The Montreal metro is home to a colorful fauna. While users hurry to catch their train, here and there itinerants stroll and sleep, indifferent to the hustle and bustle that surrounds them. It is to this underprivileged population that the Métro intervention and consultation team (EMIC) pays all its attention. Made up of a policewoman, an inspector from the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and a psychosocial worker, the team patrols the underground network every day to watch over these marginalized people in search of a little heat.
Lying on the ground of the Bonaventure station, Robert Britton is sound asleep when the team approaches him to pull him out of his sleep. Accompanied by police officer Anabelle Roy and agent Simon Pierre Gagnon, from the STM, worker Imene Ayachi, from the Société de développement social, checks in on him and inquires about his health. The man visibly recognizes his interlocutors and exchanges a few words with them.
Set up in 2020, the EMIC travels through metro stations to ensure that the presence of homeless people does not disturb users and does not disturb the peace. “The metro is for everyone, but certain behaviors interfere with cohabitation,” explains Sophie Bellemare, who coordinates the police officers of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) within the EMIC.
Tolerance in the metro
EMIC is not a frontline service and does not respond to emergency calls. Rather, an important part of his work consists in seeing if homeless people need help, if they should be directed to the right resources and if their case should be followed up. The team can therefore take the time to discuss with the homeless. “That’s what creates a bond of trust, a therapeutic place,” says Charles Audelin, Lieutenant in Operations at the STM.
The STM is tolerant of homeless people who come to take refuge in the metro, as long as they do not represent a threat to user safety.
However, certain rules must be observed. Itinerants are not allowed to wander on the metro platforms. “There is no tolerance when it interferes with fluidity. And intoxicated people on the docks can represent a safety problem, underlines Mr. Audelin. But there is tolerance outside the turnstiles. »
And the homeless cannot lie anywhere. “From the moment they are lying on the ground, they break the rules. We will try to relocate them, ”explains Sophie Bellemare, who admits all the same that, in the uncrowded corners of certain stations, we do not force the homeless to move.
Wednesday, when The duty accompanied the EMIC, the patrol lingered at the Bonaventure metro station, which houses many elderly homeless people in its maze of corridors. But although they are generally peaceful, they must be approached with caution. One of them does not hide his anger at being approached that day by the team, who told him that his pants are a little “too loose”, that they no longer hide his buttocks. “Usually he is always calm and composed. But there, he does not want help, ”says police officer Anabelle Roy.
Half an hour later, when she returns to see him to give him some better-fitting pants, his mood has softened and he accepts the garment gratefully.
Further on, a man is buried under his sleeping bag. “Do you have any news about your apartment?” Are you okay with your shoes? Do you need boots? asks Imene Ayachi. The man is a known face of the EMIC, but the worker is worried about his health. “Sometimes it takes a long time to have a bond of trust,” she said afterwards.
Each station has its own color
Homeless people are increasingly present throughout the métro network, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. A large number of stations have their regulars, especially those in the city center. But the profile of homeless people varies from one station to another, depending in particular on their proximity to aid resources, explains Sophie Bellemare.
At Atwater station, the nearby presence of Resilience Montreal and Chez Doris brings Indigenous people into the underground network. Moreover, the move of the Indigenous organization La Porte Ouverte to Plateau Mont-Royal in 2018 brought homeless Indigenous people to the Mont-Royal metro station. “Each station has its own color”, summarizes Sophie Bellemare.
Located near the Refuge des jeunes de Montréal, the Papineau station is not only frequented by young people, but also by drug dealers and homeless people struggling with drug addiction. “There is also a pharmacy that offers a methadone service. So, in the morning, they wait in the metro to pick her up. Everything that gravitates around the stations has an influence on the presence of homeless people,” underlines Ms.me Bellemare.
Bonaventure station is very close to the Saint-Michael Mission, which has just moved to Stanley Street. Known as the “Red Roof”, the organization is a long-time SPVM partner with homeless people.
Police officer Anabelle Roy nevertheless deplores the lack of infrastructure that could facilitate the existence of homeless people and other metro users. “There are no public toilets in the metro, except at Snowdon station. Yet there are in other countries, and it works, ”she says while acknowledging that increased monitoring may be necessary.
The creation of the EMIC, like other teams such as the EMMIS (Mobile mediation and social intervention team) and the ESUP (Psychosocial emergency support team), has made it possible to forge links between law enforcement and community resources to focus on prevention, rather than repression.
Three EMIC patrols ensure their presence seven days a week in the metro network. Teams work from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day and another is present from Monday to Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. — “because after 8:30 p.m. people are often too intoxicated” argues Charles Audelin. “The EMIC is not there to repress, but rather to create links and bring homeless people to resources. »
Still, not all homeless people are receptive or want to be helped. “I call them ‘our Gauls'”, says Sophie Bellemare.