On the night of Dec. 13, the mercury in Montreal thermometers is set to drop down to a frigid -23 degrees, feeling more like -30 with the wind-chill.
Such conditions can be dangerous for the city’s homeless, and potentially fatal.
“With words it’s very hard to say,” said Jean, 59, who has lived on the city’s streets for nearly two decades, describing the numbness in his hands.
Jean said he used to try to brave the winter nights outside, but doesn’t anymore.
“At the beginning I didn't look for places, I was tired,” he said. “I would lie down and fall asleep and wake up sometime in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep no more because it was too cold.”
Now, he says he knows to go inside. He says he often seeks refuge from the bone-chilling weather at Montreal’s Old Brewery Mission, or Welcome Hall Mission.
When the Old Brewery Mission is packed to capacity -- on nights with temperatures similar to those on Dec. 13 -- they will turn part of their cafeteria into an overflow room, to ensure no one is left out on the streets.
In total, the city of Montreal has about 660 shelter beds available.
Cyril Morgan, CEO of Welcome Hall Mission says the shelters communicate with each other to ensure their spaces are used as efficiently as possible.
The city’s shelters have also teamed up with the Societe de Transport de Montreal (STM), in an additional effort to get as many people off of the streets as possible.
“The shuttle bus goes to a couple of metro stations and if there's anyone straggling out in the cold they'll bring them here,” said Morgan.
