A building where two organizations for the defense of tenants’ rights in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve are housed has been bought by a private college in Toronto which intends to completely renovate it to accommodate students this fall, learned The duty.
The four-story building on Ontario Street East was home to six community organizations from different backgrounds until recently, but three of them have moved in the last few months when Cestar College took over this commercial building, last fall, who asked them to leave. Based in Toronto, this private college specializes in “personal and popular training education” through “non-university” programs, according to the Quebec Business Register. It has several campuses in Ontario, specializing in various programs ranging from the teaching of law to courses in dentistry as well as new technologies, among others.
The college’s decision to gradually establish itself in Quebec thus forced the eviction of community organizations still present in the building, including two groups defending the rights of tenants from Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. These are Entraide Logement, which helps tenants with complex relationships with their landlord, and the Comité BAILS, which helps people in need find social housing. The two organizations were ordered last January to vacate the premises on 1er March, according to email exchanges obtained by The duty.
“We understood that they could kick us out with a month or two weeks’ notice,” said Marine G. Armengaud, a community organizer with the BAILS Committee, in an interview on Thursday. By negotiating with the new owner, the two community groups were able to extend this deadline to 1er July. Since then, they have carried out many searches to try to find a place to relocate, but time is running out. “We are still in uncertainty”, less than two months before the forced departure, notes Marine G. Armengaud, who notes that the commercial premises occupied by many organizations in Montreal are suffering, like residential housing, from speculation. real estate.
“As far as commercial premises are concerned, it is extremely expensive”, notes the one who finds it “a little ironic” that a building with a community vocation where we come to the aid of people in need is in the process of being replaced “by a private English school that will serve a more affluent clientele.
“We find it a little weird,” says Guillaume Dostaler, coordinator of Entraide Logement, sitting in his office on the fourth floor of the building, where renovation work has already begun. When passing the To have to, an employee of Cestar College was also on site, boxes in his hands. He then gave us the contact details of Clément Perrier, the general manager of an art school in downtown Montreal that was recently bought out by his employer. It was he who was responsible for notifying the tenants of this building on Ontario Street East in recent months that they had to leave the premises.
Expand in Quebec
In an interview, Mr. Perrier indicated that the college intended to establish itself gradually in Quebec, which explains the acquisition of the building. The establishment is already carrying out work on the first floor in the hope of being able to welcome students there from September, if the Ministries of Education and Higher Education grant the necessary authorizations in time to allow this future school to function. “It is important for the Ministry of Education, before approving a program, that the school can accommodate its students,” explains Mr. Perrier.
The entire building will then gradually welcome students by 1er January 2023, if all goes well, he adds, while specifying that the courses, the content of which has not been detailed, will be given in both English and French. Mr. Perrier, however, indicated that this school will offer “four distinct programs”.
Mr. Perrier admits to having felt some discomfort when he learned that all the tenants of the building were community groups. However, he assures that measures have been taken, on a case-by-case basis, to facilitate the departure of tenants in a “respectful” way.
“The objective was to find an agreement beneficial to everyone,” he says.
Cestar College has taken steps in recent weeks to buy the three Quebec colleges from Rising Phoenix, a company that was investigated by the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit for questionable recruitment practices. students abroad. The three establishments are the M College of Canada, in Montreal, the CDE College, in Sherbrooke, as well as the Accounting and Secretarial College of Quebec, in Longueuil.
The Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann, has also deplored in the past the staggering fees charged by unsubsidized private colleges of this type. The department was unable to respond to questions from the To have to Thursday.
Always further
The two tenant advocacy groups in the process of being evicted are now eyeing premises located within the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Community Education Pavilion, further east. These would be less well located compared to the nearest Joliette metro station, and therefore in a less “accessible” area for some tenants, according to Mr. Dostaler.
“We really see this phenomenon of poorer tenants who have to go to the outskirts, and there, it happens to us too”, loose Marine G. Armengaud. This is also, she points out, the third time in four years that her organization, Comité BAILS, and Entraide Logement have been forced to move to new premises for various reasons.
“It’s difficult to be very stable,” sighs Guillaume Dostaler, who points to the lack of measures in place to provide some stability to community groups that rent. However, “it is expensive to move”, in particular for organizations for which every dollar counts, he notes.