Shaken by a tragedy last week when a driver from the Société de transport de Laval (STL) drove his bus into a daycare centre, mowing down two children and injuring six others, the Sainte-Rose district of Laval was the theater of many gestures of solidarity in the following days.
Sainte-Rose is one of Laval’s oldest sectors. It has retained a “village spirit” despite the gradual transformation of this former dormitory town, now struggling with rising crime and the social issues of other large cities.
Since last week, initiatives to help those affected by the tragedy have multiplied. In addition to the crowdfunding campaigns launched by citizens, businesses in Sainte-Rose have offered their services to support the families and employees affected, underlines Flavia Alexandra Novac, 26, the municipal councilor for the district. Thus, restaurants have offered prepared meals for families who are still in hospital. Care and massage therapy companies have offered their services free of charge to support those affected by the tragedy and try to alleviate their pain.
“Sainte-Rose is an old village. I often repeat that it is a very tightly woven neighborhood. The community is very close. Most of the neighbors know each other. There is a lot of mutual aid, ”underlines the elected official who grew up there.
An island, a city?
The village spirit of Sainte-Rose comes as no surprise to Gérard Beaudet, professor at the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Montreal, who knows Laval well, having spent his youth there. “Laval is a patchwork developments that have been done in all kinds of ways, with big developers, with individuals who have bought houses and old areas of chalets converted into permanent residences,” explains the urban planner. “Even if, several decades after the mergers, we try to create a city centre, it remains a patchwork. »
Ville de Laval was born from a series of annexations of parish municipalities in the 1950s, with the generalization of the use of the automobile.
Independent of each other, the municipalities of Île Jésus developed with the arrival of suburbanites. Faced with financial problems, some of them were not in a position to provide basic services themselves, such as a water and sewer network or libraries. Mandated by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the Sylvestre commission looked into the solutions to consider in order to harmonize the development of this territory, which then had 14 municipalities. She then proposed to create “an island, a city”, a solution that was far from unanimous. On August 6, 1965, the Bill 63 gives birth to the City of Laval and its six districts.
Some sectors are of very modest origin and have kept their traces, explains Gérard Beaudet, who evokes Pont-Viau, described in the 1940s as a “slum”. These inequalities have also gone through the years and, today, certain sectors are experiencing crime inherited from this era, supports the town planner.
Less peaceful than before
Over the past two years, Laval has been the scene, like Montreal, of an increase in armed violence. Last December, the Service de police de Laval (SPL) also considered facing the same problems as Montreal, all things considered.
As of December 31, the service had recorded ten murders, including five committed with firearms, compared to two the previous year, in addition to a 25% increase in crimes against the person. As for shootings, which have been on the rise since 2020, their number was contained in 2022 thanks to an intervention strategy called Paradoxestimates the SPL.
“There are legacies that are still present. Street gangs and street prostitution are not everywhere in Laval. Often, these are neighborhoods that have been “poked” for a long time, and where we have the same drifts as in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Montreal. These are trajectories which are quite similar, but which we know little about because it remained discreet for a long time, ”argues Gérard Beaudet.
Homelessness has been more visible since the pandemic, but it has been present on Île Jésus for a long time, underlines Mathieu Frappier, coordinator of the Network of Homelessness Organizations and Stakeholders of Laval (ROIIL). “During its development, Laval has always bet on an image of a dormitory town where it is good to live and raise a family. Poverty and homelessness have not been put forward as being a Laval reality,” said Mr. Frappier. “You could say that it was downright hidden, especially under the Vaillancourt administration. »
According to him, this refusal to admit reality has had an impact on the funding devoted to mental health and the fight against poverty. Resources are still lacking. And this winter, the Refuge de Laval is full every night, he says.
In 2019, Centraide pointed out that one in ten people in Laval had a low income. In the Chomedey, Pont-Viau and Laval-des-Rapides neighbourhoods, this proportion rose to one person in five.
In search of a soul
Bruno J. L’Heureux has lived in Laval since 1980. The retired doctor confirms that in certain neighborhoods like Sainte-Rose, Laval-sur-le-Lac or Saint-François, the feeling of belonging remains very strong. Some regulations are even distinct from one district to another. And nearly 60 years after the mergers, the harmonization of door numbers has still not been done on certain axes, such as Boulevard des Laurentides, where duplicates can be confusing.
Still, Laval, the third largest city in Quebec, has evolved. “It used to be a bedroom community. People worked in Montreal and lived in Laval. But that is much less true today. There are many people now who live and work in Laval,” he observes. Formerly very French-speaking and Catholic, Laval has also diversified with the arrival of new residents from cultural communities. According to him, the increase in social problems follows the natural evolution of a developing city, and its proximity to Montreal has something to do with it.
Often, these are neighborhoods that have been “poked” for a long time, and where we have the same drifts as in the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Montreal
A resident of Saint-François for more than 30 years, Huguette Larochelle also believes that the spirit of the villages and parish municipalities that make up Laval is still very much alive. “But I have the impression that the City, instead of enhancing its neighborhoods as Montreal does, tried to erase them,” she laments.
Agricultural areas still cover 30% of Laval territory, which adds to the city’s disparities. Laval centralized its administrative powers. It is banking on its economic strength and is now trying to build a city centre, notes Mme Larochelle. “As if the City suffered from a lack of soul, a lack of content. »