Let’s talk about how Quebec’s new curfew will affect the homeless population. Please note that we are not against enforcing a lockdown to control the pandemic, but we ARE against a wishy washy government that is out of touch with reality.

During the press conference held on January 6th, Premier François Legault announced that the homeless in Quebec are also to respect the new curfew (8pm-5am) and that there is enough room in the province’s shelters to house them.

This pandemic has shed a very bright light on many social issues that have continuously been swept under the rug by government officials such as systemic racism, ableism, the corrupt capitalist system and finally, HOMELESSNESS.

Just in Montreal, 3,149 homeless people were counted in April of 2018. This is ridiculous. There are apparently hundreds of thousands of services to help the homeless all across Canada yet there is no official list categorizing them to make it easier to find information.

This lack of federal organization and funds to tackle the issue is certainly not helping the growing homeless population. Now let’s talk about Premier Legault who stated that he believes there is enough room in shelters to house the thousands of homeless people in Quebec.

Let’s humour him and say that there is enough room! This is the perfect opportunity to unpack why some homeless people would prefer to sleep in the cold streets before even stepping foot in a shelter by addressing the poor and unsafe conditions of a lot of these spaces:

Firstly, shelters are already packed. The province has thousands of new Covid-19 cases. Maybe the homeless DON’T want to be exposed to the virus by being crammed in small spaces with multiple people. That is if they can actually find any room in these shelters to begin with.

Also, most shelters have strict rules such as no bought food, limited outside activity, no drugs or alcohol etc. It is unrealistic to ask homeless people who could be struggling with addiction to stop cold turkey in order to have a bed to sleep in. This can lead to withdrawal.

Many homeless people do not feel safe in shelters. Sharing spaces with strangers can be alarming. Let’s not forget that s*xual ass*ult is very prominent in these spaces. Most encounters go unreported because of the shaky relationship between the homeless and the police.

This all just makes no sense. Technology is a luxury and a privilege. What about the homeless who can’t watch the news? Who told them about the curfew? How is any of this fair?

Had the country properly handled issues of homelessness in the first place, before the pandemic even started, this would not be a problem.