The living environment where 150 young people from the DPJ are forced to live will spend next winter under tarpaulins, after “numerous water infiltrations” over the last few months.
The buildings of the Mont Saint-Antoine Rehabilitation Center, in eastern Montreal, are dilapidated and the work necessary to make them permanently waterproof could not be carried out before the cold season.
“There was a succession of torrential rains” last summer which caused water infiltration, said Daniel Neskovic, deputy director of technical services at the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. “Our installations are still relatively old, even very old for Mont Saint-Antoine, and there is rainwater drainage capacity which has reached its limits. »
“Tarpaulins are currently used to cover the peripheral walls of buildings, since water seeps between the covering and the brick,” added the CIUSSS, in writing. “It’s a temporary installation to cover the cracks. »
L’été dernier, un reportage du Journal de Montréal mettait en lumière les importants problèmes d’infiltration d’eau du bâtiment, notamment lors d’une averse importante survenue à la mi-juillet. Des tuiles étaient tombées du plafond, des seaux avaient dû être placés un peu partout. Une intervenante confiait que le milieu était si problématique qu’il lui aurait valu un signalement à la DPJ si ce n’était pas déjà une installation de la DPJ.
« Ça fait longtemps qu’il aurait dû y avoir des investissements dans ces bâtiments publics là », a dénoncé Caroline Letarte-Simoneau, de l’Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS), qui représente de nombreux travailleurs au Mont Saint-Antoine.
Si ça permet que le milieu à l’intérieur soit plus sécuritaire, tant mieux. Mais moi, je demeure avec beaucoup de questionnements sur comment l’hiver va se passer. On ne veut pas revivre ce qui s’est produit [lors de l’averse de la mi-juillet].
Caroline Letarte-Simoneau, member of the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS)
The situation in no way puts the young people housed in danger, assured the CIUSSS.
The buildings at the center of the file, where young people in difficulty live, are located behind the historic building visible from Sherbrooke Street East. These are 8 blocks that can each accommodate 24 miners. They were built in 1965.
“Major damage following water leaks”
The CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal was already carrying out major work last summer on these buildings, but it was stopped after the torrential rain in mid-July.
“The amount of water that arrived along the way was not expected at all. We did not have that historically, there was nothing to say that we could have anticipated all this rain, this quantity,” explained Mr. Neskovic. His organization also cites last spring’s freezing rain storm and episodes of high winds as contributing to the situation. “We stopped the work and immediately secured the eight buildings. »
A series of contracts were then awarded, in particular to carry out “emergency sealing of roof cracks” after “major damage following water leaks”. There was then a “risk of emergency evacuation of care units”, according to what the CIUSSS indicated in the public calls for tenders system. Another company was hired to lay the tarps and install spit to keep animals out.
Permanent roof replacement work should begin next spring. Preparing a call for tenders takes six months, Mr. Neskovic stressed.
Ultimately, Mont Saint-Antoine hopes to obtain the necessary authorizations from Quebec for a vast project to reconstruct living units. Estimated price: around 200 million.
“But we are not going to wait for this famous project,” said the deputy director of technical services. What we want is to restore quality of life and also security to everyone for another 10-15 years. » “We do not remain inactive, we do not wait for the miracle solution,” he added.