After furor from locals, Quebec open to moving services from Montreal drug-use site

QUÉBEC — Montreal municipal officials and the Quebec government are having second thoughts about a project in the city’s southwest that caters to unhoused people living with addiction or mental health issues.

After defending the facility for months, the city of Montreal is now asking the province to relocate day centre services at Maison Benoît Labre, which is across from an elementary school and includes 36 studio apartments for unhoused people and a supervised drug-use site.

Parents and local residents had opposed the centre before it opened earlier this year, and now that it’s in operation, they say they’ve witnessed open drug use and aggressive behaviour, including when children are around.

Chantal Rouleau, minister responsible for social solidarity, told reporters in Quebec City Wednesday that the province is in discussions with the city to move the day services, but she says resources for the vulnerable have to go somewhere.

“There are discussions … to respond to the demands of citizens living difficult situations,” Rouleau said about people complaining that the neighbourhood no longer feels safe. “But it’s certain that we have to find places to allow citizens, who are having difficulties in life, to get on the right track.”

Since the facility opened in April, residents have complained about people smoking crack on doorsteps, and drug users threatening or assaulting residents. There have also been reports of adults exposing themselves and engaging in sex acts in front of children.

Critics — including federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — have cited Maison Benoît Labre as an example of elected leaders being too tolerant of criminal behaviour, saying the mayor is forcing children to share space with crack users.

Poilievre held a news conference in July in a public park adjacent to the elementary school and Maison Benoît Labre. “Here at this beautiful school, we’re seeing children terrorized by drugs, by potential violence, by gross sex acts, by needles and other danger,” he told reporters, describing the situation as the result of a “wacko liberalization experiment of drug legalization.”

Maison Benoît Labre’s executive director says the solution is not to move day services from the centre but to add resources to “help us ease the pressure.”

“There is a lack of facilities for this kind of service,” Andréane Desilets said. “It is extremely difficult to find an area to operate this type of centre.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press