Parents from a school in the southwest of Montreal are calling on the Quebec government to try to cancel the opening of a supervised drug consumption site, planned in three weeks.
The construction of Maison Benoit-Labre near a park and a primary school has been the subject of heated debate since the summer.
“We don’t feel that our local elected officials are listening to us, so we want to take our message higher. We want the minister [Lionel] Carmant sees that there is no social acceptability,” said Jean-François Gauvin, parent of two children from École Victor-Rousselot.
With a handful of other parents, Mr. Gauvin is leading the opposition movement to the opening of Maison Benoit-Labre, right next to the Atwater market. In addition to a supervised drug consumption center, the facility will also include supervised apartments for highly vulnerable tenants who suffer from serious mental health issues.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Jean-François Gauvin, Chantal Gagnon and James Graham-Simpkins
Mr. Gauvin and Chantal Gagnon, another parent, demanded that the project be completely abandoned.
“Just canceling the drug component is not enough,” said Mr. Gauvin. “There’s going to be a dangerous clientele that’s going to be here. It doesn’t make sense to have children next to drug addicts and people with mental health problems. »
Mme Gagnon indicated that his group plans to go to court to stop the project if governments do not block it.
The office of the Minister of Social Services, Lionel Carmant, had not commented on the file at the time of putting this text online. Maison Benoit-Labre did not immediately return a call. The Press.