The protest from parents and residents will not prevent the opening of a supervised drug injection and inhalation center near a primary school, assures the organization in charge, which is working to calm fears and who claims to have several supports.
“It is not in danger and what we want is to work better with our community and take fears into consideration,” assures Andréanne Désilets, general director of Maison Benoît-Labre. Some 36 housing units for homeless people with mental health or addiction problems are planned, in addition to the center. The opening is planned for October or November, once the current work is completed.
“We have a lot of support from people in the community, we receive a lot of messages from people who support us,” she adds. It’s just that, generally, these people make a lot less noise, it’s rare that we go out because we’re for a cause.”
An information session closed to the media and only open to parents was organized Tuesday evening at the Victor-Rousselot school. Neighborhood residents took the opportunity to demonstrate their opposition outside. Parents, for their part, were not reassured by the meeting.
“A good meeting,” analyzes Andréanne Désilets, “with excellent interventions.” “There were around ten very angry parents, around twenty others who were not too sure and five others who said that a center would be a good idea, but with apprehensions for their children,” she continues.
She recognizes that “communication was not optimal” and “that we need to communicate better” regarding the project. The project to put in place mechanisms that are more accessible to parents so that they know where to report a situation “defuses many of the major fears that have been named,” says Andréanne Désilets. Another information meeting is also planned for October 4 and there will be the establishment of a good neighbor committee.
Homelessness has grown in Saint-Henri and the project will undoubtedly have positive impacts, she insists. “People were consuming indoors, then were taken out of their homes and found themselves outside in public spaces,” she describes. Such a supervised center, where users bring their own drugs to consume, can help prevent overdose deaths.
The drug injection and inhalation center has not yet received the green light from the federal government, where the request is currently being analyzed, and from Quebec. It is still planned that a request will be sent to the national director of public health (DNSP), confirmed to Duty Montreal Public Health, which is not shaken by the opposition of parents and residents. “The organization has put in place a plan which provides for numerous interventions to ensure harmonious cohabitation and measures to ensure good neighborliness,” we write.
Andréanne Désilets is confident that she will be granted permission to open the supervised center. “Absolutely,” she replies.
On the Quebec side, the office of the minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, declared in writing yesterday that a “supervised inhalation center (CIS) is an important service for reducing harm”, but that it was “ imperative that there be social acceptability in the neighborhood.” “We cannot impose a CIS in a neighborhood so close to a school,” believes the minister.
“What I hear is that we owe him [ministre Carmant] demonstrate that there is a cohabitation plan,” answers Andréanne Désilets. “We are not alone in this,” she takes care to add. The neighborhood station of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) will assign four police officers to the area. A monitoring committee will also monitor potential negative impacts and see how best to respond. “We want to go further than just waiting for something to happen, and taking action,” she says.