Who will fill the void as the lights turn out at the ByWard Market's golden arches?
For better or worse, that particular McDonald’s became an institution in Ottawa.
Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Published Mar 15, 2023 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 3 minute read
Sylvio Belanger and Rheal Charbonneau share a patch of sidewalk outside a Rideau Centre entrance on a cold Tuesday morning as a mixture of snow and freezing rain falls about them.
Belanger, 39, leans against the ledge of Simon’s clothing store window, while Charbonneau, 60, sits on the slate sidewalk. The two live in shelters in the area, Charbonneau for the last six months, Belanger for three. Each holds an empty Tims coffee cup in his hands, hoping to cadge spare change from passersby.
We’re discussing the iconic McDonald’s restaurant at 99 Rideau St., which announced earlier this year that, after nearly 40 years, it would not renew its lease when it expires at the end of June.
There aren’t many places like it in the area, says Charbonneau, and its absence will be felt, particularly among Ottawa’s street-involved population.
“I like the food,” he admits, “and I like to talk to people; I like to get together with people. I’d go have a coffee and socialize, and use the bathroom.
“I mean I can’t go in the middle of the street.”
Belanger only goes to the McDonald’s when he has money. “You don’t want to go there and sit and do nothing, although I did go sometimes just to use the bathroom.”
For better or worse, that particular McDonald’s became an institution in Ottawa. Open 24 hours a day for much of its life, it was a popular post-bar hangout for ByWard Market revellers not yet ready to go home, and a gathering spot, out of the elements, for those with no home to go to.
And, yes, lest we wax too romantic, remember that it was also often a dump, with that long narrow hallway entrance from George Street as uninviting as any, and police often called to deal with incidents there. An infamous YouTube video posted in December 2014 shows a brawl in the fast food joint that includes, at the 37-second mark, a man taking a baby raccoon out of his jacket.
It was that sort of place.
But it was a business that, at least until the pandemic saw it pivot to takeout only—with no access to public washrooms—served a greater, if unintentional, purpose beyond slinging Big Macs and keeping police busy.
It was that rare commercial spot that at least indulged those among its customers in unfortunate situations and with particular needs: the Sylvio Belangers and Rheal Charbonneaus of Ottawa, who sometimes just need to sit down on something other than cold pavement. True, there’s a Tim Hortons right next door, as well as nearby drop-ins, such as Centre 454 and the housing development being built by the Shepherds of Good Hope, but these aren’t meeting the demand.
The pandemic has dealt a crushing blow not just to people experiencing homelessness, poverty, drug use and mental health issues, but at the same time severely curtailed access to services to help them. Spaces where people could safely congregate, have their basic needs met and be accepted were closed, forcing many to live too many aspects of their lives in public.
According to Wendy Muckle, who co-founded Ottawa Inner City Health more than 20 years ago and recently stepped down as its CEO, places like the Rideau Street McDonald’s have helped contribute to lessening the social disorder in the ByWard Market.
“But many clients have told me that places that used to tolerate their presence, when COVID and all its restrictions came, they weren’t allowed in those places. And since they’ve opened up and the restrictions have been lifted, they’re still not allowed in those places. So now there are a lot fewer places for them to be, and they’re forced onto the sidewalks.”
The pandemic, in other words, dramatically affected the delicate balance that the ByWard Market had always struggled to maintain, between merchants and business owners, residents, tourists and others, including the street-involved.
Anne Marie Hopkins, Inner City Health’s Peer Outreach Services supervisor, says that social disorder and chaos have been increasing in the Market, but that the narrative, where the homeless are blamed for the things that ail them, needs to change before anything will improve. “In reality, we as a society are not taking care of these people who are homeless, we are not giving them places to go.”
She’s right. After all, it’s not up to McDonald’s or Tim Hortons to take care of people in need. That task falls to us.
bdeachman@postmedia.com
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-golden-arches
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