The merchants of the Palais des congrès de Montréal say they are exasperated and helpless in the face of the increase in the number of homeless people in the building. An image problem for the metropolis and insecurity for them as well as for their employees, they denounce.
The administration of the Palace does not quantify this increase, but has just created a special committee to reflect on the situation.
Every morning, it’s the same scenario: soon after the mall opens, large groups of homeless people gather there. The complex is located at the junction between downtown and Old Montreal, an area that houses several services for this population.
“It’s scary”
The Press was able to discuss with the owners of eight of the businesses installed in the main corridor of the building, that is to say the majority of them. Their diagnosis is clear: the homeless are more numerous than ever, the regrettable events too. They refer to thefts, shouting, aggressive demands for money and other incivilities.
“In our shop, we are just women who work here, sometimes we are all alone. It’s very insecure for us. It’s not that we judge them, but it’s scary,” said Karman Au, of Sky Gifts and Flowers.
I don’t know if it takes an incident that happens to wake them up and [qu’ils réalisent que] it is a problem.
Karman Au, from Sky Gifts and Flowers
Her local neighbour, Tan Dip, runs a hair salon: “It got worse and I think this winter it will be even worse. »
Vincent Daou, who operates two Van Houtte branches at both ends of the corridor, depicts a real crisis. “It’s appalling. It’s become intolerable this year, it’s getting serious,” he said in an interview. The restaurateur also wrote an open letter to denounce the situation: “We are having more and more difficulty recruiting and retaining our employees, who refuse to work in such difficult conditions. »
Opposite one of his cafes, a Tim Hortons: “It never stops: they bother the employees, they bother the customers”, sums up the owner Abdul Zara. His colleague Youssef Santa, who operates a Subway franchise, sees things the same way. “In the last few months, it’s really terrible. […] They shout at the employees, they insult everyone. »
“Concrete actions”
The Palais des Congrès refused the interview request of The Press. “This is a societal debate rather than a private debate”, indicates an email signed by “the media team of the Palace”.
The organization claims to work with community groups that can intervene with the homeless. Furthermore, the “Palais is actively working on setting up an internal committee aimed at taking concrete action to ensure that everyone can benefit from a safe convention center”. The group will notably welcome a merchant.
This is a situation that we take particularly to heart, both for our merchants and tenants, but also for homeless people who see the spaces of the Palais as a place of reference.
Excerpt from an email from the Palais des Congrès
Shopkeepers criticize the instructions given to palace security guards who – according to them – refuse to intervene inside shops. “The security of the Palace does nothing because they say that as it is at Tim Hortons or at Van Houtte, it is no longer their business”, lamented for example the gallerist Pierre Antoine Tremblay. “There is nothing being done. »
As for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), it cannot intervene inside the Palais des Congrès as it would on the street.
“We are not discharging a responsibility, but there are legal issues that mean that we cannot intervene” so simply, explained Inspector Simon Durocher, head of neighborhood station 21.
The policeman adds that he did not register an increase in interventions on the spot, but that his teams had met a trader who denounced the situation.
“People are hungry”
For Annie Savage, of the Network for the Assistance of Single and Homeless People in Montreal (RAPSIM), the situation at the Palais des Congrès is in particular the result of bad decisions on the part of the public authorities. Closing the Complexe Guy-Favreau refuge outside sleeping hours can push users towards the nearest source of heat – and food.
“People are hungry, people sleep badly, it’s cold,” she said in a telephone interview. “It is the result of poor coordination of responses and a lack of investment. We were concerned about the problem in the context of a health crisis, we opened all kinds of places, but clearly, things are going very, very badly on the ground. She believes an all-day center is needed.
The Old Brewery Mission, located near the Palais des Congrès, will be called upon to sit on the special committee that has just been created. “Our perception of the clientele at the Palais des congrès is that it’s not all of our residents – that’s obvious. […] And it’s not all people who are homeless, it can be people in a precarious state, who have addictions, etc. “said spokesperson Marie-Pier Therrien.