As Parks Canada began its camping initiation activity on the banks of the Lachine Canal on Saturday, demonstrators erected their own tents right next to it to protest against the dismantling of camps for homeless people by the City of Montreal.
The relationship between Parks Canada and the protesters, which began as a conflict, now exists as a cooperative one.
“When we saw the activity of Parks Canada, we really found it ironic, because if you pay for an activity, then it’s ok to camp, so it’s really according to your social class”, explained the organizer of the “Initiation à la solidarité” event and homelessness outreach worker, Annie Archambault.
“We ourselves have homeless people on Parks Canada land, so we decided to take the opportunity to share a space for dialogue, a space also for education, awareness of the realities experienced by people who are homeless,” said Simon Saint-Germain, Visitor Experience Team Leader for Parks Canada and Manager of Montreal’s Outdoor Initiation Program, in a joint interview with Ms. Archambault. .
Finally, “we allied for the day: Parks Canada lends us its land, provide us with water, we have a toilet”, indicated this one. In addition, an awareness activity will take place in the evening, around a campfire.
Already, at the beginning of the afternoon, half a dozen demonstrators began to erect their tents, but others are expected in the evening. As for the outdoor activity, we expect about fifteen tents, that is to say about sixty people.
In early July, Parks Canada had canceled a first activity due to criticism from the community.