The journalist from The Press Isabelle Ducas did not need an imposing staff to discover in one day that there were 4155 accommodations on the Airbnb site in the Ville-Marie territory1, 45 with occupancy certificates. And she noted about 1,000 ads for housing or rooms in Old Montreal, while this occupation is prohibited in this territory.
Let’s read carefully what this journalist reports in the March 19 issue: “The City has no inspector for by-laws, relying on the Government of Quebec, whose inspectors do not have the mandate to apply the municipal regulations. »
As the other would say: that’s why your daughter is mute.
We can’t pretend these illegal Airbnbs don’t exist, because the organization Inside Airbnb indicated that in Montreal, 92.8% of rentals are without a permit, while in Toronto, it’s 55.8%, and in Vancouver, it’s 28.5%, according to the Radio-Canada report2. Can we be surprised that with such a result in Montreal, we risk other disasters in the making?
Obviously, the excuse of lack of resources and personnel is the perfect excuse to avoid any liability. Before, it was COVID-19 that excused everything, now it’s the lack of manpower.
On behalf of the victims of this disaster, the City could show a little imagination to remedy this scourge and the lack of control of these illegal establishments.
After all, the city’s primary responsibility is to enforce its bylaws.
In the past, when the City faced the problems of rooming houses, effective collaborative mechanisms had been implemented to try to eliminate this scourge, and this, with the contribution of Quebec, without the current existing technology.
Nowadays, a panoply of legal measures can be taken to quickly put an end to these illegal occupations (notice of infraction, fines, repeated complaints). The community must learn that the City is serious in its desire to tackle this scourge and that it will cost dearly those who do not comply with the law.
To succeed, we must ensure the cooperation of Quebec and stop passing the buck.
The last question that arises concerns the protection of heritage buildings.
Why is it that a heritage building does not have all the security and fire protections? Apparently that was not the case.
Our heritage is not as flourishing as that of European countries, so we must ensure that our buildings are inspected and adequately protected. Difficult to explain that this was not the case for the burned building.
Where I live, although the building is fairly new, firefighters come once or twice a year to inspect the alarm and fire systems. From the various data that the City has, we can surely create a group of inspectors, firefighters responsible for carrying out a blitz of targeted locations, also asking for the collaboration of Quebec government inspectors.
My great-niece having been a victim of this fire, I cannot end my remarks without deeply thanking, on behalf of my whole family, the firefighters who did a remarkable job during this difficult fight. They were deeply affected by this disaster and the family had the opportunity to meet some of them who were barely holding back their tears, disappointed that they had not been able to save everyone. Nor do I forget the police officers and investigators who particularly helped, with all their compassion, the victim’s father and mother through this terrible ordeal. It is easy to criticize the work of the police, but we too often forget that they too are affected by these tragedies. Think of those who picked up the cries for help and the police who heard them, but ultimately found themselves helpless in the face of this tragedy and others like it. Thank you again for what you have done and continue to do.