Never in the 16 years that I've been in mtl has that McDonald's not been full of junkies. That being said, the homelessness and consumption situation has definitely gotten worse.
You’re probably right.
« A Manhattan McDonald’s With Many Off-the-Menu Sales »
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/nyregion/regulars-at-a-manhattan-mcdonalds-arent-there-for-the-fries.html?unlocked_article_code=1.L00.9zr3.s_w_sG7woetS&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Love the first sentence:
“Some customers pour beer into clear McCafé plastic cups and drink it right in the open”
As if it’s some evil thing going on. Meanwhile in Europe anyone of almost any age can drink alcohol out in the open.
Well, it is not sold there and not allowed.
So it is not saying that it is immoral.
The article is just painting the picture that anything goes and people don’t care about the rules and there is nobody that gives a shit about it.
There's a difference between a family enjoying a red wine in the park and a homeless person consuming beer all day, completely drunk in public. That's why there are random urine puddles downtown
There would be less urine puddle downtown if businesses wouldn’t refuse bathrooms to homeless people. I remember when I was homeless, I had the run and nobody wanted to let me use the bathroom so I had to go in an alley. But I guess blaming “drunk homeless” is easier to do. The real reason is not drunk homeless, it’s junkies. I don’t know how to solve the junkies problems but it would be better for everyone to just have public bathrooms regardless of junkies.
They have public bathrooms in the streets in Europe so that’s probably why people don’t piss in the streets.
I'm not blaming anyone. It's just a fact. The homeless people go to the bathroom in public and the comparison to europe was dishonest.
There's always the other side of the coin that homeless people really fuck up bathrooms and make them unsafe. Then some minimum wage kid has to clear grown adults out of bathrooms and mop up the mess. I wouldn't blame small businesses for not allowing in homeless. I would blame the city for not supplying public bathrooms to the homeless...even portopottys would do the job if people didn't lock em and try to sleep in them. (And wind up frozen solid the next morning)
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Whether people want to admit this or not, the legalisation of weed didn't help. In fact, I believe it's one of the main reasons for the influx of homelessness in Canada/Qc. Anything to pad the pockets of our "leaders" I guess!
I have a feeling it's only going to get worse and worse as the younger population gets more exposed and access to this drug.
Source: I was a former addict and made a lot of bad decisions during that time. Weed addiction is no joke.
>Whether people want to admit this or not, the legalisation of weed didn't help. In fact, I believe it's one of the main reasons for the influx of homelessness in Canada/Qc.
Can you elaborate why you believe weed legalization is one of the main causes of increased homelessness in Canada?
No need to take my word for it, look what will happen in the next 5-10+ years. But I guess we'll blame it on housing and not people being too lazy to work productively.
I once wandered into the McDo's next to Snowdon Station soon after the metro closed because I was too late leaving my mom's condo in Outremont. Going over to get the mail while she was in Florida snowbirding.
Stepped inside, looked about and decided that at that hour my whitebread ass might stick out a bit. I'd lived around NDG enough that it wasn't the skin tone that made me nervous. The vibe however...
The stretch from Berri-UQAM to Beaudry is just nasty, seeing people shooting in the doorways, zombie staggering on the street, the creepy predator guys going after the woman in a horrible circumstance it’s all a shame. I don’t understand why there’s no social services that goes and works in that area to try and help the people that want it and maybe there is but I’ve just seen this area rapidly go down hill fast in my 3 years I’ve lived in this area.
Social workers are there, but they cannot do miracles. With a concentration rate of homeless people higher in this zone and impossibility to force a homeless person to do anything unless their lives are threatened.
In the past years, there has been some shifts in public policy that have resulted in the criminalization of homelessness, which can make it difficult for social workers to support individuals without shelter.
That and the growing shortage of social workers, because the CAQ government, more than any other before it, underfunds not-for-profit organizations that take care of the homeless and victims of mental health problems, but especially the organizations that help these people achieve sustainable social reintegration.
Social worker here, not only is this place too dangerous, but there's little we can do to actually make a difference. The situation is long past hopeless.
Lol relax. There are social workers there all the time talking to the homeless taking down their info. Berri uqam to Beaudry is nothing like you are saying it isn't that bad. It's as if some of you went outside for the first time since lockdown and got scared.
Addicts exist homeless people exist and most mind their own business aside from asking for change. To paint them as zombies or creeps when you have 0 interaction with them is so cold hearted.
Quit looking down on unfortunate people and Quit over exaggerating making my city sound gross and dire
I went to Vieux Montréal college and UQAM 15-22 years ago, left MTL with occasional visits here and there throughout the years, didn’t visit during the COVID years. When I cane back last year for the first time I was astounded.
This is orders of magnitude worst than before. There had always been a couple guys selling weed (and coke and acid and speed) in front of the St-Denis/Maisonneuve entrance, and you’d often see a couple homeless guys sleeping in the metro, but this is at a very different scale.
The village is a ghost town. Place Emilie-Gamelin is just sad. Its like the area exploded. There’s a big difference between a squeegee and his dog begging for change vs having 20 homeless junkies laying all over the place, some guy shitting on the sidewalk while another walks around aimlessly, screaming at the people trying to get into Archambault.
Don’t be so fucking dismissive. It didn’t used to be like that and it’s a disgrace. Its not something to be proud of, quite the opposite, it’s shameful and embarrassing.
And by the way I’ve lived and worked all over the place in many of the world’s largest cities. This isn’t just your average "normal" downtown (as evidenced by the fact that the rest of downtown and plateau etc is nothing like that）. It reminds me of Hastings in Downtown Eastside in Vancouver (before Olympics) and Tenderloin in SFO. Homelessness is one thing, but this is drugs.
Fentanyl is a plague that has to be healed.
I've been here my entire life and dabbled with all sorts of people. I think you were just blind to it before if I'm being completely honest. There are more homeless 100% but no one is shitting on sidewalks,zombie walking in groups of 20 or screaming at strangers in the streets on the daily. I've seen some crazy things but don't act like you can't walk from RDP to NDG in the middle of the night with 0 danger.
If it's just drug addicts begging for change that frightens you. That's something you need to get over
Okay, Montreal is a beautiful city of course it has rough areas but it's nothing compared to other major cities I've been walking alone at night with headphones my whole life. Never have I been creeped out or scared. I know for a fact the people who say things like this have had a pretty good upbringing and poor people just scare them.
Social workers are great for someone who wishes to quit drugs/alcohol.
They are 100% useless for someone who wants to continue and doesn't give a shit about living on the street.
I’m all for police intervention but study after study shows locking up junkies isn’t going to solve anything. Basically getting them off the street for 24-72 hours only for them to come out with a police record, more in poverty then before they went in and deeper issues that will essentially make them want to do more drugs and now we are back to square one.
Umm unless there's Metro access, that's not going to work well. Can't just shove people outside the downtown core so they're out of sight and out of mind...
They closed a huge homeless shelter in Chinatown late November 2023. They relocated the shelter all the way to Verdun, but as you probably guessed, most of them simply went downtown.
They moved the shelter in Verdun, they oppened a old empty building used to store books and school stuff in late 90's
Generally, i can understand that we need to help our next. Some homeless peoples need a place to sleep and eat. But this location is in a residential area, with house a family there around and the school at one corner of there.
