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1. People living on the streets of Montreal will get a warming tent at Cabot Square tomorrow. It took 15 days after the freezing death of "Napa" Raphael André for this to happen. Why did it take so long and could we have prevented?
2. Well before the first snowfall, we knew the pandemic had pushed thousands more Montrealers into poverty as shelters had to pair down services to comply with COVID safety measures. Homeless camps started appearing all over the city last summer. https://ricochet.media/en/3301/as-winter-and-second-wave-loom-homeless-communities-turn-to-outdoor-camps
3. City/transport ministry bulldozed these camps despite growing pressure not to, pushing 100s more into a shelter system not equipped to handle certain forms of alcohol use disorder, schizophrenia and other complications that lead a person to the streets. https://ricochet.media/en/3333/police-clear-homeless-camp-under-montreal-highway
4. Even smaller cities — like Val-d'Or — reported a massive increase in homelessness paired with the challenges of running a shelter or day centre during a pandemic. Two-thirds of those using emergency centres in VD are Indigenous. https://ricochet.media/en/3398/boom-and-bust-homelessness-crisis-grips-val-dor
5. Finally, after months of warnings that an outbreak would devastate the homeless community in Montreal, it happened right around Christmas. People who tested positive didn't know they tested positive, had no place to isolate, spread the virus https://ricochet.media/en/3424/worst-case-scenario-covid-19-outbreak-hits-montreal-homeless-shelters
6. Further compounding problems, QC instituted a province-wide curfew to curtail the spread of COVID-19, subjecting the homeless to fines simply because they're homeless. By then, the shelter system was already teetering on the brink of collapse. https://ricochet.media/en/3429/homeless-shelters-on-the-verge-of-collapse-as-quebec-curfew-looms
7. A less reported phenomenon: the curfew created a drop of roughly 90% of those who use Montreal's safe-injection sites. That means more people risking overdose, HIV transmission. This, as QC is grappling with a surge in fatal overdoses. https://ricochet.media/en/3439/quebec-curfew-putting-lives-at-risk-as-safe-injection-sites-sit-empty
8. Then "Napa" died. Reportedly, he froze to death just outside a shelter that was forced to close... because of a COVID-19 outbreak. Silver lining: QC starts vaccinating the homeless. https://ricochet.media/en/3445/i-dont-want-to-die-out-here-homeless-bear-brunt-of-legaults-indifference
9. As more people report being fined, jailed or having to hide from police after curfew, someone challenges the curfew in court. The QC government could have done what Ontario did and exempt the unhoused. It chose to stand and fight against them instead. https://ricochet.media/en/3450/lawsuit-challenges-quebec-curfews-criminalization-of-homelessness
10. A judge rules that fining the homeless for breaking curfew constitues cruel and unusual punishment and that it violates their right to liberty and security of the person. https://ricochet.media/en/3453/court-orders-quebec-government-to-exempt-homeless-people-from-curfew
11. Another person in the community dies. This time of an overdose. Meanwhile, in the absence of a plan from QC, Mohawks from the South Shore step up and donate at least $30,000 to set up a warming centre. https://ricochet.media/en/3457/her-name-was-amanda-another-avoidable-death-hits-montreals-homeless-community
12. So now, the tent will be erected nearly two weeks after QC's Indigenous affairs minister promised it would be up and only because of relentless pressure on the ground.
