The mayoress of Montreal pointed the finger at Quebec and Ottawa to explain the difficult situation prevailing in the east of the city center, adding that she refused to “push” vulnerable people out of the neighborhood.
At City Council, Valérie Plante acknowledged that the Émilie-Gamelin Park and Village sector is “under high pressure”. “We’ve been sounding the alarm for a long time,” she said, adding that the City was investing heavily to find solutions to the neighborhood’s problems.
Last week, the mayoress denounced the “absence” of provincial social services in her efforts to restore luster to the sector. On Monday, she also pointed to the action of the federal government, which is housing hundreds of people from Roxham Road at the Place Dupuis hotel.
“I asked the levels of government to take their responsibilities, when suddenly, in a quadrilateral that is at full capacity, we add asylum seekers who are vulnerable and we mix that with other people who have special needs”, denounced Mr.me Plante, who spoke of an “overpopulation, if I may say so, of vulnerable people”.
Mme Plante was answering questions from the leader of the opposition at City Hall, Aref Salem, who harshly denounced the situation prevailing in the sector.
“I don’t know what the leader of the opposition is calling me to do, but I’m not going to push vulnerable populations away,” she said. “I don’t push the world any further. I work with those who are there. We are serious, we have people around the table and you can count on us to treat local populations (both local populations, residents and vulnerable populations) with kindness, humanity and also with consistency. »