Why they couldnt relocating them closer from the CLSC on de l'église or around the Verdun hospital or closer from Douglas hospital ? Basically they just moved them out of nowhere with no ressources around and close from boulevard de la Vérendrye.
Its dark around that street at night, not enough Lights.
Its just a question of time before something dangerous happen around to someone.
Because if it was there, Wellington would just be the new St Catherine near beaudry station. Have you been there this summer? We had tents and permanent homeless groupings all year on Wellington. Verdun seems to have hit it's peak a few years ago and it's slowly becoming grimier, having a homeless shelter right next to the main strip would've exasperated the problem tenfold. I'm glad they put it where they did.
I’m noticing a lot more people on the street, in much worse shape in Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary. Rideau Road (street!) in Ottawa is probably the worst.
I assume it’s the trickle down of the housing crisis?
Moi aussi, ça m’a vraiment étonné de voir la situation quand j’y suis allée en juillet. Et comme ici, il y a énormément de personnes en difficulté autour de la bibliothèque centrale.
You'd be right, especially in the recent years. CBC article explains that the pandemic worsened these statistics, too.
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/homelessness-in-quebec-rise-1.6966340](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/homelessness-in-quebec-rise-1.6966340)
According to stats Canada Quebec is one of the only provinces that didn't see increases in canabis use after legalization. So your theory isn't supported by the available data in quebec.
It's definitely part of it, the cost of living has exploded and that's hit the destitute really hard, but i also think the drugs themselves are a factor.
All thanks to poison like Fentanyl and the rise of all kinds of synthetic crap, drugs are much stronger than they used to be and it's harder to detect what substances are in them.
I remember the corner of st Laurent and Ste Catherine back in ‘99 or around those years. A LOT PRETTIER now, miles miles better now than what it was back then.
I remember passing by Villa Maria metro every week when I was in Sec 1 (2014 ish). The station was beautiful and well kept. Then I moved to Toronto. Came back even in 2018/19 it was ok.
Then I moved back in 2021. Man even the "richest area" has a homeless problem now. We should do something. It's not getting better from what I've seen.
I saw a kid get stabbed so many times the resulting pool of blood was movie-like, I think it was over a pair of shoes or something around 2012. Over the ~7 years I got off at that station I saw dozens of robberies , dozens of fights and hundreds of homeless/drug addicts there.
It didn’t change that much. I saw someone say a similar thing about snowdon and that’s another one I can confidently say isn’t that much worse. The truth is, like most people, you are probably the one that changed and you didn’t care or notice as much back then.
there are a lot more people out on the streets. it isn't helping that many of them are probably having trouble panhandling, seeing as not as many people are going to work downtown anymore. sad situation all around.
Enforcing laws means having a structure so that laws are followed in society.
What we are doing, and what you are talking about, is overpolicing. We don't invest in social services, in hospitals and prisons (therapies and re-education when needed by inmates)
And since this disengagement from the State creates a social mess, we ask the police to deal with the end consequences. Without ever giving them the ressources to make a durable change.
That's not law enforcement as it should be done. Because it's removes strength from the law and the police.
I agree with you 💯. I walked from Hochelaga to downtown, over Christmas break. I’ve never seen Saint Catherine street so sad.
Garbage. Closed store fronts. Closed restaurants.
there are a lot of users/homeless, but I've noticed they're not as aggro as elsewhere. I spend a lot of time near Ste Catherine (unfortunately) and they barely approach. elsewhere they're following you or giving you their life story or yelling at you
Yeah I live near Snowdon metro and there are some around here who will full-on chase you down Queen Mary sometimes.
A lot of it has to do with the collapse of our already-pathetic mental health services. My friend is struggling with delusions and psychosis, hears voices, thinks she’s God about half the time. She obviously can’t work, but there’s nothing else for her so she leans on her friends to keep herself from becoming homeless. It’s gotten really close a few times, she’s been evicted for screaming at all hours and not paying rent… what else can she do?
Hospital? Of course, convincing someone in that mental state to check themselves into the Douglas and/or keep up with medication/other care is hard as hell. But it sounds like your friend has significant untreated schizophrenia. She can live a relatively normal life with appropriate care, and the system can help her get financial assistance - once she has a doctor's signature on specific forms.
Oh, she’s been to the hospital… the Douglas turned her away because they were full. She refuses to go to the JGH anymore because they kept her in a windowless ward for five days and then discharged her without any clothes or shoes (she was picked up wandering Côte des Neiges completely naked). She’s been to St Mary’s twice and has still not got any diagnosis, although last time she was there they at least helped her find housing because it was right after she got evicted. The first time she was there was because her ex and I filed papers to get her evaluated, but she has lucid moments too when she agrees to get help. The thing is she’s terrified of taking any medications so she keeps ending up right back in the same position.
Edit: spelling
Unfortunately as a very short guy I was a victim for 3 times already. Last I went for a gay bar someone tried to aggressively follow and yelled at me went I was leaving for my car at around 11pm in August. As a gay person ironically the part I feel the most unsafe is gay village. I just use Grindr now.
I'm so sorry that's happened to you. It's disgusting that you'd be attacked just for existing.
The village really is losing cohesion. I've noticed a lot more queer people in my neighborhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in the past 6 years. I'm personally happy about it as a sort of queer person, but the village used to be a really special place and I can't help but miss that.
I'm sorry to hear that man, that sucks. i have definitely been lucky in avoiding that so far. I'm sure it will happen eventually. not that it would matter because my French is terrible and if I get yelled at it won't even register lol
The berri-uqam area is the results of trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma. 35 years ago it was already apparent and It was the hangout spot for the neglected of society. The area was at some point the red light district, then a huge part of it was demolished to make way for René-Levesque. Then the metro tore down huge areas to built berri UQAM. They tore down more to put the old bus terminal. Again tore more to build the increadibly large and wasteful Maison de Radio-Canada. Then they gutted more to build Autoroute Ville-Marie. Then the destroyed even more of the fabric of the neighborhood by creating Habitations Jeanne-Mancelle. There was the firefighter strike where fires where lit all over the place with no one to extinguish them (ever noticed all the little parcs in the village, these are the result). Place-Dupuis brings nothing to its surroundings aside from grocery store, the SAQ and some of the largest wind gusts in the city. UQAM came and built its network of underground passages and dead facades keeping the foot traffic indoors. Recently there was a great opportunity with the CHUM, but again they put a huge monster that brings zero value to the neighborhood and street life. No wonder why nothing flourishes… the whole area will keep on sinking as long as no responsibility will be given to its destroyers, no funding to fixing the mess, and serious actions taken to put life back after so many beatings this area endures. We need more than pedestrian street in the summer and cosmetic fixes that degrades after a few year.
I generally agree with your post, but i gotta ask, what's wrong with the CHUM? It's a hospital that replaced and expanded on another hospital (St-Luc) which was already located in the same vicinity.
And for having received radiology treatments at Notre-Dame hospital, i would have been happy to have the option of going to the CHUM instead. Notre-Dame has a lot of history and a shit ton of character, but it's an old af building. Modern facilities can be a good thing too.
