During his annual information meeting, Saint-Roch-Saint-Sauveur municipal councilor Pierre-Luc Lachance was confronted by several citizens and merchants who were at the end of their rope in the face of the consequences of homelessness and drug addiction in the neighborhood. Saint-Roch.
Around fifty people gathered Monday evening at the House of Cooperation and Solidarity Economy of Quebec, on Boulevard Charest Est, in Saint-Roch. After a meeting in Saint-Sauveur in 2023, it was the turn of Saint-Roch to host the annual information meeting of Pierre-Luc Lachance.
After a first hour dedicated to presenting the achievements of the last year and future projects, Mr. Lachance was present to answer questions from the public.
The first questions focused on problems caused by various construction sites, mainly that of rue Saint-Vallier Ouest, in the Saint-Sauveur district, but also that of the upcoming Dorchester block.
But very quickly, the subject of the evening emerged through a multitude of questions. These mainly focused on homelessness, drug use and the feeling of insecurity in the Saint-Roch district.
Traders do not rule out leaving
On September 17, several merchants sounded the alarm through the St-Roch Commercial Development Company (SDC). We then deplored thefts, vandalism, mayhem, but also problems of unsanitary conditions and incivility.
Several owners of businesses, restaurants or accommodation establishments were invited to the meeting hosted by their municipal councilor. And the observation seems clear.
“As an entrepreneur in the Saint-Roch district, I feel a little left behind. I feel abandoned by the municipality, because at the moment, it’s a bit of a shit show in the neighborhood. A shit show of homelessness, of people who inject themselves. It’s now that we can take drugs and do crack on the street, and that’s […] normal…”, first denounced Pénélope Lachapelle, co-owner of Nina Pizza.
Ms. Lachapelle, who wishes to continue to invest in the neighborhood, admits that she does not rule out relocation elsewhere in the coming years, if the situation persists.
For Pierre-Luc Lachance, “the City does not have the entire portfolio of solutions.”
“The dynamic of homelessness, the dynamic of drug use, it’s a public health dynamic. The City is going through things. Does that mean we have to stand idly by? No. The proof is that we are going to add another $1 million to ensure that there are more workers on the ground, that there are more interventions, that there is more surveillance that is done,” replies the municipal councilor.
He reiterates that he does not “find it normal and acceptable” that people smoke crack in the presence of other people or that consumer products are lying around in the streets and parks. He adds that an upcoming announcement regarding a neighborhood clean-up initiative will soon be made by the municipal administration.
Mr. Lachance also specifies that the next budget will provide greater funding to the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ), in order to better equip police officers to face this issue. Several merchants deplore that, when they call 911, the police do not arrive or arrive several hours after the request.
Fear of letting your child go out
Parents in the Saint-Roch district also expressed concerns for their children or teenagers. Fathers and mothers said they were afraid of letting their children go out into the neighborhood without accompanying them.
Resident of Saint-Roch, Louis Campagna denounces a situation experienced by his daughter, then aged 13, last year.
«[Elle] asked me to go buy bread at the bakery alone, because she wants to develop her autonomy. At lunchtime, hesitantly, because I know my neighborhood, I say “OK, go ahead”. Sure enough, she comes back in tears, because someone completely intoxicated, two and a half times her age, approached her in a sexual manner. […] I tremble while talking about it. This is not the first time that this has happened,” says Mr. Campagna.
For him, a teenager who goes to buy bread on Avenue Maguire or Avenue Cartier would not have to experience this situation. He denounces an inequality in the feeling of security for Saint-Roch compared to other neighborhoods in Quebec.
Owner of the Cœur de Loup boutique and father of three teenagers, Vincent Poitras lives on Saint-Vallier Street East, near the L’Interzone supervised injection center.
“We arrived there with a lot of good will and confidence in our institutions, our CIUSSS, our City of Quebec. […] Every day, we are afraid to leave our homes. Every day, we see an emergency. […] When there is a flood, we send the roads, public health, we do not spare the expense. Right now, it’s an emergency. […] I have a 17-year-old daughter who asks me to go out with her so she can go to the street corner, because she is afraid to leave her house,” regrets Mr. Poitras, who denounces a situation “ unlivable.”
Mr. Poitras wants Pierre-Luc Lachance to be the neighborhood’s “spokesperson” with the City and other levels of government.
“I am one of those who asks the most. I am one of those who brings, in the mayor’s speech to the minister [responsable des Services sociaux Lionel] Carmant, from the CIUSSS, this desire to be aggressive on [la façon d’aborder] the problem and not just try to contain it,” replies Mr. Lachance.
He nevertheless recalled, on a few occasions, that he could not “replace the operational process” of the police and that politics should not interfere in the decisions or directions of the police.
Photo credit: Simon Bélanger
Solutions called into question
In addition to wanting to increase the budget devoted to the SPVQ, Pierre-Luc Lachance affirms that funding must also be directed to community organizations in the neighborhood.
For Simon Gauthier, who lives near Lauberivière, “community organizations […] are part of the problem,” because of “their ideology.”
“There is a person who works for the RAIIQ (Regroupement pour l’aide aux itinérants et itinantes de Québec) who, during an evening at l’Engrenage, declared, “when there is vandalism, mischief or whatever else, let the person express themselves.” […] These are often people who are far left […] and many of these people work for community organizations. So, by providing more funding to community organizations, […] we give power to people […] who are against support,” argues Mr. Gauthier, himself recognizing that his position is not necessarily popular.
A man actually got up just after the intervention to express his objection to this. Pierre-Luc Lachance also affirmed that he did not endorse what had just been said.
Centre d’injection
For her part, Catherine Bowen Gouin, owner of 77 St-Vallier Appart Hôtel, still has the opening of the supervised injection center in 2021 on her mind. And she believes that the City does not understand the distress of traders.
“I hear you, but I don’t think you hear us. We all have rights as entrepreneurs, owners, residents. Even our customers have rights. And that is the right to security. Right now, I get goosebumps when I talk to you, because that’s the same way I feel when I go to work in the morning or when I leave my hotel in the evening, or when I receive calls in the middle of the night, because I have clients who feel unsafe and who are unable to sleep in their apartment. “It wasn’t like that before the opening of a drug store, opposite my business,” she complains.
Ms. Bowen Gouin adds that several people are present during the meeting because they are “on edge” and they can’t take it anymore.
“I think we have to stick together this evening and it’s unity that will create strength. If Mr. Lachance is not capable of hearing her and ensuring our rights are respected, we will look for what we need elsewhere,” concluded the young entrepreneur.
The elected official from Saint-Roch-Saint-Sauveur then responded that elections will take place in November 2025.
The evening was also marked by some more tense and tough exchanges between Pierre-Luc Lachance and certain people present in the audience.
Solutions
The municipal councilor asked, a few times, if people had any solutions to propose. Mr. Lachance himself recalled that a mini-house project in another district of Quebec will be deployed.
For his part, Alain Saint-Ours proposed favoring the intervention of firefighters rather than police officers.
“Why the firefighters? Because the firefighters, as a resource, are the ones who have the fewest calls in a year. […] Because they treat the homeless like a disaster victim. […] They are disaster specialists, the firefighters,” illustrates Mr. Saint-Ours.
It appears to have been inspired by a project started in Saskatoon in 2021 and explained in an article by The Press from August 18.
Finally, while several people expressed not knowing who to turn to when they are experiencing difficult situations, Pierre-Luc Lachance invited those present to write to [email protected] or to contact 311 and mention “Info Carré Lépine” from the outset, even if the situation does not take place in the Carré Lépine sector.
However, he specifies that if you experience a situation where you feel in danger, you should always contact 911.
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