The Mile End is one of Montreal’s most famous cultural districts, and a group of concerned citizens is worried the neighbourhood is in danger.
That’s why they’ve launched a movement to protect it.
Federal government house leader Pablo Rodriguez joined Outremont MP Rachel Bendayan at a Mile End pottery shop on Monday to make a campaign-style announcement that they would be giving $7 million to Quebec’s Federation of Chambers of Commerce to support buy local initiatives.
“The fabric of our communities and neighbourhoods is really our small businesses,” said Bendayan, who is parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Small Business.
Businesses like the Drawn and Quarterly bookstore have other more pressing issues on their minds, however.
“We could buy local, but if my landlord comes tomorrow and doubles my rent, there’s not enough local business in the world,” said Drawn and Quarterly publisher Peggy Burns. She said she’s not concerned about her own landlord, but worries for her neighbours.
When the S.W. Welch bookstore said earlier this year that it was being forced to close due to a massive rent increase, the community stepped up to support them. A movement was born.
“The S.W. Welch crisis was one of those moments where it was like, we have to act now on this, because these places are slipping away as livable and flourishing neighbourhoods,” said Sean Michaels, a Giller Prize-winning novelist who has joined a group called Mile End Ensemble.
Michaels and cultural producer Patricia Boushel are among those who are now fighting to protect businesses and residents of the neighbourhood they’ve long called home.
“We need a way of protecting and giving more tools to longtime legacy businesses that we really love,” said Michaels.
“There’s something of a sense of belonging that is cultivated by these places existing that are accessible to us,” said Boushel.
They worry that more longstanding businesses will succumb to big rent increases, and that they’ll be replaced by trendy fast food restaurants.
“We won’t be Quebec anymore, we’re just going to be a place where you can get a lot of chicken,” said Burns.
Mile End Ensemble recently launched a pair of official National Assembly petitions that demand the province step in to stop predatory rent increases both for commercial and residential tenants.
If 10,000 signatures can be gathered, the topic will be debated at the provincial legislature. They want to see the federal government act, too.
“We need them to take really strong action that changes the trend lines on this,” said Michaels.
“It’s something we need to focus on,” Bendayan said when questioned by Global News on the subject. “It’s something I have mentioned to the finance minister, and I will continue to fight for small businesses as parliamentary secretary.”
She and Rodriguez both pointed to government programs like the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy that was put in place to help businesses during the pandemic.
The activists hope they can push the government to stand up against real estate giants to protect the most vulnerable.