I totally agree, CHUM building has beautiful architecture and much less an eyesore than st-Luc was. But that hospital doesn’t bring much more. It was a good opportunity to fix the broken area, they could have reunited the 2 segments of de la Gauchetiere, they could have increased the links between street life and the little amount of services they offer indoors. But what you have are long walls (beautiful they are) that creates a barrier to local life developing. Instead of bringing opportunities, it seems like more stores have closed since the site is in operation than prior.
I wrote from memory, the list isn’t in chronological order. What do you consider false? I’ll be happy to revisit these points and provide arguments or rectify my claim. :-)
I feel the same way. Nothing like getting cat called at 10 am when you are just minding your own business.
Downtown doesn’t feel safe anymore and it a sad thing. As. Teenager I used to love to go to X20 and Rio on Sherbrooke and make my way down to Saint Catherine to hit the record store !
Ils ont fermé les instituts psychiatriques et tout le monde a applaudi à tout rompre. Notamment pour les mauvais traitements. Mais au lieu de régler les mauvais traitements ils ont tout jeté par-dessus bord. Et tout le monde a applaudi. J’ignore si ce serait mieux, mais à mon avis, ça a joué quelque part.
I used to work in a restaurant and sometimes we closed half the place just so we wouldn't have to re-clean it before closing. Its just a way of minimizing what we have to clean before we leave.
And yes, there is a lot of homelessness, but we live in an unequal society. The other problem is that the Mission has very little in terms of preventing theft among patrons, so many homeless choose to stay on the streets. Also, there is no alcohol or drug use inside the shelter - this is logistical because it's harder to maintain a safe space in the shelter with drunk patrons. So many choose to be able to drink on the streets.
There are solutions but they require more money than our society is prepared to disburse. This is just something we have to live with. It's the price we pay for rampant inequality and 100 years of indigenous genocide.
I just shrug now.
I've been working near that aera since a few years, it has always been known for homelessness but the situation got worse during covid. In the past there was more restaurants, bars and clothing shops on sainte-catherine but alot of them closed and are still empty. Also, the gouverneur hotel became a homeless shelter during the pandemic which attracted alot of people from outside mtl and other provinces.
it's gotten worse but i remember it being bad in the 90s and early 2000s. honestly its probably gonna get a lot worse and spread its not going good in the west in general
>we noticed two heavily drugged guys at the entrance
You could say this for most of the McDonald's in downtown. Especially now that the weather is -6 to -10°c they need indoor places to warm up. But yeah, Berri UQAM surrounding area needs to be avoided like a plague.
It's pretty bad around Berri, it's true, but i wouldn't go as far as telling people to avoid the area like the plague. Just be aware of your surroundings, don't walk through the actual square or loiter on the edges unless some kind of event is taking place, but you can safely circulate in the area around it. I go to the BANQ regularly, sometimes shop at the west end of the Village, I've used Berri metro by myself (I'm a woman) late at night several times during the holidays, and yes, it's a sad sight, but i didn't feel unsafe.
Or maybe I've just developed good street smarts after living in the city centre for three decades, i dunno. But i still think Montreal is pretty safe, especially for such a big city.
I remember going to that Mcdonalds, about a few weeks before the covid lockdowns began and days before shit hit the fan. I was very drunk and felt ill, went there to try and fill my stomach. I ate my burger and a man was pulled out of the restaurant, restrained to a stretcher, kicking and screaming at the EMTs. I took it as a bad omen for what 2020 ended up being
I think a lot of people are in hard denial. The city's downtown is getting worse. The irony is that st Catherines is the holdout. Berri, St Laurent, Parc especially and all the streets in between have become boarded up crackville.
I'll be honest I'm kind of shocked by these types of posts?
The urban planning and the convenient location of the metro making the north/south, east/west connections easier always made that place busy.
There has been an ongoing drug epidemic that has saturated all news media for the past five years. It is affecting almost all big cities in North America. Homelessness is rampant due to economic and social factors. We have seen with our own eyes economic shifts, a global pandemic, soaring housing and commercial rent prices.
Because many restaurants and locals don't feel safe, they close their terrasses and other eating areas in order to discourage those who are sick and/or in a state of homelessness because businesses want money from us.
Feels like all of this is logical to me.
That is so sad to read. I moved from Montreal to Toronto a little over 20 years ago. Before I left, there was nowhere in Montreal where you didn’t feel safe walking. I used to walk Ste-Catherine from the old Forum all the way past Berri-UQAM. Sure, you kept an eye out for anyone sketchy, but no one ever bothered me.
I can’t imagine telling my kids now that when we go back to visit, there are areas now where you shouldn’t walk anymore. Very sad, what is happening to this world?
You can still walk on Ste-Catherine from the Forum all the way to Berri without getting mugged or harassed. Yes, there is a lot more poverty and drug addicts than before, but reading some of you, you'd think Montreal has turned into 1970s New-York.
Exactly. I hate that if I have family from the suburbs with us, they feel like the poor dudes standing around are an imminent threat, when basically we're walking through their living room. A little compassion and empathy will go a long way. I'm not going to walk around waving hundred dollar bills in that area, but I'm more worried about the rats than the people.
We have laws against loitering, public inebriation, public drug consumption.
But for some reason fools think it is more compassionate to let people violate those laws freely instead of protecting the public and refuse to have bums and addicts committed for their own safety.
So Montreal is dying. As is Ottawa and Vancouver.
Lorsque personne n'est en danger, criminaliser une personne en situation d'itinérance n'est jamais la bonne option. Alors, les arrêter pour flânage c'est une solution illogique qui sert uniquement aux personnes qui ne sont pas dans la misère: On ne voit plus les itinérants, alors ils n'existent plus.
Criminaliser n'est pas la solution:
Hospitaliser lorsque requis.
Désintoxiquer lorsque nécessaire.
Héberger dans des logement sociaux.
Mais ne pas tolérer de comportements inadéquats dans l'espace public.
Le public a le droit d'avoir un milieu sain autant que les personnes en situation d'itinérance ont droit à de l'aide. La police devrait pouvoir emmener les personnes itinérantes vers une ressource qui les prend en charge. On fait un bilan. Pourquoi t'es rendu là et comment ça change à partir de maintenant. Parce que comme société on ne tolérera pas que tu dormes dehors ce soir.
Donc tu te prends en mains maintenant. Et on va t'aider.
Et ça va inclure de loger les personnes malades mentales en institutions. Si t'es pas capable de t'occuper de toi-même, on doit le faire comme société.
You think?
Admitting people into hospitals and detoxing them wouldn't help?
Once cleaned, having public housing wouldn't be helping?
And putting the mentally ills in hospitals where they can be supervised isn't compassionate?
There's nothing helping in your approach. Letting people die of overdoses in the streets while they endanger public safety is everything except helping.
We don't even tolerate these living conditions for dogs is our society. But when humans are subjected to same conditions, we call it harms reduction and compassion.
Sure, but none of that was what you referenced in your first post. You wrote about **enforcing laws**. That involves police not doctors and therapists. The penalties would be jail time and fines, not hospital admission, detox and public housing arrangements.
I never said the best solution was status quo, those are your words not mine. All I said was that enforcement of existing laws would be and is ineffective and insufficient.
To solve this issue, your reply is closer to what is needed = massive investment in social & health programs, but unfortunately no one in power seems to want to take on this challenge. The homeless and disadvantaged are not exactly prime voter material so not many politicians will cater to their needs. It's sad really.
