Montreal’s transit authority is under fire for the winter closure of one of the main entrances to a metro station in an area where many of the city’s unhoused are located.
The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) notified the public earlier this month that Entrance B to the Atwater metro station would be off limits from Nov.1 until April 30, 2025, but it didn’t provide a reason. The other primary entrance, which is not located in the same park, remains open.
The STM defended the temporary closure Tuesday, saying it was a “informed decision,” and part of broader measures to ensure the safety of both transit users and its staff members. It also pointed to the “current social context.”
“Authorizing the closure will reduce the occurrence of mischief and unwanted or dangerous behavior, such as bullying and and drug use,” STM spokesperson Amélie Régis said in a statement.
“The safety of our customers and staff, as well as the integrity of our infrastructure, remains our primary duty as a public transit corporation.”
The move has raised eyebrows among both housing advocates and city officials since the shuttered entrance is located in Cabot Square in downtown Montreal, near multiple resources for the unhoused and vulnerable. Many of the city’s homeless seek warmth and shelter from the elements in the metro system — especially in the cold winter months.
“I just can’t believe we’ve come to this place in society where we are starting to close bus stations as solutions rather than housing the homeless,” city councillor Craig Sauvé said.
The Old Brewery Mission’s president and CEO also voiced concerns with the plan, saying it doesn’t address the underlying issue of homelessness.
“It’s not taking the necessary measures to solve the problem,” James Hughes said. “It’s just moving the problem to another place.”
The STM’s way of announcing the closure “suggests there is almost an unease about the decision, that it needed to be made in a discreet and quiet way,” Hughes added. But he also stressed Montreal as a whole has “got to do better” when it comes to housing and addressing problems of co-habitation.
Those who do turn to public spaces for shelter “don’t want to be there,” Hughes says. “They didn’t grow up dreaming of sleeping on the stairs of a metro station.”
“Let’s put our foot on the pedal and house these people, not just kick them out from one place to the other,” Hughes said.
With winter’s chill creeping in, Sauvé also says additional housing and shelters are needed instead of wasting resources on short-term solutions.
“It’s frustrating as a policymaker to see that we keep making the wrong decisions in the wrong directions,” he said. “When we know the smart money is investing on housing and people.”
The city councillor says he doesn’t feel different levels of government are “treating this as the emergency it really is.”
“What we need to do is house people immediately,” Sauvé said.
Last week, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said a “constitutional fight” between Quebec and Ottawa is tying up money the city desperately needs to deal with its worsening homeless problem as winter approaches.
Plante called on the governments of Quebec and Canada to finalize a deal to free up what she said is $100 million promised to help provide shelter and other support to the province’s homeless population — half of which she expects to go to Montreal because she said it has half of the province’s homeless population.
“We can’t leave $100 million on the table with the homelessness crisis we are experiencing in Montreal and Quebec. It doesn’t make sense,” Plante said.
— with files from The Canadian Press