Opposition motion would fund emergency transportation, storage space for Montreal women fleeing violence

Montreal's municipal opposition party says its new domestic violence motion brings déjà-vu. After a similar one was introduced and unanimously adopted last year, not enough was done, they say.

Now, a new motion calls for the city to start offering some immediate financial help to people needing to flee violence at home: paying for storage space for their belongings, in particular, and for emergency transportation.

"It does make a difference, specifically for victims that are... in fight or flight mode, they literally just left their homes, they don't have anything with them," said Stephanie Valenzuela, a councillor for Cote-des-Neiges-NDG.

These transitions must be done right, even at a time when shelters are stretched way beyond capacity, she said.

"Sometimes what happens is when they're leaving their aggressor, they don't have measures in place to allow them to leave and actually completely stay out of the home," she said.

Lacking a way to move their stuff, people may be forced to return to the home to collect crucial belongings -- very dangerous, since right before and after a person leaves a violent relationship is when her life is generally most at risk.

Or in some cases, people are barred completely from their old homes, leaving them with nothing, she said.

"They're completely kicked out and the aggressor won't let them in, they have no place to store their items... or they don't have a great support system," Valenzuela said, noting that these are also often the same people who need to "go directly to the shelter."

The ideas, among others, came from the shelters themselves, through the Regroupement des Maisons pour femmes victime de violence conjugale.

Valenzuela plans to table the motion on March 21, and Mayor Valerie Plante's Projet Montreal party hasn't yet been reached for comment about how they plan to respond.

But a similar motion was adopted last spring, and the province has also put up tens of millions in new funding this year, including creating a new emergency fund meant for concrete help like taxi rides. Nothing has helped enough, Valenzuela said.

"Just look, for example -- in January of 2022, SOS Violence Conjugale [the hotline] literally said that 50 per cent of the people that are coming to them, they have to say no to them," Valenzuela said.

In those cases, the women have to be put in a homeless shelter, which isn't appropriate to their needs.

"Whereas in normal times, it's 30 to 35 per cent that they have to refuse."

Last year's domestic homicide numbers were about double the provincial average. In total, there were 26 femicides in Quebec and 17 women who died in domestic homicides, Valenzuela said.

The demand for help is still very high, she said, and both levels of local government need to meet it.

The motion also calls for the city to offer unused administrative space to shelter organizations, among other proposals the shelters put forward.