The Atwater Metro in downtown Montreal is about to get a much-needed facelift.
According to officials from the the city’s transit agency, la Société de transport de Montréal (STM), updates to the building are going to be made in an effort to make the area safer.
One of the proposals in the $3.3 million project is to install clearer windows to make the Metro building more transparent.
Advocates are concerned that the changes could turn people out on the street.
Numerous homeless people in the area, many of whom are First Nations, use the Metro building as shelter during the colder months.
City councillor Steve Shanahan, pointed out to Global News that crime is a big problem at Atwater station.
About one-third of the crimes that take place in the STM system occur there.
Shanahan argued that, instead of the city and the STM spending money on rebuilding the structure, more resources should go to battling problems like addiction and homelessness.
According to Marina Boulos, executive director of the Chez Doris day shelter for women, the timing of the construction is also problematic as it is set to start in January.