Consumption and bullying issues | The STM closes an Atwater metro entrance for the winter

Faced with problems of consumption, mischief and incivility, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) is closing the Atwater metro station at Cabot Square for the winter. The community sector denounces the carrier’s decision, which it considers risky for the homeless.

Last week, on social networks, the STM discreetly indicated, without giving any reason, the closure of access B of the Atwater metro, in Cabot Square, on the green line. The entrance is closed until April 30, 2025 inclusive.

In response to questions from The Pressthe Society specifies that “the closure will help reduce the occurrence of misdeeds and unwanted or dangerous actions, such as intimidation and drug use.”

“The safety of our customers and our staff, as well as the integrity of our infrastructure, remains our main duty as a public carrier,” declares the carrier’s spokesperson, Laurence Houde-Roy.

“Health issues were important in this building”. The employees could hardly ensure its maintenance during operating hours, since they systematically had to be accompanied by special constables, explains M^me Houde-Roy.

For almost two years, the STM has closed the entrance at 6 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends for these reasons.

Located at the corner of Sainte-Catherine Street and Atwater Avenue, Cabot Square is a gathering place for dozens of homeless people and individuals from vulnerable clienteles. Several temporary and permanent accommodation resources are located nearby.

The Concerned Community Network

At the Montreal Support Network for Single and Homeless People (RAPSIM), spokesperson Jérémie Lamarche is worried about the situation. “The people who are in Cabot Square are not going to stop existing, but now they will not have access to a warm place. It’s a very risky decision as winter approaches,” he comments.

His group is due to hold a press conference this Tuesday to denounce the lack of homeless accommodation at the dawn of cold weather.

According to Mr. Lamarche, the STM must stop operating in isolation. “Yes, its mission is to transport people, but it still fits into a Montreal context where more and more people do not have a place to rest and sleep without being pushed back,” he notes.

Old Brewery Mission President James Hughes, second. “Montreal must do much more for people who remain on the street or in the metro, and who have no place in the resources which are full. These people are not in the metro by choice. »

Not a refuge, the metro

The STM says it has made a “considered” decision in the wake of “the current social context and the most recent measures put in place to ensure the safety” of all. The Atwater station remains accessible from the main entrance, Boulevard De Maisonneuve, she recalls.

At a press conference on Monday, the carrier’s president, Eric Alan Caldwell, argued that “the metro is not a refuge.”

Last year, its teams provided 10,000 escorts to the metro exit at closing time. This year, there are 8,500.

In the office of Mayor Valérie Plante, we remind you that “this is obviously a temporary solution to ensure the safety of users”. “Governments must release funding for more resources for homelessness, drug addiction and mental health in order to reduce pressure in public spaces,” says press secretary Simon Charron.

In the rest of the metro, this winter, quartets of special constables and security ambassadors will patrol 13 stations: Joliette, Frontenac, Papineau, Beaudry, Berri-UQAM, Mont-Royal, Jean-Talon, Place-des-Arts , McGill, Atwater, Lionel-Groulx, Place-d’Armes and Bonaventure.