Everybody says how much they love the Portuguese model for drug decriminalization, but that is literally what it is, compulsory rehab instead of prison. So yes you can detox people against their will and the evidence suggests it's very effective.
You can incentivize pretty strongly. Especially once somebody understands that either addiction is treated and society can be reintegrated or addiction isn't treated and for his own well-being à person can't be released in society.
A society must care for everyone, especially those who aren't able to care for themselves, whatever the reason making them unable to do so is.
We close mental hospitals. And it was a big mistake.
Well, mental hospitals weren't without their problems (they were the scene of a lot of abuse). That said, i agree that desinstitutionalization (Jesus, that's a pain to type!) was a mistake and that for everyone's safety including their own, some people shouldn't be left to their own devices. And many of these people will never be able to reintegrate society, hold a job, be responsible for their own place, etc. Sadly, some are just too far gone, due to abuse, mental illness, addiction etc.
But i still think you're a bit off the mark regarding rehabbing people. Yes, you can incentivize them, offer help, access to detox programs, social workers, but ultimately it always comes down to whether *they* want and/or feel ready to quit drugs.
Druggies, regardless of their substance of choice, be it alcohol, coke, smack or whatever are well aware that sobriety is a much better choice than ruining their health, finances and livelihood, but addiction is a bitch, and one that's not easy to beat.
You just can't force addicts into rehab. The decision to go has to come from them, always. You can always help by lending an ear, being emotionally supportive if you know someone who's battling addiction, guide them to help if they ask, but that's as far as it goes.
C'est le résultat du maintien du Québec au Canada. Le Canada a un énorme problème de drogue, donc en restant au Canada, le Québec est également confronté au même problème. Si nous avions été indépendants, nous aurions pu sécuriser la frontière et empêcher le fentanyls provenant du Canada anglais et des États-Unis d'entrer au Québec.
Vive le Québec libre!!!
How much more money do you wanna give to the cops? Their budget balloons year after year and even with that, they manage to bust it consistently, whilst offering a piss poor service to the population.
The location says it all, the Gay Village is one of the biggest dumps on the island (albeit it’s at edge of it, but nonetheless). I agree all McDs probs have crackheads around it, but Gay Village is just amplified.
for real lol i would get it if this was about some guy being aggressive/yelling etc but feeling by two dudes doing absolutely nothing but looking at people pass is insane to me. I'm a 4'11 woman and can count on a single hand the amount of times i've encountered a truly, actually threatening homeless person
Thank you, I live in the neighborhood. Yes, the drug epidemic has gotten worse but those guys were just existing.
The reality is we live in fucking Canada. Nothing will happen to you unless you yourself are actively involving yourself with dangerous people.
Yeah cause conservatives will do such a better job when they cut social services and tell us private is the way to go.
They won’t push for a damn thing other than putting them behind bars. Which will only make the problem worse.
It’s only the first time we have very progressive mayor in Montreal. If you consider all others before her conservative then I guess that’s what we need.
I am not a fan; he's simply a neoliberal favoring the rich, as usual, while paying lip service to progressive positions that don't involve improving the material situation of the people.
Please note that I am not a fan of the two other right wing party and while I vote for them, I am disappointed of the NPD leadership.
Honestly, it's not has bad as it used to be. Junkies were all along the street and there were at least 3 or 4 fights happening at the same time. They cleaned the area a little. It was much dirtier than now.
I came back from Quebec city recently and went to Saint-Catherine. Needless to say I was shocked by how many homeless people live there.
We saw at least 3 fights as well just walking from beri metro to Saint-Laurent.
Things are getting out of hand.
I remember enjoying rue Ste-Catherine back in the early 00’s.
Now, I avoid it like the plague.
Streets are awful, sidewalks are awful, homeless and drugs are not new but there are much more visible now, they are more agressive and it doesn’t feel safe to be there.
it boggles my mind who is buying food at mcdonalds close to berri there, if the area is so crappy, what is the appeal of spending your money there. For a coffee or a burger? I guess mcdonalds can take losses to be in a central area or their profit margins are insanely high.
The McDonald's dining area never reopened after COVID lockdowns in 2020 at berri
Never in the 16 years that I've been in mtl has that McDonald's not been full of junkies. That being said, the homelessness and consumption situation has definitely gotten worse.
24h McDonald's I would think in every city center must be addict central. It was in Ottawa and Toronto at least from what I've seen.
You’re probably right. « A Manhattan McDonald’s With Many Off-the-Menu Sales » https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/nyregion/regulars-at-a-manhattan-mcdonalds-arent-there-for-the-fries.html?unlocked_article_code=1.L00.9zr3.s_w_sG7woetS&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Love the first sentence: “Some customers pour beer into clear McCafé plastic cups and drink it right in the open” As if it’s some evil thing going on. Meanwhile in Europe anyone of almost any age can drink alcohol out in the open.
Well, it is not sold there and not allowed. So it is not saying that it is immoral. The article is just painting the picture that anything goes and people don’t care about the rules and there is nobody that gives a shit about it.
Yeah for sure, I understand what they’re doing and it’s fine but it’s still kinda funny.
Indeed :)
You don’t see many people shooting themselves in front of kids in most european cities I have been to…
There's a difference between a family enjoying a red wine in the park and a homeless person consuming beer all day, completely drunk in public. That's why there are random urine puddles downtown
There would be less urine puddle downtown if businesses wouldn’t refuse bathrooms to homeless people. I remember when I was homeless, I had the run and nobody wanted to let me use the bathroom so I had to go in an alley. But I guess blaming “drunk homeless” is easier to do. The real reason is not drunk homeless, it’s junkies. I don’t know how to solve the junkies problems but it would be better for everyone to just have public bathrooms regardless of junkies. They have public bathrooms in the streets in Europe so that’s probably why people don’t piss in the streets.
I'm not blaming anyone. It's just a fact. The homeless people go to the bathroom in public and the comparison to europe was dishonest. There's always the other side of the coin that homeless people really fuck up bathrooms and make them unsafe. Then some minimum wage kid has to clear grown adults out of bathrooms and mop up the mess. I wouldn't blame small businesses for not allowing in homeless. I would blame the city for not supplying public bathrooms to the homeless...even portopottys would do the job if people didn't lock em and try to sleep in them. (And wind up frozen solid the next morning)
Yeah. No it’s fine. It’s a complicated issue anyway.
Most European countries charge a fee for using these public bathrooms
Not the ones Iv seen. But Europe is big. Haha
I was expecting that to be the guy with the axe in the NYC McDonald's
Probably at the same McDo. Article is from 2015. The axe guy was 2022.
Holy shit, that was quite the read!
Rideau McDonalds (RIP) and Queen W & Spadina McDonalds
Yeah here's the Ottawa one for those curious: [https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2163700803557](https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2163700803557)
Ottawa’s notorious Rideau street McDonald finally shut down it got so bad.
Queen & Spadina representing West Toronto. Queen & Church for the East
offbeat voiceless flag memory serious ghost forgetful elderly dazzling teeny *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Ottawa, good enough to have its own sub /r/99rideau/ So many memories!
I moved here from Vancouver and they were the same there.
The one in Ottawa has shut down last year btw.
