A Montreal emergency shelter that runs at full capacity every day is preparing for the bitter winter cold and the end-of-year holidays a week after the death of a homeless person.
“Today, we are the only emergency night shelter in the entire west of Montreal. We decided to stay at Cabot Square because there is a large indigenous clientele,” explains Alexandra Ambroise, director of the Mitshuap shelter, located a few steps from Cabot Square, in downtown Montreal.
Even though the shelter, which offers 45 beds and six chairs, is entirely managed by Indigenous people, it is open to everyone. It also makes it possible to accommodate intoxicated people.
The Mitshuap shelter can accommodate around fifty people, with 45 beds and six chairs.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY Ian Lafrenière
“We don’t discriminate,” insists Mme Ambrose.
This place of respite for the homeless opened a year ago after the closure of the Raphaël “Napa” André tent, erected in 2021 which bears the name of this itinerant Inuit who died in a chemical toilet in the middle of winter.
Open for almost three years, the tent provided a warm resting place for thousands of homeless people, in addition to offering them a hot meal.
Mitshuap came to continue this mission when the tent closed its doors, explains Alexandra Ambroise, who was also in charge.
Visit before Christmas
For Ian Lafrenière, Minister responsible for Relations with First Nations and Inuit, it was essential to come and visit the shelter on Friday, a few days before Christmas.
“The reality of Cabot Square, I saw it when I was a police officer in Montreal for 26 years, and when I arrived as minister, it was one of the priorities that I looked at, because I knew that it is a gathering place for Inuit First Nations,” he explains.
Ian Lafrenière, Minister responsible for Relations with First Nations and Inuit, and Alexandra Ambroise, director of the Mitshuap refuge.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY Ian Lafrenière
The latter had just gone to bring bags of food to the Mitshuap shelter on Friday. He also took the opportunity to chat with the employees, including M's aunt.me Ambrose.
“It’s really a family affair,” explains the shelter director.
For the latter, the presence of Mr. Lafrenière shows that the different levels of government do not forget the difficult situation in which people experiencing homelessness live and visit shelters.
“We feel listened to at that time,” she explains.
Extreme cold
While Environment Canada has issued a warning of extreme cold in certain areas, notably in western Quebec, Mme Ambroise expects to see his refuge full to bursting, like every day.
Faced with temperatures that will drop to -11 degrees Celsius this weekend, the City of Montreal inaugurated a new temporary heat stop in its old city hall last night in addition to opening an emergency shelter downtown for the winter season.
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