The Homeless Crisis in Montreal is Beyond Belief

homelessness, drug abuse, and mental illness untreated.Welcome to your new Canada.

that we don't have on social assistance.

It's funny, we're being rooted out.That's exactly what I thought.We receive a lot of immigrants.They have a lot of resources, even housing.They have everything, and we're being rooted out.

I find that a little aberrant.

Montreal wasn't the same before, but that's the left.

Are you going to stay out there in Lebanon?

We're good here.

I'm Alex Salabois for Red Bull News, and I'm in Montreal.And today, we are taking a closer look at how Canada's major cities have been transformed by rising homelessness, open drug use, and untreated mental illness.This crisis has been growing for years, with encampments becoming a familiar sight in cities across the country.These streets have become a visible symbol of liberal policies that have failed.While Ottawa has continued to expand immigration and commit billions of dollars to a range of programs, many Canadians struggling with homelessness still face long waits for housing, addiction treatment, and mental health care.And that's without even mentioning the so -called harm reduction policies that have placed too much emphasis on providing access to drugs, needles, syringes,

and pipes, and not enough on helping people get clean.In this report, we will be speaking with people living on the streets, hear directly from those affected by these policies, and ask whether or Governments have lost sight of the goal of helping people recover, regain stability and reintegrate into society.

A little bit of everything.A little bit of everything.I spend, I don't have to keep my money, I don't pay my rent.A little bit of everything, actually.

Can I ask you, what led you to be homeless?So I don't think you realize how huge is this tent.homeless encampment.It starts kilometers away from this side and it goes all the way, really far away, many kilometers away.It's all on the side of the cycle lane.I think it's the biggest encampment I saw in my whole life.

The government gives subventions to foreigners here for money.We don't have social assistance and we don't have the means to pay for housing.And those who have fallen into excessive consumption, I don't think they have a taste for life.They probably want to die a little bit.

Do you have any problems with consumption?

No, we don't have anything.

Only alcohol?

How much less?

There's a bottle right there.No, no, that's my cinder.Well, I do consume, yes, but it's really not disturbing, let's say.What do you consume?Well, I don't know, it doesn't concern you.

It's a bit like bad luck, let's say.And after that, you get used to it.

Is it the consumption that brings you to that?

It helps with that, yes.We agree, but it's not just that.

Without indiscretion, does it bother you to say, what do you consume?

Yes, it bothers me.

Is it more hard drugs?Hard drugs, yes.

Here, all the people who take strong drugs have gotten closer.For me, it's the hell of drugs that have just passed, because it's people who are more in need of drugs.Four months ago, it started to pick up right away.We were stealing all kinds of things, drugs.I try to block my heating system.Anyone who has spent three days standing, there are some who have spent four days, five days standing, but not others.

Do you think that giving drugs to people who use them, do you really think it helps?

No.No, honestly, no.

Normal people who don't consume, who don't understand, the reason why people, you know, when they bend over, that's it, they're out of drugs.Yeah, they did too much of it.The excuse is that they did too much of it.No, on the contrary.We don't sleep when we're on it.We do it all the time, all the time.

I can be 10 days without sleeping.As soon as we turn it on, they're like, he's overdosing because he's not waking up.No, it's because he hasn't slept in 15 days, he's on it.I'd say there are 97 % of people who turn it on.

Being clean, it's everyone for themselves.If he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to.If he wants to, he wants to.It depends.

Would you be ready to become clean and get out of the street?

Get out of the street, yes.Being clean, it depends.I like my...

You can see it just here.We have two Naxolone kits for the people who are doing overdose.And there is also a first kit.

In winter, I do my best.

What are you going to do for the winter?

We're always afraid for the winter.We try to find something.Otherwise, we're going to reinforce the tents.I don't know.Honestly, it's still a long way to go.

Are you going to stay outside in the winter?

We're good here.

Why are there more tents than refuges?

Because we want to come back to the valley.It's irregular.You have to wait a certain amount of time.You have to wait another certain amount of time.You sleep outside in the winter?

Yes.We don't move for nothing, and we don't move for nothing either.There are good reasons to do that.

Why in the summer, do people prefer to take tents instead of going to the shelters?

If you go to the shelters, you have bed checks.You have to be there at 9 a .m., you have to be there at midnight, 2 a .m., 4 a .

m.It didn't give you the time to make a commission in the city center and come back.

It's not viable in the airport.

