By Canadian Press

After furor from locals, Quebec open to moving services from Montreal drug-use site

Aug 21, 2024 | 9:29 AM

QUÉBEC — The Quebec government says it wants to meet the demands of Montrealers fed up with a housing project in the city’s southwest that caters to unhoused people living with addiction or mental health issues.

After defending the project for months, Montreal municipal officials are now asking the province to relocate day centre services at Maison Benoît Labre, which is across from an elementary school and includes a supervised drug-use site.

Parents and local residents had opposed the centre before it opened earlier this year, and now that it’s in operation, they say they’ve witnessed open drug use and aggressive behaviour, including when children are around.

Chantale Rouleau, minister responsible for social solidarity, told reporters in Quebec City today the province is in discussions with the city to move the day services, but she says resources for the vulnerable have to go somewhere.

Critics — including federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre — have cited Maison Benoît Labre as an example of elected leaders being too tolerant of criminal behaviour, saying the mayor is forcing children to share space with crack users.

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Maison Benoît Labre’s executive director says the solution is not to move day services from the centre, which includes 36 studio apartments for unhoused people, but to add resources to “help us ease the pressure.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press