency services at the Old Brewery Mission, Mélanie Richer, the death of this woman is simply “tragic”.
“It should never happen in Montreal,” she said. For having worked in that sector where they found her, I tell myself that the lady lacked accommodation, or refused to go there. But usually women prefer to sleep indoors. It may therefore also be due to a lack of places, or to a mental health issue. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Mélanie Richer, Assistant Director of Emergency Services at Old Brewery Mission
The reality is that there is a shortage of places and personnel everywhere, whereas there are empty premises in Montreal. And it’s the same for everyone in our community.
Mélanie Richer, Assistant Director of Emergency Services at Old Brewery Mission
“That corner is well covered by teams of street workers as a general rule, except that it only takes 10 minutes when there is no one passing for a person to die,” adds Ms.me Rich.
As the shops are closed, “there are probably no passers-by who have seen this lady in distress, she regrets. It is doubly dangerous to be homeless in winter and with COVID-19. No one is there to help them”.
Accessibility of metro entrances
In response to the tragedy, the Network for the Assistance of Single and Homeless People in Montreal (RAPSIM) asked the City on Friday to make metro entrances accessible “immediately” to homeless people. “We can clearly see with another death that this kind of response in the current context is really necessary. It could really save people from dying,” says the organization’s director, Annie Savage.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Entrance to the Berri-UQAM metro entrance at the corner of rue Saint-Denis and boulevard De Maisonneuve
“We can use our entire network. It’s an outstretched hand that we are offering to the City,” she continued, lamenting that no other solution is currently offered to many homeless people, given the lack of space and the numerous outbreaks affecting the various resources.
After being challenged on this subject, the office of the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, indicated that the use of the Montreal metro stations for homeless people should only be considered as a “last resort”, all of which must first be the subject of a request from Public Health. “We recently opened an additional heat station, which welcomes hundreds of people every evening. There are also shuttles that criss-cross the streets of the metropolis to accompany vulnerable people to the shelters and heat stops that are available, because no one should sleep outside in such cold weather, “said the press officer, Marikym Gaudreault. Earlier, Friday, Mme Plante had spoken of “one death too many” and of a “worrying” death, without going any further.
A new refuge in the city center
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
The new shelter for homeless Indigenous people occupies the Hôtel des arts, an establishment requisitioned by the City of Montreal thanks to its powers under the state of emergency.
Montreal and the Government of Quebec on Friday inaugurated a new 24-hour shelter for homeless Indigenous people downtown. The facility, which has 50 places, will replace the night shelter currently open at the Guy-Favreau complex. “This resource has been requested for a long time by community organizations and by the City of Montreal,” said Mayor Valérie Plante. “Obviously more is needed. The refuge occupies the Hôtel des arts, an establishment requisitioned by the City of Montreal thanks to its powers under the state of emergency.
Philippe Teisceira-Lessard, The Press