Mouvement Montreal releases action plan for Milton Park homeless population
New municipal political party Mouvement Montreal criticized the Plante administration Sunday for what it called a “lack of leadership” after recent developments in Milton Parc – where several homeless people spend their time.
A vacant, privately owned lot at Milton and Park Avenue was fenced off in recent days, pushing a group of unhoused people off of land they had come to call home.
“It really hurt me, because that was our place,” Annisee Papialuk, who has been living in the area for 18 years, told CTV news earlier this week.
Advocates have increased calls to the city to provide other living options for homeless people since the fence went up.
“They’re sitting on the sidewalk, passersby have to go into the street to get around them, people are sitting more in the doorways of businesses,” said John Tessier, coordinator for the Open Door Mission, on Friday.
“These people need a safe and dignified place to exist.”
In a press release, the party pledged to “support and advocate” on behalf of Montreal’s Indigenous communities, including residents of Milton Park – many of whom are Inuit and Cree.
“[We pledge to] work with owners of unused properties to establish social housing units specifically for the Indigenous community members living in Milton Parc,” read the release.
The party also pledged to reduce the speed limit on Parc Avenue between Pine and Sherbrooke Street, build an “Indigenous Welcome Space” by June of next year, and increase funding for local food and shelter organizations, among other promises.
“These policy promises are just the beginning. We will continue working with and advocating for the Indigenous community now and into the future.”
"We are closely monitoring the situation of people experiencing homelessness who are established in the Milton / Parc sector," wrote Mayor Valerie Plante's spokesperson in an email to CTV News.
"We have the safety and well-being of Indigenous people at heart and want to provide safe accommodation options."
Montreal has recently provided funding to convert a building on Saint-Hubert Street into a rooming house, and to expand capacity at the Native Women's Shelter with a second building in Little Burgundy.
RESIDENTS CALL SITUATION ‘DESPERATE’
“The homeless situation is desperate, frankly,” said Plateau resident Andree Deveault on Friday.
“They live in dire conditions … many residents are fully aware of this, and fully compassionate.”
Still, she says, groups of people sitting on the sidewalk can make it difficult to get around the city, especially those with mobility needs, such as elderly people.
What’s more, residents have safety concerns as people sit next to the busy roadway, or venture into traffic to ask for change.
“The money that has been spent on ambulances and police alone, you put it all together and a nice centre could have been built already,” said Deveault.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.