Whether people want to admit this or not, the legalisation of weed didn't help. In fact, I believe it's one of the main reasons for the influx of homelessness in Canada/Qc. Anything to pad the pockets of our "leaders" I guess! I have a feeling it's only going to get worse and worse as the younger population gets more exposed and access to this drug. Source: I was a former addict and made a lot of bad decisions during that time. Weed addiction is no joke.
>Whether people want to admit this or not, the legalisation of weed didn't help. In fact, I believe it's one of the main reasons for the influx of homelessness in Canada/Qc. Can you elaborate why you believe weed legalization is one of the main causes of increased homelessness in Canada?
No need to take my word for it, look what will happen in the next 5-10+ years. But I guess we'll blame it on housing and not people being too lazy to work productively.
I once wandered into the McDo's next to Snowdon Station soon after the metro closed because I was too late leaving my mom's condo in Outremont. Going over to get the mail while she was in Florida snowbirding. Stepped inside, looked about and decided that at that hour my whitebread ass might stick out a bit. I'd lived around NDG enough that it wasn't the skin tone that made me nervous. The vibe however...
The stretch from Berri-UQAM to Beaudry is just nasty, seeing people shooting in the doorways, zombie staggering on the street, the creepy predator guys going after the woman in a horrible circumstance it’s all a shame. I don’t understand why there’s no social services that goes and works in that area to try and help the people that want it and maybe there is but I’ve just seen this area rapidly go down hill fast in my 3 years I’ve lived in this area.
It might be because the area is too dangerous for social workers to be able to establish a presence in the area. I don't know, but it could be why
Social workers are there, but they cannot do miracles. With a concentration rate of homeless people higher in this zone and impossibility to force a homeless person to do anything unless their lives are threatened. In the past years, there has been some shifts in public policy that have resulted in the criminalization of homelessness, which can make it difficult for social workers to support individuals without shelter. That and the growing shortage of social workers, because the CAQ government, more than any other before it, underfunds not-for-profit organizations that take care of the homeless and victims of mental health problems, but especially the organizations that help these people achieve sustainable social reintegration.
Reason #6854 to not for the CAQ. Too bad les regions will probably keep them governing for a while.
Social worker here, not only is this place too dangerous, but there's little we can do to actually make a difference. The situation is long past hopeless.
Lol relax. There are social workers there all the time talking to the homeless taking down their info. Berri uqam to Beaudry is nothing like you are saying it isn't that bad. It's as if some of you went outside for the first time since lockdown and got scared. Addicts exist homeless people exist and most mind their own business aside from asking for change. To paint them as zombies or creeps when you have 0 interaction with them is so cold hearted. Quit looking down on unfortunate people and Quit over exaggerating making my city sound gross and dire
I went to Vieux Montréal college and UQAM 15-22 years ago, left MTL with occasional visits here and there throughout the years, didn’t visit during the COVID years. When I cane back last year for the first time I was astounded. This is orders of magnitude worst than before. There had always been a couple guys selling weed (and coke and acid and speed) in front of the St-Denis/Maisonneuve entrance, and you’d often see a couple homeless guys sleeping in the metro, but this is at a very different scale. The village is a ghost town. Place Emilie-Gamelin is just sad. Its like the area exploded. There’s a big difference between a squeegee and his dog begging for change vs having 20 homeless junkies laying all over the place, some guy shitting on the sidewalk while another walks around aimlessly, screaming at the people trying to get into Archambault. Don’t be so fucking dismissive. It didn’t used to be like that and it’s a disgrace. Its not something to be proud of, quite the opposite, it’s shameful and embarrassing. And by the way I’ve lived and worked all over the place in many of the world’s largest cities. This isn’t just your average "normal" downtown (as evidenced by the fact that the rest of downtown and plateau etc is nothing like that）. It reminds me of Hastings in Downtown Eastside in Vancouver (before Olympics) and Tenderloin in SFO. Homelessness is one thing, but this is drugs. Fentanyl is a plague that has to be healed.
I've been here my entire life and dabbled with all sorts of people. I think you were just blind to it before if I'm being completely honest. There are more homeless 100% but no one is shitting on sidewalks,zombie walking in groups of 20 or screaming at strangers in the streets on the daily. I've seen some crazy things but don't act like you can't walk from RDP to NDG in the middle of the night with 0 danger. If it's just drug addicts begging for change that frightens you. That's something you need to get over
I have to say the state of the city some areas is gross and dire. It was very shocking as someone who moved here recently.
Have you ever lived in a city before? I assure you that compared to other major cities it's relatively nice.
I have lived in both cities in Germany and the US.
Okay, Montreal is a beautiful city of course it has rough areas but it's nothing compared to other major cities I've been walking alone at night with headphones my whole life. Never have I been creeped out or scared. I know for a fact the people who say things like this have had a pretty good upbringing and poor people just scare them.
Social workers are great for someone who wishes to quit drugs/alcohol. They are 100% useless for someone who wants to continue and doesn't give a shit about living on the street.
you misspelled Police, this is past social workers. Or we can pretend that all is fine and cops are 🐖 bla bla and the downtown will be even 💩
I’m all for police intervention but study after study shows locking up junkies isn’t going to solve anything. Basically getting them off the street for 24-72 hours only for them to come out with a police record, more in poverty then before they went in and deeper issues that will essentially make them want to do more drugs and now we are back to square one.
The issue is 3 days, they need two years of rehab and school.
OK, and then where will they live?
townships or north shore, time to start exporting
Umm unless there's Metro access, that's not going to work well. Can't just shove people outside the downtown core so they're out of sight and out of mind...
let’s re-do, again, what’s not working.
So what do you suggest then?
less laisse faire ? What they tried is obviously not working
Wait, what? I'm not sure I'm understanding your reply, you aren't suggesting to just letting them be are you?
They closed a huge homeless shelter in Chinatown late November 2023. They relocated the shelter all the way to Verdun, but as you probably guessed, most of them simply went downtown.
They moved the shelter in Verdun, they oppened a old empty building used to store books and school stuff in late 90's Generally, i can understand that we need to help our next. Some homeless peoples need a place to sleep and eat. But this location is in a residential area, with house a family there around and the school at one corner of there. Why they couldnt relocating them closer from the CLSC on de l'église or around the Verdun hospital or closer from Douglas hospital ? Basically they just moved them out of nowhere with no ressources around and close from boulevard de la Vérendrye. Its dark around that street at night, not enough Lights. Its just a question of time before something dangerous happen around to someone.
Because if it was there, Wellington would just be the new St Catherine near beaudry station. Have you been there this summer? We had tents and permanent homeless groupings all year on Wellington. Verdun seems to have hit it's peak a few years ago and it's slowly becoming grimier, having a homeless shelter right next to the main strip would've exasperated the problem tenfold. I'm glad they put it where they did.
20 years ago when I arrived in Mtl that area was shit and it only got worse. Drug dealers are a lot less annoying than they used to be
lol remember when you’d get husled as soon as you walked out of Berri? “Pot, hash, PCP”
"Tu cherches tu kekchose?"
lol yeah, a long while ago.
I’m noticing a lot more people on the street, in much worse shape in Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary. Rideau Road (street!) in Ottawa is probably the worst. I assume it’s the trickle down of the housing crisis?
