Parents question homeless shelter next to daycare after body discovered
Some parents are questioning whether a Montreal homeless shelter should be directly next to the daycare after the body of a 32-year-old man was found in the playground last week.
The daycare is located in the same church as the St. Michael’s Mission, which serves the homeless community.
Daycare staff say before they let the kids out to play, they sweep the yard for drug paraphernalia and beer bottles.
Last week, however, they found the body of a homeless person here.
"We didn’t exactly know what to think," said Ralph Nakhle, the father of a boy in the daycare.
After the initial trauma, many parents including Nakhle have been questioning the logic of having a daycare and homeless shelter so close together.
"The homeless people need to be looked after, as well as our kids need to be taken care of and fostered into the society, but does that really need to happen side by side?" he said.
Mayor Valerie Plante said the city is working with public health to find solutions, but said it’s complicated.
"Of course, we want the homeless community not to stay outside and freeze to death. That’s happened in the past, but we also want to support families staying downtown," she said.
When pressed on whether it makes sense that daycares and homeless shelters share spaces, she deferred to the director of an organization that provides services to the homeless community.
"People without a home are not criminals, so let’s not jump to the conclusion that if organizations are sharing space, children are necessarily at risk," said Fiona Crossley of Accueil Bonneau.
Daycare parents say they're sympathetic to the homeless population, but they still have concerns.
"The first or second day that I was dropping off [my son], I saw a guy with no underwear, no pants right behind the garbage can with a needle," said Nakhle.
The daycare's administrator said the staff wants better security in the area.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.