Leaving his home in Montreal’s Chinatown one morning, Phil Chu and his five-year-old daughter walked into a cloud of smoke.
The smoke had emerged from the foot of the stairwell, where a homeless person was smoking crack.
“The unfortunate thing is it’s become such a normality that [we’ve] become somewhat desensitized to it,” said Chu, a local resident for the past 10 years who was taking his daughter to daycare that day.
“What I mean is finding heroin needles at your front door, by your back door, finding basically human excrement basically below your door buzzer,” said Chu, who says he’s called 9-1-1 more times than he can count. “I’ve had to call for someone who’s overdosing by my front door. I had to call 9-1-1 when they found someone stabbed.”
Over the past several years, homelessness and drug use have increased dramatically in the community. Local residents say they feel their concerns are neglected by all levels of government.
“Despite the fact that we’ve been in the media … we’ve been ignored by all levels of government at this point in time,” said Chu. “The rest of Chinatown definitely feels neglected, forgotten. And it’s really, really frustrating.”
Many residents have stopped reporting crimes, says Chu. Others have difficulty reporting due to language and cultural barriers or fear of repercussions, says Fo Niemi, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations, a civil rights organization.
This month, Niemi launched Operation Gold Dragon to help residents report crimes and improve their relationship with the police.
The initiative distributes posters with QR codes to local residents and businesses to enable them to anonymously report incidents — in English, French or Chinese — by completing an online form. Local businesses and hotels are already participating in the initiative.
In an emailed statement, the Montreal police said they are not associated with Operation Gold Dragon. They urged residents to contact the police directly by dialing 9-1-1 or filing an anonymous report at Info-Crime Montréal.
Operation Gold Dragon is also launching a new Chinatown residents’ association this summer to enable locals to better advocate for policies with elected representatives.
“People want to have a greater degree of autonomy, of self-control and control of what’s going on around them,” said Niemi. “Often they complain that even the politicians have not shown one single bit of interest about these safety problems.”
Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s environment minister and member of Parliament for the area, has not met with members of Operation Gold Dragon to discuss their concerns.
“The Minister has not heard from this group about Operation Gold Dragon but is looking forward to engaging in these important discussions,” said Guilbeault’s press secretary Kaitlin Power in an emailed statement. Power noted that Guilbeault has participated in a number of other events in Chinatown.
‘Fear dominates’
Locals blame the deteriorating drug and homelessness situation in Montreal’s Chinatown on the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic, as well as a local homeless shelter that opened during this period.
Many residents feel that people who do not live or work in the community are trying to make decisions for them, says Niemi. They feel, for example, that they ought to have been consulted over the decision to open the 65-bed homeless shelter at Complexe Guy-Favreau. The shelter has been closed since October 2023, but criminal incidents continue.
“People have complained of crime, notably drug trafficking, vandalism, assault, drug consumption, even open, explicit open-air sexual activity in the area … by many homeless individuals,” said Niemi.
The child-care centre that Chu’s daughter attends, CPE Le Petit Palais, faces onto the streets of Chinatown. Children have been exposed to masturbation, defecation, urination, lewd acts, prostitution, drug use and drug sales through its windows, says Chu.
Used needles and other drug paraphernalia are often left in the centre’s yard. Trips outside need to be booked in advance with the Montreal police to escort the children on the sidewalk.
“For the first time in 25 years, me and my family are looking to leave the neighborhood and even looking to potentially leave Montreal,” said Chu. “Because we feel that basically this neighborhood is no longer safe.”
Niemi says women of different ages have complained of harassment. Many are now afraid to venture out at night. “That’s not the kind of neighborhood that you want to create, in which fear … dominates.”
Some residents are considering launching a class-action lawsuit, similar to those recently filed against two homeless shelters in the city.
“I’m not against homelessness — I understand people have fallen to hard times,” said Chu. “I am against the criminality.”
Sam Watts, CEO and executive director of the Welcome Hall Mission, an organization that supports people experiencing homelessness, is sympathetic to residents’ concerns.
“The realities are such in the Chinatown area that we know that there are sub-optimal situations that merchants and residents are dealing with,” he said. But he says kindness and compassion need to be the reflex. “When our reflex is anger or judgment or frustration, we go in the wrong direction.”
He disagrees that Chinatown’s increase in homelessness is due to the homeless shelter moving into the area.
Homelessness has risen across Canada since the pandemic, in great part due to soaring home prices, Watts says. Organizations that help the homeless are unable to keep up with growing demand.
In a 2022 survey, the province’s public health institute counted about 10,000 homeless people in Quebec, including 4,690 in Montreal. The report found visible homelessness rose by 44 per cent in the province since 2018.
It can be difficult for governments to respond to homelessness because it is unclear which level of government is responsible for addressing it, said Richard Shearmur, a professor at McGill University’s school of urban planning.
“The actual responsibility for homelessness and dealing with it is very poorly defined,” he said.
‘Solvable challenge’
Over the past 12 months, Montreal police have become more present in the community and more attentive when people complain about noise, Niemi says. But public safety remains a concern.
He’d like to see vandalism — such as breaking into cars or smashed storefronts — result in fines or arrests. He also thinks there needs to be zero tolerance for drug trafficking.
“We believe there should be zero tolerance and full police crackdown on the traffickers … [who] are selling drugs to the homeless people, and therefore endangering the homeless people’s health,” said Niemi.
Watts believes all levels of government need to work together to help homeless individuals, including by providing mental health care, emergency services and social housing.
The City of Montreal has collaborated with the province on increasing social housing in the city. The city completed Le Christin, Montreal’s largest social housing project, in January 2024.
Eighty per cent of the project’s 114 units benefit from a Rent Supplement Program, where residents pay a quarter of their income for housing that is otherwise funded by the Quebec government, said Julien Serra, press relations officer for the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal, which manages the project.
Watts remains hopeful developments of this nature can be made to help the homeless.
“This is a solvable challenge. But it’s going to take all of us,” says Watts, citing government, builders and citizens. “There is no reason whatsoever why everybody shouldn’t have a permanent place to call home. We can do this. This is Canada.”
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