Ville-Marie homeless encampment faces eviction for a second time

Ville-Marie homeless encampment faces eviction With work on the Ville-Marie Expressway poised to resume, the people camping underneath it face an uncertain future.

A homeless encampment underneath the Ville-Marie Expressway is facing eviction—again.

Quebec's Ministry of Transport (MTQ) initially told the group of people living there to leave in November to make way for maintenance work, but the eviction was postponed to give people more time to find a new place to stay.

The end of the reprieve period is worrying for Enzo Osorio and Sabrina Dubeau, who have been living under the expressway for close to 10 years, including seven as a couple.

"The tent… it's starting to get to be too much now. I want a home where I can take a nice bath when I want and have clean clothes, you know?" said Dubeau.

The couple will need to find another solution soon, as the area will become a construction zone in just a few weeks.

The expressway's bridge deck and support columns need maintenance work that is expected to wrap up in 2025.

Jacko Stuben, who also lives under the expressway, says the group has felt pressured to leave.

"The construction cleaners said, 'we just warn you guys to get ready to get out. We are warning you. You guys have to leave by March because we are going to come with the big trucks and bulldozers and throw everything out. You're going to have nothing left,'" said Stuben.

David Chapman, executive director of a non-profit day shelter called Resilience Montreal, says their needs should be accommodated.

"It's a long bridge... there are other places where the tents could go up temporarily. Point out the space," said Chapman.

Transport Quebec says that's not going to happen.

"We cannot do the major work in a safe manner because some of the campers are located on some of the pillars that we need to work on, so cohabitation is not an easy thing," said MTQ spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun.

Transport Quebec has not set a final eviction date, but work is scheduled to start once the snow melts.

Enzo Osorio says he and the others living there deserve respect.

"I tell everybody don't judge nobody because one day maybe it's your turn to live here. I never figured I would live here. I've worked all my life. I'm 51," he said.

The ministry says it's working with the regional health authority to find a solution.