It's nonsense.

Can you tell me a little bit about what's going on in the airport?There's theft.There's a lot of people coming out of the street.or who have always been in there.I don't know, there are people who are not clean, there are people who are thieves.I don't know, I don't like that.

It's like an anthill with all kinds of different ants, and not clean.

Because they give material in shelters, and there is dopamine, there is anonymity, and there are certain organizations that give us material.but they prevent us from consuming in front of places where we think are safe.Because all the people who consume, I swear to you, we try to hide from the children.We don't want to show them that this is the reality.Because when we walk around, everyone has an orphan.It's just that the government, in a way, forces us not to hide.

There are a lot of people who get kicked out of shelters.Why?Because we do that in the toilets.We get caught.But we try to control ourselves and hide.I understand.

That's it.There's no one who wants to do that freely.

The only reason why it happens like that is because we're not capable anymore.The accumulated thefts in relation to the objects that you barely have to promote, a phone, a tablet, to try to work,People steal it.People think that it's maybe the interventors of foreign agents who come here, who alternate their turn in the centers, led by the interventors who don't have adequate diplomas to take care of the world, are too frozen in the process of overdosing, they don't know what to do when it happens.It happened to me Several times in the last two years, I've discovered that these volunteers don't have adequate training.And that made me laugh a little.

To know that one of my friends worked in a place to make food, the distribution of food is varied.that everyone eats and sees dogs barking and they're sick.And me, I add food to the supermarket or the subway, when they're there.What do I want to eat?And they ask me to throw away my food.No, I don't have my food, I'm going to throw it away.

In the shelters, they ask you that?

Yes, in the shelters, they asked me that.How many times have I been put outside?Today, I'm here with my aunt.It cost me a thousand dollars to set up the tents, the sleeping bags, and so on.But I'm not going back there.If it's my last summer, it's my last winter, but I'm going to spend it here.

Sincerely.

Are you going to stay during the winter?

Well, I lost between 20 ,000 and 30 ,000, but you know, in two years, at the stage.

In the refuges?

In the refuge of the stage on Dechamblis.Sincerely.I've heard that there were flights in the summer.

It's always the same thing.Mental health issues mixed with consumption of drugs.And a lot of people cannot afford to have like a house.They don't go to shelters because of all the restrictions around it.And you can see there is a huge problem of You know, just collecting and collecting and collecting everything that they are finding.And now we have an accumulation of trash and all kind of like stuff.

And people are just living right next to the building.So I can understand that some people don't feel really comfortable to walk at night.But those people, as you can see, they seem pretty, you know, Reasonable, but when you start consuming and taking alcohol, sometimes behavior can snap.I think it's a bit aberrant.

I'm not angry at all.It's just that we come from here, and we're the ones who have the least help.We might have exaggerated a bit with the open door.

Everyone who comes to the country, from Rwanda, Baikonour, Seychelles, maybe from Saint -Pierre, maybe from Blanchard -Blanc, maybe from Ontario,or whatever.

Where are you from?

I come from the North.

It's funny because there are a lot of services and even accommodation offered to immigrants who come here.What do you think about that?

It's calm.It's calm.I come from New Brunswick and I was raised here in Oshadaga.and they have to go to Bérenc, where there are other immigrants, and they go back when it's different.We have a big check to be safe, three or four times a month.They have a place to stay, and we live in a dump.

They receive everything, a place to stay, they come here, they have money, a place to stay, a car, they have everything.Yeah, it's a shame.You know, it's fine, it's nice, but like us, we're nothing, I don't know.You know, there's barely any food, there's not a place where they can take us every day.Or just a little something that we can eat at least.Like, I don't eat.

I'm banned from Cap -Saint -Barnabé, which is over there.So I can't even eat.I have to pay for my food.And not only do I have trouble paying for my food, I'm in survival mode.You know, like, I'm being robbed.It's difficult.

Do you get a little money, social assistance or something like that?

No, I'm not being refused.In the past, I might have deserved it.I've done things, but now, I'm being refused.So, yeah.

There's something wrong with it.Most of the foreigners who come to this country are criminals in their country of origin.

Seriously, we really need to get rid of all this evidence.

What do you think about it?

I think it's a mess.It's disgusting.Seriously, it would just be the tents, there's nothing wrong with that.But all the rest...Get rid of it.Get rid of it.

Get rid of it.Toxicomania, toxicomania.80%, it's hard.

