Chez Doris to open overnight women's shelter on Monday
As of Monday evening, 24 shelter-seeking women in Montreal will have a safe place to rest for up to one month at a time.
Just a few steps from the Chez Doris day shelter on Chomedey Street downtown, a new emergency shelter, run by the same team, is opening up.
The shelter, which is wheelchair accessible and pet friendly, has been four years in the making.
But during that time, the pandemic intensified the situation for Montreal's unhoused women.
According to the Chez Doris executive director, the day shelter became an overnight shelter and saw more than 1,600 women.
"Our day shelter became a 24-hour service," said Marina Boulos-Winton. "We had to rent office space for all our caseworkers because we converted their office space to dorms by night."
According to case worker Clara Seidenberg, some of the women who stay in the shelter are fleeing abuse.
"There are definitely, as well, some women that come here telling us that they're staying here for the day because someone is after them, that they fear for their own safety."
The doors to the new space aren't even open yet, but workers are already anticipating they'll need more room. Boulos-Winton says she's seen more unhoused women with severe psychiatric issues that professionals aren't following.
"We have so many women with psychiatric problems," she said, adding that other women vulnerable to homelessness "can't use the services fully because there's no room for them."
Staff are already looking to the next steps, including more psychiatric care and transitional programs to help women find permanent housing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What weather experts say to expect this summer in Canada
Get ready to feel the heat, Canada. Weather experts are predicting more sunshine and warmer temperatures for the summer.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.
Israel sends tanks into Rafah on raids amid Gaza-wide offensive
Israeli tanks mounted raids across Rafah in defiance of the World Court for a second day on Wednesday, after Washington said the assault did not amount to a major ground operation in the southern Gazan city that U.S. officials have warned Israel to avoid.
Tessa Virtue reveals she's expecting her first child. Here's what Canadians had to say
Canadian figure-skating icon Tessa Virtue is expecting her first child, she revealed via social media Tuesday.
Five more Ontario school boards join lawsuit against social media platforms
Five additional Ontario school boards and two independent private schools have joined a lawsuit against the owners of multiple social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok, and Facebook.
P.E.I. kiteboarder 'lucky to be alive' after shark attack in Turks and Caicos
A professional kiteboarder from P.E.I. says he has been seriously injured in a shark attack that occurred while he was snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands last week.
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
In bizarre provocation, North Korea flies trash, manure balloons over the South
North Korea flew hundreds of balloons carrying trash and manure toward South Korea in one of its most bizarre provocations against its rival in years, prompting the South’s military to mobilize chemical and explosive response teams to recover objects and debris in different parts of the country.
Introducing peanut butter during infancy can help protect against a peanut allergy later on, new study finds
New evidence suggests that feeding children smooth peanut butter during infancy and early childhood can help reduce their risk of developing a peanut allergy even years later.