Indigenous homelessness in the Milton-Parc neighborhood represents a humanitarian crisis in the heart of the metropolis, according to Montreal Ombudsman Nadine Mailloux in a report released Wednesday.
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“It is clear that the issue of homelessness calls for a comprehensive approach and requires complementary work, among others, by municipal authorities, community organizations and the health and social services network (RSSS)”, underlined the ombudsman from the outset.
“However, these stakeholders operate within state or community structures that are sometimes difficult to reconcile, resulting in a vacuum of accountability (everyone passes the buck to himself). We absolutely have to learn to work together better,” she added.
Entitled “Do not look away”, the report presents several findings and makes five recommendations, including the creation of a “stable and safe emergency accommodation resource that meets the needs of Inuit people”. Reviewing the funding of community organizations is also part of the recommendations to improve the situation.
The report follows the complaints of a group of citizens of the district, which denounces the degradation, the insalubrity as well as the dangerousness of this district.
“There are some residents who thought that this refuge [pour itinérants, établi à Milton Parc en 2018] was going to help the itinerant, the idealists. On the other hand, there are people who anticipated the crisis it was going to cause, the realists, and between the two the silent majority who were afraid of being called heartless,” explained Martine Michaud, a resident. neighborhood, during an interview with QUB radio, last September.
For her part, the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, argued that the demands are “in direct line” with the requests of the City.
“A [revendication] what is important is when the ombudsman says that we must work further upstream. This recommendation is important because [qu’elle rejoint] what we are asking of the government of Quebec, of the health services that are in charge of homelessness. We said “it has to stop the seasonal logic” exactly for that,” she explained during a scrum on Wednesday.
The mayor also assured that she is asking Quebec for “more funding and resources so as not to be in reaction”.