The city is doing enough.

They leave it the same and it becomes everywhere.

They actually just explained that they would love to have like, you know, the garbage collector to just come because it's out of control.They say that they have no problem with the tent in itself, but it's just like, Now it's an accumulation of, you know, dirty stuff a little bit everywhere and the city is not doing anything.They should actually clean that up and make sure at least for the health of the people, not only the people who are living in the encampment, but the people who are living around.It's trash everywhere.We will actually show you some example of like some of the encampment that are really dirty.Those ones are pretty clean, as you can see.

They actually make sure that everything is in order.But a little bit further on this road, it is ridiculous.So we need to talk also about the fire risk because The man just explained to me that he's using that fire for barbecue that is just down to the tree.That can be a huge danger, not only for the encampment and the people who are living here, but also for the building.that is just next.Not long time ago, I think it's last year, Valérie Blanc decided to close some patio, restaurant patio, because of the risk of fire.

But what about the risk of fire here?I hope like the municipality, the city is actually looking into it and make sure that it is safe.Do you see a lot of battles, of thefts during the night?

Thefts, yes.It will always be aunties' stones or things like that.Like, I got robbed myself at my aunt's.I thought I was going to have peace there, but in the end, no.But we get robbed the same way, me and my girlfriend, so yeah.

He left, I don't know, a couple of days ago, I don't remember.So it's because of him that I have my aunt's keys in my hand.

Why?What happened?

Some guys took my aunt's keys.I was talking to them.Then they took my aunt's keys.

Pourquoi ils se sont donc pris à Monsieur Lamarque?Isn't it scary that someone uses it against you during the night?

It's my tool to cut my wood, it's my tool of work, it's my tool of survival.I got robbed once or twice, because they all want to make fire, but they don't want to find axes.It's not worth it.If you want to make fire, you have to look for wood to burn.I have a saw there.

Do you make fires?

Where do you make fires?Just behind you, my house.

Oh, you make fires here?Aren't you afraid that it will catch fire?

No, my farm is well fixed there.

There are times when someone comes to take all the food, But something is happening right now.I don't know, there are people who accept certain people's food.And people fall asleep for 3 -4 hours and then find themselves stripped.Yes, it happens to people all over the place.People who...Someone comes to someone, hi, how are you?

Here, I'll give you a barcode.chocolate, and the person leaves.Then the person decides to eat that, and all of a sudden the person goes back to where she had no money, and she has nothing left.

Is it someone who would put drugs in the food?

Probably fentanyl, something like that, I don't know.

How many people were there?

I know at least three.It happened to me two years ago in the Maisonneuve park when I woke up.My bag was on the floor, my stuff was empty.My buddy, my cigarettes, my food had disappeared, but my bag was still there.

Do you have any concerns?Because we know that street gangs, we've also heard about Arab Power, people who sell drugs.Does it scare you?Do you see them?

Non, je pense que d 'après moi, ils sont bien subtils parce que moi, j 'ai pas si peur que ça.Mais oui, ils sont présents, c 'est sûr.Il faut faire attention, c 'est sûr.Mais moi, si je me mêle de mes affaires, je pense que ça va être correct.

Je sais qu 'autour d 'ici, il y a des gangs de rue.Il y a aussi des dealers de drogue.Est -ce que vous les voyez?Est -ce que vous en avez peur?

Non, mais non.Non, j 'en ai pas peur parce qu 'ils maintiennent quand même une certaine forme de paix, je dirais, ici.S 'il y aurait pas ça ici, c 'est comme un peu... a regulation, and at the same time, it keeps people...If they didn't have their drugs, they'd be full of misery, and at the same time, they'd be comfortable.Basically, it's just good, I'd say.

Do you see street gangs, drug dealers, who walk around to sell, etc.?

Suburbia de la Bandaza?On one side, there's a group.On the other side of the park, there's another group.I imagine that.

foreignHave you heard of it?Arab Power.It's a group of...

Yeah, Arabs are starting to learn more and more about Marseille.I don't drink alcohol, so that's what I hear.

Just in Hochelaga -Maisonneuve, there are street gangs that set up everywhere to sell drugs.

Aren't there any here?

In the neighborhood?Yes, there are.

Major problem in Canada, in our big cities, homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness that are not being treated.We need to do something about it.Go over fixourcities .com.Make your voice heard that we want our government to do something and to fix our cities.