Lawyers began procedures Monday morning to reverse a lower court decision to evict unhoused people living under the Ville-Marie expressway June 15th.
“We are asking the Court of Appeal to give us permission to appeal the judgment of June 6th,” explained Donald Tremblay, a lawyer and director of the Mobile Legal Clinic that has been helping the residents.
David Chapman, executive director of Resilience Montreal, an Indigenous-led organization that has been supporting the campers, says about half the 15 to 20 people under the highway, have already begun the paperwork to get subsidized housing.
That’s the good news.
“The bad news is it won’t be done by June 16th,” he told reporters at the site. “It takes time.”
He argues that it can take weeks or longer for people who are homeless to get the necessary documents that are needed to get housing.
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“Normally you need ID, you need some kind of income, you need your taxes done,” he pointed out.
When all that’s done, they have to go apartment hunting, which takes even more time.
That’s why since early this spring, when the province’s transport ministry issued an eviction notice to allow the agency to carry out $35 million worth of repairs on the overpass, groups representing the campers went to court to delay the eviction until July 15th.
That delay ended June 6th in Superior Court.
“It’s not easy,” stated Jacco Stuben, one of the residents who says he’s been camping there for a decade.
“What do you think? You think it’s easy for somebody to just move like that just because they’re doing construction?”
Advocates stress that these people without homes can’t go to shelters since they either have pets, are in conjugal relationships or have substance abuse problems.
Chapman argues that if the people are kicked out Thursday, before they’ve had a chance to find a new home, they’ll disperse.
“If you’re struggling with substance abuse issues and you are alone and you happen to overdose, you have a real problem,” he stressed.
The Court of Appeal will hear the case Tuesday.