Big interview on the roaming crisis | The (almost) impossible mission of the new commissioner

The roaming has never been so visible in the streets of the metropolis: makeshift camps, which overflows, people in crisis … Cohabitation with the population housed is sometimes difficult. Just appointed to the position of Commissioner for Persons in a homelessness in the City of Montreal, Julien David-Pelletier confides to our columnist that he intends to restore social dialogue.

You have to love the challenges to accept the position of Commissioner for People in Homelessness in the City of Montreal. Julien David-Pelletier dreamed of it. “When I spoke to my entourage, I was told: your name is written on this job. »»

I admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I learned his appointment. I met Julien 10 years ago, as part of a report on young inspiring people under the age of 30. His commitment had impressed me at the time.

At 27, a graduate in law, he had already co -founded the legal legal clinic with colleagues. At the time, his heart was banished between law and journalism. He finally tasted the two since he also worked as a journalist in Radio-Canada offices in Ottawa for three years. Her beat ? Homelessness …

Back to the law, he sat the board of directors of organizations which also worked in the homelessness in the board of directors. In short, it is true that this job as a commissioner was tailor -made for him.

Which does not mean that it will be easy. We may have ideals, the bureaucracy of a big city like Montreal can be very slow to move. Her mother, ex-minister Hélène David, also warned him: “Don’t worry if everything does not happen right away …” She talks about experience.

I asked Julien David-Pelletier who, according to him, were the qualities required to occupy his post.

The new commissioner dreams of setting up projects that will improve the lives of itinerant people. And says he is pleasantly surprised by what he hears in the corridors of the town hall, words like “agility” and “social innovation”. “It inspires me,” he adds, optimistic.

Julien David-Pelletier succeeds Serge Lauelault, the first appointed to this post under Denis Coderre. He will work within the commissioners’ office, a new structure which also brings together the commissioner for racism and discrimination, as well as the Aboriginal Affairs Commissioner.

“It allows us to have a vision which is transversal and modern of social issues on the territory of the island of Montreal,” emphasizes Julien David-Pelletier. And as the office comes from the general management of the city, it gives me a lasting influence on policies and operations. We expect me that I influence the city internally, and that I improve practices. »»

Among its objectives: work on the dualization of people in homelessness and their return to society. In office since mid-June, he has already undertook a field tour: community organizations, municipal services, Montreal Transport Company, etc.

“There are hundreds of organizations in Montreal who work in roaming,” he said. I don’t want to be the one who will varish from meeting to meeting. I want to be aware of everything, yes, but to be able to place my interventions strategically and precisely so that they have the greatest possible impact. »»

One of his first readings by posting in office: the report of the Montreal Public Consultation Office (OCPM) on roaming. “There is a quote that has captured my attention in this report,” he says, with regard to deficiencies in questions of social dialogue. I’m going to take a closer look. »»

It is true that each possible opening of a resource raises passions. Among other things, I think of the Benoît Labre house¹but this is not the only case where the city had to manage a crisis.

The new commissioner claims that within the city, there is a constant lookout for looking for sites where new resources set up everywhere on the territory, with a certain principle of territorial equity. We know that roaming, even if it extends everywhere in Montreal, is mainly concentrated in three central districts.

“We cannot criticize citizens confronted with everyday vulnerability to feel helpless and fearful. It is not only a question of “not in my court” syndrome. »»

“The establishment of new resources must be done within the framework of a greater social dialogue,” continues the new commissioner, so that the resources are seen as something positive, something that we want in human solidarity. It involves dialogue and respect for everyone’s rights. »»

Julien David-Pelletier will be at the forefront, somewhere in the fall, when the first tenants will settle (finally!) In the transient modular residential units erected on the site of the future Namur-Hippodrome district, as well as in rue Louvain Ouest, in Ahuntic.

“I saw the positive effects of this type of project in Gatineau and I was really impressed,” he says. This is a good example of what a city can do, a solution to get people out of the street, provided they offer them psychological support. It takes structured solutions. »»

Julien David-Pelletier also wishes to end the “emergency” mode which makes you wake up at the last minute when the first snow arrives to open catastrophe halts. “When I arrived, there was already a current plan to ensure that winter measures are not at the last minute this year,” he says. It’s part of the new vision you want to be in planning mode rather than in crisis management mode. »»

Full of hope and inflated to block, Julien David-Pelletier would like one day, the traveling people recognize him in the street and come to ask him questions or share their problems with him. Is it realistic? I don’t know. What I know is that people in homelessness have a tremendous ally at the Town Hall. Hopefully the municipal machine does not burn it.

1. Read the chronicle “the elastic of tolerance stretched in the max”

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