Homeless encampment on Notre-Dame St. to be dismantled Thursday

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If Quebec’s transport department goes through with its plan to dismantle a homeless encampment on Notre-Dame St. this week, it will be the sixth time Devint Vézina is displaced in the last two years.

Sitting among the tents lining the east-end thoroughfare on Monday, Vézina could only shake his head as he recalled the different times he has been forced to pack his tent and leave.

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Fed up and defiant, he urged authorities to find a better approach.

“Why can’t they lend us a hand, listen to us, work on a solution,” asked Vézina, 40. “Instead, they just push us around.”

Though few people were present at the encampment on Monday, those on hand said about 100 people have been spending their nights there in recent months, ranging in age from 18 to at least one man in his 80s.

The camp is mainly spread out across three clusters of tents along Notre-Dame St. In addition to the tents on site, there’s also an accumulation of scrap and materials, with overflowing recycling bins and garbage bags piling up.

The transport department, which owns the land, says it warned people last week that they need to vacate the area by Nov. 21. A notice stapled to a tree on Monday warned of an eviction and “complete cleanup” of the space come Thursday.

“Please note any goods left abandoned will be thrown away,” it read.

In an interview, a spokesperson for the department said it’s acting on a request by the city given the encampment goes against the Mercier—Hochelaga—Maisonneuve borough’s bylaws.

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Spokesperson Gilles Payer said those living in the encampment were given the notices last Friday and told why they need to leave.

He said the department is aware of what he described as dangerous materials in the camps, such as propane tanks, and the dismantlement is in part to ensure people’s safety.

“It’s not a safe place to live,” Payer said. “We’ve had a warm fall, but we know winter can come suddenly. If people start making fires to stay warm, it has the potential to be catastrophic.”

The city of Montreal did not return a request for comment by deadline on Monday.

The city has said in the past it can’t tolerate encampments because they pose a safety risk and it would rather persuade people to stay in shelters, where there is oversight and access to services.

The grassy area along Notre-Dame St. was the site of another large encampment in 2020 that was ordered dismantled after a fire broke out and nearly spread to a propane tank. Tents have come and gone in the area since, usually being removed by the time the winter cold arrives.

Guylain Levasseur, who lived in the encampment four years ago, said Monday he fears this week’s dismantlement shows how the city and provincial government have failed to make any progress on homelessness since then.

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He also decried how people often lose personal items when authorities move to clear out camps, noting how devastating it can be to lose what few belongings you have when unhoused.

“They talk about evictions, but not solutions. There are never any solutions,” said Levasseur, 59. “The shelters are already full, so I don’t know what miracle they’re expecting  — it seems like  they’re evicting people for the sake of evicting them.”

At the encampment on Monday, Vézina said he isn’t sure how people will react come Thursday if crews do come in to clear out the space. Others living there spoke of a meeting Monday evening to discuss the eviction notice and what options they have.

The transport department said police will be on site during the dismantlement to ensure the order is respected, and stressed teams of social workers will also be present to help with the transition.

“I’ll be staying put in my tent,” Vézina said. “They can come and get me, but I’m going to oppose this to the end.”

jfeith@postmedia.com

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