“We want to get out of it”: Faces of crises shaking Montreal

Met near the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve church, which serves as her refuge, the woman laments that rents in the neighborhood have become unaffordable. $1000 to $2000 per month.

Also, many admitted to the shelter use drugs, which can cause seizures, the young woman says. Instead of helping them and sending them to a psychiatric hospital, we put them on the streetShe argues that it is because of a lack of resources.

This woman, who wants more than anything to find a roof over her head before giving birth, is one of the faces described. A humanitarian crisis In the metropolis. A catastrophic-looking crisis where social organizations are trying to somehow keep their heads above water.

According to Annie Aubertin, executive director of Specter de rue, a Ville-Marie-based supervised injection site, one of the factors contributing to the worsening of the crisis is the quality of drugs circulating on the street. has decreased significantly. And because there are so many drugs Medicated with all sorts of things, including fentanyl, in addition, measured poorlyThe number of drug overdoses is on the rise.

We went from one overdose per week, or two weeks, on average, to one per day this summer. Sometimes, twice, Ms. Aberdeen says, noting that no drug user has lost their life on the organization’s campus because of the availability of naloxone.

We have a mission to leave people on their own two feet and stay aliveHe says in an interview with Radio-Canada.

Annie Aubertin, Managing Director of Spector de Roux

Photo: Radio-Canada

Her colleague Alicia Morales is categorical: there are five times more levels than in 2019.

Do people eat too much? Ms. According to Aubertin, that’s because more of them go to Specter de Rue’s offices People who inject know that it’s dangerous and so they would benefit from coming to a supervised injection site..

Be that as it may, despite all the organization’s efforts, they say they are aware of the fact that there may be tensions with the neighborhood. Five years ago, when the site opened its doors, Things were a bit more difficultMrs. Aberdeen believes. Since then, things have gotten better and better, but we remain vigilant.

Impossible Get your own

In fact, the increase in traffic has been accompanied by a financial crisis: under recent subsidies, the position of street worker, especially the person who visited the merchants of the district, was eliminated due to lack of funds.

According to Annie Aubertin, social enterprises need more stable funding to ensure they can continue to provide their core services. It’s ridiculous: With a budget of $2.3 million, the only base funding (guaranteed, editor’s note) is $193,000. Everything else [renouvelable] On a one-year or three-year basisshe says.

What is happening in our institutions?Alicia Morales adds. Social organizations cannot do it alone.

Criticism of cohabitation with the homeless and drug addicts has been increasingly heard in and around Montreal in recent years.

If the latter considers the flaws to be disappointing, this one considers it above all else It speaks to a lack of knowledge, the “not in my backyard” syndrome, which speaks to the character of the neighborhood..

” People move in after the arrival of our systems and we have to go back upstairs as they move in. »

Michelle Patenaude, Executive Director of CAP St-Barnabé

Photo: Radio-Canada

This sense of a catastrophic situation is fully shared by Michelle Patenaude, executive director of CAP St-Barnabé, an organization fighting poverty in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

As of 2020, his organization is providing temporary shelter to 350 homeless people. Over the years, friction has arisen with the residents of the neighborhood, while the search for a new building to house these people on the street continues.

The homeless crisis has fueled the homeless crisis, Ms. Patenad explains that he is a Big fight The fight against poverty, access to affordable housing, access to healthy food, access to grocery stores…not to mention the problem of drug addiction.

However, the president of CAP St-Barnabé does not talk about intolerance in society, contenting himself with mentioning. A support issue based on communications. There is also a misunderstanding of what we doshe says.

Ms. For Patenaude, moreover, finding solutions is not just for society, but for all levels of government. Above all, we need to focus on prevention programs, even if it takes time to get results. The Government which initiates such scheme immediately after its election shall not have any concrete effect until the end of its mandate, authorizes the Director General.

no action, Because it is stigmatized

According to Jean-Sébastien Fallu, a professor at the University of Montreal’s School of Psychology, the overdose crisis, he describes A public health crisis unmatched in decadesspecifically arising from the illegal aspect of the goods in question.

Soon we are talking about 40,000 dead [de surdose] In Canada. If it weren’t for illegal drugs, resources would be mobilized, and science and public health policy would be demanded, as was the case with Covid.He said in an interview here RDI.

” We don’t do that because of the stigma and other reasons. People die because of it. »

The ban can be blamed on the influx of poor quality drugs on the Montreal market, experts judge.

It’s been documented: the more substances we ban, the more unknown, toxic, dangerous substances appear.he said.

With information from Charlotte Dumoulin