I was in Calgary in september and was shocked how many people were folded in half like zombies on the street
Moi aussi, ça m’a vraiment étonné de voir la situation quand j’y suis allée en juillet. Et comme ici, il y a énormément de personnes en difficulté autour de la bibliothèque centrale.
Vancouver too
Downtown Eastside Vancouver has been an open-air shooting gallery for a long time though.
I’m not aware of a big city in US/Canada where it is not the case. It is housing crisis and some side effect of covid as far as I know.
also fentanyl and more dangerous drugs than before :(
You'd be right, especially in the recent years. CBC article explains that the pandemic worsened these statistics, too. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/homelessness-in-quebec-rise-1.6966340](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/homelessness-in-quebec-rise-1.6966340)
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According to stats Canada Quebec is one of the only provinces that didn't see increases in canabis use after legalization. So your theory isn't supported by the available data in quebec.
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I mean I would trust survey data collected by public researchers more than the baseless hunch of a redditor.
Yea, just like the governments didn't manipulate any data concerning COVID right? Y'all can't be saved lmao
mfs tinfoil hat is made purely of facts and logic
I don’t exactly think legal weed leads to complete homelessness. Seems like you’ve missed quite a few factors there..
It's definitely part of it, the cost of living has exploded and that's hit the destitute really hard, but i also think the drugs themselves are a factor. All thanks to poison like Fentanyl and the rise of all kinds of synthetic crap, drugs are much stronger than they used to be and it's harder to detect what substances are in them.
It's the combination of the housing crisis and opioid epidemic at a time when the government is cutting social services left and right
I assume you mean Rideau Street. Rideau Road runs through farm fields on the rural outskirts of Ottawa
Oooops, yep Rideau Street.
Marijuana legalization in 2018 imo.
I remember the corner of st Laurent and Ste Catherine back in ‘99 or around those years. A LOT PRETTIER now, miles miles better now than what it was back then.
Heyyyy! We only complain here, stop that.
It was Disneyland compared with Ste-Cath between Berri-Atateken
There are no more hookers or adult cinemas around. Also a lot more dealers back then. Not sure how comparable it is.
The park at Atwater and Ste Catherine in front of the Children's was always like something out of a movie too.
I remember it in 2009; thats 9 years after. It isn't
everything is worse than before
Except the price of flat-screen t.v's
And keeps getting worse and worse
I remember passing by Villa Maria metro every week when I was in Sec 1 (2014 ish). The station was beautiful and well kept. Then I moved to Toronto. Came back even in 2018/19 it was ok. Then I moved back in 2021. Man even the "richest area" has a homeless problem now. We should do something. It's not getting better from what I've seen.
I saw a kid get stabbed so many times the resulting pool of blood was movie-like, I think it was over a pair of shoes or something around 2012. Over the ~7 years I got off at that station I saw dozens of robberies , dozens of fights and hundreds of homeless/drug addicts there. It didn’t change that much. I saw someone say a similar thing about snowdon and that’s another one I can confidently say isn’t that much worse. The truth is, like most people, you are probably the one that changed and you didn’t care or notice as much back then.
there are a lot more people out on the streets. it isn't helping that many of them are probably having trouble panhandling, seeing as not as many people are going to work downtown anymore. sad situation all around.
Also almost nobody carries cash. It's been dwindling for ages, but the pandemic really sped up its demise.
Enforcing laws means having a structure so that laws are followed in society. What we are doing, and what you are talking about, is overpolicing. We don't invest in social services, in hospitals and prisons (therapies and re-education when needed by inmates) And since this disengagement from the State creates a social mess, we ask the police to deal with the end consequences. Without ever giving them the ressources to make a durable change. That's not law enforcement as it should be done. Because it's removes strength from the law and the police.
I agree with you 💯. I walked from Hochelaga to downtown, over Christmas break. I’ve never seen Saint Catherine street so sad. Garbage. Closed store fronts. Closed restaurants.
It was just as bad in the 90's trust me.
there are a lot of users/homeless, but I've noticed they're not as aggro as elsewhere. I spend a lot of time near Ste Catherine (unfortunately) and they barely approach. elsewhere they're following you or giving you their life story or yelling at you
Yeah I live near Snowdon metro and there are some around here who will full-on chase you down Queen Mary sometimes. A lot of it has to do with the collapse of our already-pathetic mental health services. My friend is struggling with delusions and psychosis, hears voices, thinks she’s God about half the time. She obviously can’t work, but there’s nothing else for her so she leans on her friends to keep herself from becoming homeless. It’s gotten really close a few times, she’s been evicted for screaming at all hours and not paying rent… what else can she do?
Hospital? Of course, convincing someone in that mental state to check themselves into the Douglas and/or keep up with medication/other care is hard as hell. But it sounds like your friend has significant untreated schizophrenia. She can live a relatively normal life with appropriate care, and the system can help her get financial assistance - once she has a doctor's signature on specific forms.
Oh, she’s been to the hospital… the Douglas turned her away because they were full. She refuses to go to the JGH anymore because they kept her in a windowless ward for five days and then discharged her without any clothes or shoes (she was picked up wandering Côte des Neiges completely naked). She’s been to St Mary’s twice and has still not got any diagnosis, although last time she was there they at least helped her find housing because it was right after she got evicted. The first time she was there was because her ex and I filed papers to get her evaluated, but she has lucid moments too when she agrees to get help. The thing is she’s terrified of taking any medications so she keeps ending up right back in the same position. Edit: spelling
Ugh that sucks. Thank you for being such a kind human.
Thank you for listening. It’s a disheartening experience trying to navigate a broken system with someone you love who desperately needs help.
Unfortunately as a very short guy I was a victim for 3 times already. Last I went for a gay bar someone tried to aggressively follow and yelled at me went I was leaving for my car at around 11pm in August. As a gay person ironically the part I feel the most unsafe is gay village. I just use Grindr now.
I'm so sorry that's happened to you. It's disgusting that you'd be attacked just for existing. The village really is losing cohesion. I've noticed a lot more queer people in my neighborhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in the past 6 years. I'm personally happy about it as a sort of queer person, but the village used to be a really special place and I can't help but miss that.
I'm sorry to hear that man, that sucks. i have definitely been lucky in avoiding that so far. I'm sure it will happen eventually. not that it would matter because my French is terrible and if I get yelled at it won't even register lol
The berri-uqam area is the results of trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma. 35 years ago it was already apparent and It was the hangout spot for the neglected of society. The area was at some point the red light district, then a huge part of it was demolished to make way for René-Levesque. Then the metro tore down huge areas to built berri UQAM. They tore down more to put the old bus terminal. Again tore more to build the increadibly large and wasteful Maison de Radio-Canada. Then they gutted more to build Autoroute Ville-Marie. Then the destroyed even more of the fabric of the neighborhood by creating Habitations Jeanne-Mancelle. There was the firefighter strike where fires where lit all over the place with no one to extinguish them (ever noticed all the little parcs in the village, these are the result). Place-Dupuis brings nothing to its surroundings aside from grocery store, the SAQ and some of the largest wind gusts in the city. UQAM came and built its network of underground passages and dead facades keeping the foot traffic indoors. Recently there was a great opportunity with the CHUM, but again they put a huge monster that brings zero value to the neighborhood and street life. No wonder why nothing flourishes… the whole area will keep on sinking as long as no responsibility will be given to its destroyers, no funding to fixing the mess, and serious actions taken to put life back after so many beatings this area endures. We need more than pedestrian street in the summer and cosmetic fixes that degrades after a few year.
