Calls for Quebec to keep funding Montreal police unit that serves homeless population

A specialized team of officers dedicated to serving the homeless was billed as a new approach to community policing but after three years, funding from the province has run out.

By the end of the month, the team will be gone.

In 2021, Montreal police received a $7.4-million grant from the Quebec government to create a specialized team specifically trained to deal with the city's homeless population.

The l’Équipe de concertation et de rapprochement communautaire (ECCR) is made up of five civilian community advisers and 33 officers who are free from responding to emergency calls and instead focus on community outreach and engagement.

Kingslyne Toussaint, the director general of Equipe RDP, said the ECCR is a model for community policing and is doing excellent work building trust.

But on March 31st, the funding from the grant will run out. In a statement, Montreal police confirm the team will be broken up.

"The ECCR has done exceptional work over the past three years. The SPVM would like to salute the team's police and civilian employees, and tell them that their role and expertise will remain at the heart of its community policing approach," reads part of the statement.

A Montreal police cruiser. (CTV News)

Toussaint has spearheaded an open letter signed by 20 community groups demanding the provincial public security minister renew the funding.

"[The ECCR's] mere presence on the territory has a unanimously reassuring effect," reads part the open letter. "Iit goes without saying that this community policing is greatly appreciated, and its impact is unequivocally positive."

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said she, too, hopes the province will continue funding the program.

"Yes, we must have hope, because this project, this team, was extremely important," she said.

Mayor Valerie Plante responds to questions from the media on Monday, March 11, 2024. (CTV News)

The public security minister's office would not comment on the program or the letter, saying only that the funding was only ever supposed to last for three years.

When CTV News asked Montreal police why it cannot assume the cost of the program going forward, it said in its statement that, "the SPVM's responsibility is to make the best possible use of the funds granted to it, and to make politicians aware of the extent of its needs."

It went on to say that, "Currently, there are hundreds of vacancies that cannot be filled despite a record number of applicants, as the École nationale de police du Québec is already at maximum capacity. After another year in which police officers have worked overtime to the point of exhaustion, the SPVM will soon have to review the range of services it can reasonably deliver."

CTV News requested an interview with the police chief to clarify the statement but the request was denied.