An older couple and their children have lived in the same Montreal house for more than 40 years, but now they are being pushed out by the city’s public transit agency.
The Ly family first purchased the brick, stand-alone building on Bellechasse Street in 1983. It was ideal; close to two metro stations and the St-Hubert Plaza. It is where they raised their kids and they all still call it home.
Trivy Ly says his parents, who are in their 70s, were devastated when they received an expropriation notice a few weeks ago. They hired a lawyer, but Ly was told the public transit agency is within its rights.
“We’re very, very disappointed because we knew we had no choice but to leave this place,” Ly said in an interview Wednesday.
The Société de transport de Montréal (STM), the city’s public transit agency, is planning on using that space to build a new ventilation system for the metro’s Orange line.
The STM says it has to replace the aging and underperforming facility as part of a larger initiative to upgrade a metro network built nearly 60 years ago. The existing Bellechasse ventilation station is also poorly positioned.
The transit agency says it studied about 10 different locations for the project. STM spokesperson Amélie Régis says several components were considered, including costs and technical elements.
“This location best met the STM’s needs,” Régis said in an email. “The STM worked in collaboration with the borough throughout the site selection process and received the borough’s approval for this site.”
Régis also confirmed a “provisional amount” of $569,000 has been offered to the Ly family in compensation. But she says it’s “not a final amount, because, in accordance with the law, the expropriated parties have filed other claims that could, if admissible, give rise to other compensation.”
“The expropriation process is still ongoing and the STM will pay the compensation due in accordance with the law,” Régis said.
The homeowners have been given until January to leave the property.
“They are giving us a due date, so by this time, even if you don’t want to leave, they’re going to escort you out. This is what they said,” Ly said.
Ly says his family never had any intention of selling their house. They were approached by the STM to sell their home but they declined several times, he added.
“Finally they said, ‘If you don’t want to sell it, then we’re going to expropriate you,'” Ly said.
‘They don’t have to expropriate elders’
The transit agency held an information session with the public on Nov. 12 and residents are quickly mobilizing against the project.
Some of the Lys’ neighbours are concerned about not only the expropriation but also what the years-long construction will mean for the area.
They recently created a petition in hopes of sending a clear message of opposition; it has garnered more than 1,000 signatures as of Thursday. The support has been “heartwarming” for Ly.
Tristan Desjardins Drouin is among those who are upset about the project and want the STM to consider other options. He believes it is all going “too fast” for residents to properly get involved.
“They have other sites that they don’t have to expropriate elders and people that will be better, further from people’s houses for the noises and dynamite,” Desjardins said, adding he is concerned about seniors being forced to move in the winter.
The demolition of the Ly family home is scheduled for fall 2026. The work for the new ventilation system is expected to take about three and a half years to complete.
The project will require a zoning change and before presenting the project to the city, the STM has hired an independent commission to lead a public consultation next month.
Montreal resident Adrian Vedady also has serious concerns about the process. He lives on the same street as the Ly family.
With the input session set for Dec. 3, Vedady says he is still awaiting more documents from the city’s public transit agency.
“It seems like a formality,” he said of the consultation.
“It really seems fairly condescending to the residents. I mean, if you really want to have a consultation, I think you have to get us involved in the project.”
As neighbours of the Ly family and local citizens, Vedady says they’re “trying our best to be positive and use our voices right and to just and to come together as a community.”