The saying goes, “home is where the heart is.” But in a day’s time, one St-Hubert woman will be able to say that “home is what your neighbors built you.”

Colette Martel, 69, opened her front door on Saturday morning only to be greeted by over 50 police officers, contractors, and neighbors waiting outside to repair the shambles left by a shady entrepreneur last year.

A visibly emotional Martel didn’t say anything upon stepping outside—but it was a moment anticipated over four months of extensive coordination by family and a dedicated officer with Longueuil police, Detective Sergeant Cecile Lefebvre, who works primarily in fraud cases.

"They're all here to spend their day renovating your property," Lefebvre said, gesturing to the crowd of workers on Saturday morning. 

The team is expected to work throughout the weekend to finish all of the necessary repairs to Martel’s home while she is taken out of town for a temporary respite.

"I'm not used to receiving," Martel explained later in the day. "It's easier to give."

Martel will return home at 5 p.m. Sunday to take in the fruit of their labour-- she's given the construction team free rein to improve the space, and said she has no idea what to expect. 

In two weeks, another team will arrive to fix the roof-- for free.

"[the workers] took money out of their pockets so they could finish... so she could get back on her feet and help others," Lefebvre explained.

In spring 2016, Martel agreed to take in a close friend of her son’s, who was allegedly experiencing some financial trouble.

After a significant flood ravaged the house, rendering parts of it nearly uninhabitable, 31-year-old Mathieu Tardif proposed to Martel that in exchange for food and lodging, he would do the repairs himself.

Through a series of tactics, Tardif allegedly pocketed $90,000 of Martel’s hard-earned savings— as a patient attendant, friends said she often worked 75-hour weeks to make ends meet.

Martel had expressed the desire to use her home to house young adults with intellectual deficiencies – but with the repairs not progressing at all, it was a dream that seemed further and further out of reach.

"I wanted to give them the chance to feel loved, not judged," Martel said. 

It was an insurance agent who made the tentative connection between the ongoing basement repairs and Tardif’s presence in the house. He eventually contacted police, reporting that Martel seemed to be completely under the control of her house guest.

Authorities believe that Tardif likely used a number of schemes to pocket the renovation money, including the non-payment of workers he hired in Martel’s name or by convincing contractors to inflate the numbers shown on the bill, while pocketing the difference.

Tardif was eventually arrested for breech of conditions and charged with several counts of fraud. He is currently awaiting other court dates to face charges of sexual aggression, armed assault, and fraud.  

Police believe that Martel may not have been Tardif’s only victim. However, she still expresses a difficulty coming to terms with what happened while Tardif was living under her roof. 

"I'm not there yet," Martel said. "I have a hard time convincing myself that he really did those things."

The next step Martel outlines is filling out the paperwork to become elligible to foster.

"She's an angel," said Lefebvre, pausing to stifle tears. "She's taking care of [those in need], and we're taking care of her. My soul feels better, because I think we need to give to really feel that life."