Quote:
Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal
There is no ''organized'' tent city in Montreal. Not tolerated by the fire department and the city. The winter is also a pretty good reason.
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Well there was a large one (last summer?) out in the east end along Notre-Dame was there not?
I think there was a fire that destroyed a number of tents.
The police also moved in to dismantle the camp at one point after that.
Note that while I may be in the minority thinking like this on here, I don't actually think that this is primarily related to the housing crisis we also talk about a lot - which is definitely a crisis but ironically not a direct correlation with homelessness, panhandling and vagrancy.
A lot of the stuff we're discussing in this thread is "opportunity". The encampments exist because you can set them up with relative impunity. There are now small-scale encampments in all sorts of cities that are not Vancouver - even in my city of Gatineau I know of at least one. These people have to go somewhere in the winter and most do not travel 5000 km to Vancouver just to spend a few months of winter there.
Also, there is the issue of mental health programs and supports for people who have those problems - which is not really related to the housing crisis.
In terms of panhandling I am pretty sure it is technically against the law most everywhere in Canada but it hasn't really been cracked down on in decades.
In the Ottawa-Gatineau area many of those beggars on arterial roads outside of downtown are sometimes ferried there by dudes in vehicles in the morning, and then these same guys come and pick them up at the end of their day's "work".