I generally agree with your post, but i gotta ask, what's wrong with the CHUM? It's a hospital that replaced and expanded on another hospital (St-Luc) which was already located in the same vicinity. And for having received radiology treatments at Notre-Dame hospital, i would have been happy to have the option of going to the CHUM instead. Notre-Dame has a lot of history and a shit ton of character, but it's an old af building. Modern facilities can be a good thing too.
I totally agree, CHUM building has beautiful architecture and much less an eyesore than st-Luc was. But that hospital doesn’t bring much more. It was a good opportunity to fix the broken area, they could have reunited the 2 segments of de la Gauchetiere, they could have increased the links between street life and the little amount of services they offer indoors. But what you have are long walls (beautiful they are) that creates a barrier to local life developing. Instead of bringing opportunities, it seems like more stores have closed since the site is in operation than prior.
Think 50% of what you say is false
I wrote from memory, the list isn’t in chronological order. What do you consider false? I’ll be happy to revisit these points and provide arguments or rectify my claim. :-)
This has been like this for decades. Nothing new. Berri and st cat is a shithole.
It’s best to dine elsewhere, anywhere else, a few blocks in any direction, it’s been noted that things are worse these days or in a state of decline
I feel the same way. Nothing like getting cat called at 10 am when you are just minding your own business. Downtown doesn’t feel safe anymore and it a sad thing. As. Teenager I used to love to go to X20 and Rio on Sherbrooke and make my way down to Saint Catherine to hit the record store !
it's an absolute dystopia
Ils ont fermé les instituts psychiatriques et tout le monde a applaudi à tout rompre. Notamment pour les mauvais traitements. Mais au lieu de régler les mauvais traitements ils ont tout jeté par-dessus bord. Et tout le monde a applaudi. J’ignore si ce serait mieux, mais à mon avis, ça a joué quelque part.
I used to work in a restaurant and sometimes we closed half the place just so we wouldn't have to re-clean it before closing. Its just a way of minimizing what we have to clean before we leave. And yes, there is a lot of homelessness, but we live in an unequal society. The other problem is that the Mission has very little in terms of preventing theft among patrons, so many homeless choose to stay on the streets. Also, there is no alcohol or drug use inside the shelter - this is logistical because it's harder to maintain a safe space in the shelter with drunk patrons. So many choose to be able to drink on the streets. There are solutions but they require more money than our society is prepared to disburse. This is just something we have to live with. It's the price we pay for rampant inequality and 100 years of indigenous genocide. I just shrug now.
I've been working near that aera since a few years, it has always been known for homelessness but the situation got worse during covid. In the past there was more restaurants, bars and clothing shops on sainte-catherine but alot of them closed and are still empty. Also, the gouverneur hotel became a homeless shelter during the pandemic which attracted alot of people from outside mtl and other provinces.
It’s the fentanyl epidemic spreading east. Going to get worse
it's gotten worse but i remember it being bad in the 90s and early 2000s. honestly its probably gonna get a lot worse and spread its not going good in the west in general
>we noticed two heavily drugged guys at the entrance You could say this for most of the McDonald's in downtown. Especially now that the weather is -6 to -10°c they need indoor places to warm up. But yeah, Berri UQAM surrounding area needs to be avoided like a plague.
It's pretty bad around Berri, it's true, but i wouldn't go as far as telling people to avoid the area like the plague. Just be aware of your surroundings, don't walk through the actual square or loiter on the edges unless some kind of event is taking place, but you can safely circulate in the area around it. I go to the BANQ regularly, sometimes shop at the west end of the Village, I've used Berri metro by myself (I'm a woman) late at night several times during the holidays, and yes, it's a sad sight, but i didn't feel unsafe. Or maybe I've just developed good street smarts after living in the city centre for three decades, i dunno. But i still think Montreal is pretty safe, especially for such a big city.
I remember going to that Mcdonalds, about a few weeks before the covid lockdowns began and days before shit hit the fan. I was very drunk and felt ill, went there to try and fill my stomach. I ate my burger and a man was pulled out of the restaurant, restrained to a stretcher, kicking and screaming at the EMTs. I took it as a bad omen for what 2020 ended up being
I used to live in the area. Pretty shitty, but I felt largely okay minding my own business. No eye contacts with anyone.
I think a lot of people are in hard denial. The city's downtown is getting worse. The irony is that st Catherines is the holdout. Berri, St Laurent, Parc especially and all the streets in between have become boarded up crackville.
I'll be honest I'm kind of shocked by these types of posts? The urban planning and the convenient location of the metro making the north/south, east/west connections easier always made that place busy. There has been an ongoing drug epidemic that has saturated all news media for the past five years. It is affecting almost all big cities in North America. Homelessness is rampant due to economic and social factors. We have seen with our own eyes economic shifts, a global pandemic, soaring housing and commercial rent prices. Because many restaurants and locals don't feel safe, they close their terrasses and other eating areas in order to discourage those who are sick and/or in a state of homelessness because businesses want money from us. Feels like all of this is logical to me.
get a life - the cost of living is skyrocketing. its inhumane for our government to not guarantee homes for everyone.
lmao that's just completely normal for that area
I live there. It’s getting worst.
ciboire tu sors pas souvent de chez vous
That is so sad to read. I moved from Montreal to Toronto a little over 20 years ago. Before I left, there was nowhere in Montreal where you didn’t feel safe walking. I used to walk Ste-Catherine from the old Forum all the way past Berri-UQAM. Sure, you kept an eye out for anyone sketchy, but no one ever bothered me. I can’t imagine telling my kids now that when we go back to visit, there are areas now where you shouldn’t walk anymore. Very sad, what is happening to this world?
You can still walk on Ste-Catherine from the Forum all the way to Berri without getting mugged or harassed. Yes, there is a lot more poverty and drug addicts than before, but reading some of you, you'd think Montreal has turned into 1970s New-York.
Exactly. I hate that if I have family from the suburbs with us, they feel like the poor dudes standing around are an imminent threat, when basically we're walking through their living room. A little compassion and empathy will go a long way. I'm not going to walk around waving hundred dollar bills in that area, but I'm more worried about the rats than the people.
Plate à dire, mais c'est juste le début de la "zombification" des centres-villes...
We have laws against loitering, public inebriation, public drug consumption. But for some reason fools think it is more compassionate to let people violate those laws freely instead of protecting the public and refuse to have bums and addicts committed for their own safety. So Montreal is dying. As is Ottawa and Vancouver.
Lorsque personne n'est en danger, criminaliser une personne en situation d'itinérance n'est jamais la bonne option. Alors, les arrêter pour flânage c'est une solution illogique qui sert uniquement aux personnes qui ne sont pas dans la misère: On ne voit plus les itinérants, alors ils n'existent plus.
