Montreal borough mayor calls destruction of homeless encampment a misunderstanding

A man walks out of his tent set up off a bike path in the Verdun neighbourhood of Montreal on Tuesday, Dec.10, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi)

The mayor of a Montreal borough says she has ordered an investigation after city workers destroyed a homeless encampment earlier this week.

Christine Black says workers were sent to the site in Montréal-Nord to clear away accumulated waste, but ended up destroying the possessions of the people who lived there due to a misunderstanding. In a recent statement, she said she found the situation “very sad.”

“I have asked the borough to investigate,” she said. “We need more details to fully understand what happened.”

René Obregon-Ida, executive director of a Montreal community organization that works with vulnerable people, said the incident was traumatic for the four people living at the site, who lost virtually everything they owned.

“It’s like when a house burns down — the trauma is the same,” he said. “And even more so, because when it’s a fire, it’s an accident. Accidents happen. But when people come and they destroy your house, the trauma is even worse.”

Obregon-Ida said the homeless encampment, located in a vacant lot used by the borough for heavy equipment storage, had been there for years. The borough had tolerated it because the people living there had nowhere else to go.

In her statement, Black said there had been recent discussions with the occupants and community organizations about cleaning out accumulated waste from the site, “because it was becoming dangerous for homeless people and employees.”

Obregon-Ida said he was aware of talk about a cleanup operation, but nothing had been settled and no date had been chosen. Then on Monday afternoon, he said, a crew of city workers showed up at the site with heavy machinery while the inhabitants were elsewhere.

The workers began gathering up everything at the site. They stopped when one of the occupants returned and confronted them, Obregon-Ida said, “but the damage had already been done.” The workers eventually left, leaving all the inhabitants’ belongings in the mud.

The four people lost tents, pieces of furniture, warm clothes and food, Obregon-Ida said. “They had almost nothing, and now they have nothing,” he said. “I’m angry. I can’t comprehend it.”

In her statement, Black said she wants to work with Obregon-Ida’s organization to ensure the occupants’ lost possessions are replaced. Obregon-Ida said there’s a meeting planned for Tuesday.

In the meantime, he said, the inhabitants of the destroyed encampment are staying at a motel in Montréal-Nord, and his group is helping to ensure they are fed. “Once they’ve calmed down, we’ll start making a plan,” he said, adding that the borough and the union of Montreal’s public works employees have committed to paying for their motel stay.

On Thursday, the union said city workers have “no decision-making power in this type of intervention and … always act according to the instructions given by their superiors.”

The union called for a uniform policy to guide interventions with the city’s homeless population. “What happened in Montréal-Nord does not reflect the sensibilities” of municipal workers, the union said.

Montreal’s new mayor, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, has promised to end homeless encampments within four years, but has said she would let people stay in tent cities while she works to transition the occupants to housing.

Black, who is a member of Martinez Ferrada’s party, said the municipal government is working on a protocol to oversee interventions in homeless encampments.

Since La Presse first reported the story on Thursday, Obregon-Ida said, many people have reached out to ask how they can help. “There is solidarity with these people,” he said. “And that’s huge.”

By Maura Forrest

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2025.