While shelters are the only organizations able to provide many of those necessary services, fourth year McGill student, Sophie Hart, decided to help and address the communities’ needs. Hart founded the organization Meals for Milton-Parc in October 2020 in response to COVID-19 when many services available to unhoused peoples were reduced. In an interview with the Daily, she explained that she decided it was “time for students to step up as a community.” Meals for Milton-Parc is a community organization run by McGill students that acts as a meal program, delivering meals to unhoused peoples three times per week. Precautions against COVID-19 caused the organization to move from preparing home cooked meals toward distributing gift cards to local restaurants. The organization also delivers other essentials, like winter clothing.

As winter moved in, the temperatures dropped along with opportunities to avoid COVID-19 for unhoused peoples, who were safer and more socially distant when living in tents, but are now forced to go into the shelter system. Even before the pandemic, many people chose to avoid shelters due to experiencing abuse or other negative situations. Now, those worries have been combined with concerns of a COVID-19 outbreak. These concerns came to fruition in many cases, which Hart believes is directly associated with overcrowding of shelters and lack of ability to socially distance.

Hart believes a key part of the problems unhoused peoples face is due to government officials’ lack of foresight, with “everything being done in reacting to crises [yet] no planning to avoid crises.” Hart explains that this negligence has led to a “worst case scenario in a lot of different situations,” combining COVID-19 with an already not-functioning system.  

Advocate groups for unhoused individuals have been working to create more shelter space, something that is made even more difficult by social distancing requirements and lack of personal protective equipment for clients.

Proposals began to trickle in. First, the aid organization CARE Montreal is providing unhoused people needing protection from the cold with a durable, tent-like structure called an Iglou.  Iglous provide shelter from the freezing temperatures; an alternative for when shelters are inevitably at capacity, or if individuals are concerned about COVID-19 risks that come with shelters’ close quarters. The distribution of the Iglous is taking place thanks to workers from CARE Montreal, who visit and offer Iglous to people who they know are living outdoors. The workers also check in, ensuring the Iglous are functioning properly for those using them. If all goes well with the Iglou shelters, CARE Montreal founder and director, Michel Monette, plans on ordering more, and hopes to begin building similar portable shelters locally in Montreal.

Next, two hotels – Hotel Place Dupuis and Hotel Universel – are welcoming anyone in need of a place to stay, as long as they can provide a negative COVID-19 test. Hotel Universel is also accommodating unhoused people recovering from COVID-19 who transferred from the Old Royal Victoria Hospital, opening up more hospital beds while ensuring the patients remain with a place of shelter.

While these increases in available shelters are encouraging, there are still many people in need of housing. Finding a place to stay warm is hard enough without the added restrictions put into place by the new COVID-19 regulations.  Not only do the new laws forbid anyone to leave their home after 8:00 P.M., but it simultaneously prohibits anyone from remaining in shelters after 9:30 P.M., putting unhoused people in an impossible situation.  

Advocates voicing concerns over Quebec Premier Francois Legault’s disregard for unhoused people were readily dismissed by Legault, who claimed that exempting unhoused people from the curfew would lead to Quebecers pretending to be homeless to evade fines for breaking curfew. Six people without shelter were fined in the first week of the curfew alone, according to the advocacy group RAPSIM.

Legault allowed the curfew to continue for two weeks without exemptions for unhoused people. That was until Raphael André, an unhoused Innu man unable to stay the night in a shelter due to COVID-19 restrictions, froze to death in a portable toilet. Although the exact cause of death is not yet confirmed, advocates for André maintain that he died due to the cold after public health directives forced residents out of the nearby Open Door shelter, due to the restricted hours imposed by the government. The case was brought to court by the Clinique Juridique Itinérante, a legal organization advocating for unhoused people, arguing that already-vulnerable people were put at risk by the curfew. Justice Masse ruled in their favour, exempting people without housing from the curfew order, assenting unhoused people’s “lives, security and health were being put in danger.”

If you’re interested in becoming more involved: 

Meals for Milton Parc is always looking for volunteers on a rolling basis, fill out volunteer application here.

Other organizations with volunteer openings: Innovation Assistance, Resilience Montreal, The Open Door, Nazareth Community, MTL Aid, as well as many of the organizations mentioned above are taking donations.

The post Lack of Shelters leads to “Worst-Case Scenario” for Unhoused People appeared first on The McGill Daily.

On Monday, November 2, dozens of students gathered at the Palais de Justice de Montréal at 8 AM. The Daily spoke to Mustafa Fakih, President of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at McGill, who said the demonstration was held to make sure they are listened to, and to hold the government accountable. Trials challenging the constitutionality of the bill are taking place in the Superior Court of Quebec, but Fakih wants to ensure that the issue is not overlooked – explaining that with the constant news of COVID and the US election, “the last thing [he wants] is the public forgetting how a significant part of their community continues to be marginalized in the name of secularism.” According to Fakih, the protest was successful, especially in reminding the public that the fight against Bill 21 is not over.

According to the bill’s supporters, Global News reports, the goal of Bill 21 is to destigmatize religious symbols. However, many studies have shown that the creation of an “us and them” sentiment between religions – as Bill 21 does – intensifies prejudices between groups.  Further, Fakih emphasized that  “[the bill’s] implementation has legitimized the feeling of hatred” as the province has essentially endorsed these prejudicial feelings. However, Fakih says that Quebec’s religious communities have accumulated a significant increase in support than they had before the implementation of the bill: “Having this bill in writing has proven and publicized the oppression religious communities face in Quebec.” 

McGill University did not show up for its Muslim student population, Fakih maintained. In a statement made before Bill 21 was passed into law, the university issued an overview of the bill while reassuring students that the bill would not affect any of McGill’s policies or practices, despite protests early last year proving otherwise. According to Faikh, instead of the statement providing a sense of support, the message only amplified the administration’s “disconnect with what students are experiencing on the ground.” After considerable prodding from activist groups on campus, including MSA, McGill issued another statement after the bill passed, expressing some concern on the impact the bill would have on job opportunities for students in the future. Since the statement McGill’s action has stalled, Fakih emphasizes, “concern without action is meritless.” 

As a result of McGill’s response, several McGill staff, students, and student organizations formed the coalition McGill Against Bill 21 which planned a motion to submit to the McGill Senate, mandating an official denouncement of the bill by the university. The motion would include concrete steps to stand behind students affected, but the pandemic and the university’s closure leaves the coalition’s plans on hold indefinitely.

The post “Concern Without Action Is Meritless” appeared first on The McGill Daily.