A true institution in the Longueuil community, Lise Bissonnette – or Madame Lise, as everyone calls her – was awarded a Mention of Excellence by the Longueuil Agglomeration Police Service (SPAL) for her 81st birthday. but especially for her involvement in the community during a BBQ organized in her honor in the interior courtyard of the Chez Lise rooming houses on Chemin de Chambly in Longueuil on May 17.
“Ms. Lise got a lot of people off the street,” says Marylène Vandal, RESO agent who organized the event. Today, she stops by more often to greet the people who live here than to respond to calls for intervention. Lise really worked miracles.”
A colorful crowd waits in line while police officers take orders. A second or third hamburger? No problem!
Members of the SPAL staff as well as the mayor of Longueuil are also on site. “Ms. Lise has done so much for the Longueuil community! We need people like her,” said Catherine Fournier.
Open your heart
Visibly surprised by so much attention towards her, Ms. Lise explains that during the 1970s she began renting rooms, payable monthly, to people receiving social assistance who were visibly in distress. “On the 4th or 5th of the month, some people knocked on my door asking me to give them something to eat. They had no more money. We didn’t talk about mental illness at that time,” she explains.
RESO police officer Marylène Vandal hugs Madame Lise after praising her in a speech. (Photo: Le Courrier du Sud – Sylvain Daignault)
Over the years, observing the growth in needs, Ms. Lise acquired other buildings in order to increase her offering. “At first, I put them two per room. I told myself that this way I had a better chance that someone would pay me!” she says with mocking eyes.
Police officers from the Longueuil agglomeration police department organized an event to highlight the work of Lise Bissonnette, the former owner of Chez Lise rooming houses. (Photo: Le Courrier du Sud – Sylvain Daignault)
At Lise’s
Chez Lise is not a community organization but a completely private rooming house. It is in fact the largest rooming house in Quebec. It accommodates 135 people spread across 7 buildings. Chez Lise has around a dozen employees.
For Isabelle Laplante, a former resident who came to lend a hand, Chez Lise is the best resource she found when she was at the bottom of the barrel. “I always felt safe here,” she says.
Succession
Even if Ms. Lise passed the torch in 2020 by selling her buildings and her 135 apartments to Sophie Noreau, clinical nurse, and another person who is no longer part of the adventure, the 81-year-old lady regularly shows up for work in order to to give a helping hand.
Ms. Noreau wishes to continue Ms. Lise’s work for a long time to come. “It’s incredible what she did for the people of Longueuil for 50 years. We can’t let this go!”
Although she admits that the challenge is great – tenants are entitled to three meals a day plus a snack, as well as washing of their room and their clothes – Ms. Noreau cannot imagine that all of these people find themselves in one day on the street. This is what motivates her to continue.
The residents of Chez Lise are, for the most part, people on social assistance, who live with mental health problems or who have already been on the street.