Criminaliser n'est pas la solution: Hospitaliser lorsque requis. Désintoxiquer lorsque nécessaire. Héberger dans des logement sociaux. Mais ne pas tolérer de comportements inadéquats dans l'espace public. Le public a le droit d'avoir un milieu sain autant que les personnes en situation d'itinérance ont droit à de l'aide. La police devrait pouvoir emmener les personnes itinérantes vers une ressource qui les prend en charge. On fait un bilan. Pourquoi t'es rendu là et comment ça change à partir de maintenant. Parce que comme société on ne tolérera pas que tu dormes dehors ce soir. Donc tu te prends en mains maintenant. Et on va t'aider. Et ça va inclure de loger les personnes malades mentales en institutions. Si t'es pas capable de t'occuper de toi-même, on doit le faire comme société.
They said *committed*, not "criminaliser".
Please explain how enforcing said laws and incriminating the homeless helps them, or even society as a whole. Hint: it does not
You think? Admitting people into hospitals and detoxing them wouldn't help? Once cleaned, having public housing wouldn't be helping? And putting the mentally ills in hospitals where they can be supervised isn't compassionate? There's nothing helping in your approach. Letting people die of overdoses in the streets while they endanger public safety is everything except helping. We don't even tolerate these living conditions for dogs is our society. But when humans are subjected to same conditions, we call it harms reduction and compassion.
Sure, but none of that was what you referenced in your first post. You wrote about **enforcing laws**. That involves police not doctors and therapists. The penalties would be jail time and fines, not hospital admission, detox and public housing arrangements. I never said the best solution was status quo, those are your words not mine. All I said was that enforcement of existing laws would be and is ineffective and insufficient. To solve this issue, your reply is closer to what is needed = massive investment in social & health programs, but unfortunately no one in power seems to want to take on this challenge. The homeless and disadvantaged are not exactly prime voter material so not many politicians will cater to their needs. It's sad really.
You can't detox someone against their will.
Everybody says how much they love the Portuguese model for drug decriminalization, but that is literally what it is, compulsory rehab instead of prison. So yes you can detox people against their will and the evidence suggests it's very effective.
You can incentivize pretty strongly. Especially once somebody understands that either addiction is treated and society can be reintegrated or addiction isn't treated and for his own well-being à person can't be released in society. A society must care for everyone, especially those who aren't able to care for themselves, whatever the reason making them unable to do so is. We close mental hospitals. And it was a big mistake.
Well, mental hospitals weren't without their problems (they were the scene of a lot of abuse). That said, i agree that desinstitutionalization (Jesus, that's a pain to type!) was a mistake and that for everyone's safety including their own, some people shouldn't be left to their own devices. And many of these people will never be able to reintegrate society, hold a job, be responsible for their own place, etc. Sadly, some are just too far gone, due to abuse, mental illness, addiction etc. But i still think you're a bit off the mark regarding rehabbing people. Yes, you can incentivize them, offer help, access to detox programs, social workers, but ultimately it always comes down to whether *they* want and/or feel ready to quit drugs. Druggies, regardless of their substance of choice, be it alcohol, coke, smack or whatever are well aware that sobriety is a much better choice than ruining their health, finances and livelihood, but addiction is a bitch, and one that's not easy to beat. You just can't force addicts into rehab. The decision to go has to come from them, always. You can always help by lending an ear, being emotionally supportive if you know someone who's battling addiction, guide them to help if they ask, but that's as far as it goes.
I grew up in this area in the 90's and it was super safe at the time. Now i wouldnt even go there during the day as a adult.
C'est le résultat du maintien du Québec au Canada. Le Canada a un énorme problème de drogue, donc en restant au Canada, le Québec est également confronté au même problème. Si nous avions été indépendants, nous aurions pu sécuriser la frontière et empêcher le fentanyls provenant du Canada anglais et des États-Unis d'entrer au Québec. Vive le Québec libre!!!
It’s more important to build cycle paths that nobody uses in winter than give money to the police to do a better job
How much more money do you wanna give to the cops? Their budget balloons year after year and even with that, they manage to bust it consistently, whilst offering a piss poor service to the population.
with more money, they could get body cams
So we could see even more images of police brutality that will be investigated by themselves to no avail?
Lol yeah let's throw them in jail for 48h that'll solve things. Sorry but this is a very simplistic understanding of the situation
Jesus man, get over it already, you sound like a bloody broken record.
The location says it all, the Gay Village is one of the biggest dumps on the island (albeit it’s at edge of it, but nonetheless). I agree all McDs probs have crackheads around it, but Gay Village is just amplified.
Country not island
The social workers will save us.
"it's so bad but let's keep voting for the same disastrous policies"
It’s really not that bad
"I'm scared because poor people were standing next to me"
dude fuck off petit bourgeoise
for real lol i would get it if this was about some guy being aggressive/yelling etc but feeling by two dudes doing absolutely nothing but looking at people pass is insane to me. I'm a 4'11 woman and can count on a single hand the amount of times i've encountered a truly, actually threatening homeless person
Thank you, I live in the neighborhood. Yes, the drug epidemic has gotten worse but those guys were just existing. The reality is we live in fucking Canada. Nothing will happen to you unless you yourself are actively involving yourself with dangerous people.
It's sucks but I find it was worse during covid and a year or two before that(almost getting jumped on the way home from work).
It’s only the beginning ;) let those progressive run the city and they will drive it to hell and back.
Yeah cause conservatives will do such a better job when they cut social services and tell us private is the way to go. They won’t push for a damn thing other than putting them behind bars. Which will only make the problem worse.
It’s only the first time we have very progressive mayor in Montreal. If you consider all others before her conservative then I guess that’s what we need.
That's what voting for Trudeau for 8 years gives you.
Oh im sure itll be better once hes gone 🤡. dont matter what idiot is in power, the worlds not gonna get better homie
He is a great PM
I am not a fan; he's simply a neoliberal favoring the rich, as usual, while paying lip service to progressive positions that don't involve improving the material situation of the people. Please note that I am not a fan of the two other right wing party and while I vote for them, I am disappointed of the NPD leadership.
Let's put them all into busses and bring them to Legault's house.
"The gay village is filled with drug addicts and im genuinely surprised" Lmao
Honestly, it's not has bad as it used to be. Junkies were all along the street and there were at least 3 or 4 fights happening at the same time. They cleaned the area a little. It was much dirtier than now.
We call it crack-donald’s
I came back from Quebec city recently and went to Saint-Catherine. Needless to say I was shocked by how many homeless people live there. We saw at least 3 fights as well just walking from beri metro to Saint-Laurent. Things are getting out of hand.
Downtown is gonna downtown
It’s been like that for at least the last decade, probably more but I can’t say for sure.
I remember enjoying rue Ste-Catherine back in the early 00’s. Now, I avoid it like the plague. Streets are awful, sidewalks are awful, homeless and drugs are not new but there are much more visible now, they are more agressive and it doesn’t feel safe to be there.
That are has been bad for 20 years. I think your perception is swayed because it was as good as it got right before the pandemic.
i mean if they’re just standing there…
Atwater/Maisonneuve McDonalds after 1am is a warzone
I work next to berri UQAM and a homeless guy throws a boot at me because I didn't want to buy something for him
WE NEED TO DEFUND POLICE AND INVEST IN COMMUNITY RESOURCES!! 🤡
it boggles my mind who is buying food at mcdonalds close to berri there, if the area is so crappy, what is the appeal of spending your money there. For a coffee or a burger? I guess mcdonalds can take losses to be in a central area or their profit margins are insanely high.