Montreal rolls out private security patrols in areas facing safety, cohabitation issues
The City of Montreal has hired private security guards to patrol parts of Ville-Marie, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and the Sud-Ouest starting this summer in an effort to improve safety and cohabitation in targeted public areas.
The move comes during a time of rising tensions between residents and people who are unhoused.
But several organizations that work directly with homeless people question the lack of consultation about the patrols and would have preferred the money be distributed to groups that already do outreach and interventions.
"We weren't asked for our opinion and we weren't consulted," said Marjolaine Despars, the assistant executive director of CAP St-Barnabé, which operates three emergency shelters in Montreal's east end. "We were just told it was going to happen."
The private security brigades will run between July and December 2025.
The six-month contract will cost the city about $733,000 and was awarded to a Laval, Que.,-based security company, B&M Groupe Sécurité inc., following a call for tenders, according to documents obtained by CBC News.
Despars is disappointed in the city's choices.
"We're not in the business of helping. We're not in the business of creating links with people at all," said Despars. "We're really into surveillance."
WATCH | Will more patrols make streets safer?
Will more private security patrols make Montreal's streets feel safer?
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Pilot project extended
The private security contract is an extension of a six-week pilot project the city tried last fall which saw private security guards monitor high-crime neighbourhoods, including Old Montreal, the Village and Chinatown.
Uniformed and plainclothes security officers patrolled these areas by vehicle or on foot.
They reported mischief, drug use, erratic or harassing behaviour, cohabitation challenges and the installation of homeless camps to the police and EMMIS, the city's social intervention squad, said Hugo Bourgoin, a spokesperson for the City of Montreal.
That contract cost $120,000, said Bourgoin.
The results of the pilot project were not made public. CBC asked for the report and was told to make an access to information request.
Robert Beaudry, the city's executive committee member responsible for homelessness, said that's because it includes confidential information and data.
But according to city documents, the "positive results" of the pilot project prompted the city to extend the patrols into the three boroughs most affected by issues of cohabitation in targeted public areas, such as parks and around Metro stations.
Beaudry said residents reported feeling safer following the pilot project.
"They are going to do rounds in specific places, so it won't be everywhere in the borough," said Beaudry.
The brigades will be complementary to the work social organizations are already doing and make more sense than using police officers, who have a lot of other jobs to manage, he said.
"We are adding another tool in our tool box," said Beaudry.
What areas will be patrolled?
According to the call for tenders, the patrols in Ville-Marie would include Place du Village, Complexe Guy-Favreau, Cabot square as well as several parks and Beaudry and Bonaventure Metro stations.
In Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, the security brigades would include checks along a 3.5 kilometre stretch of Notre-Dame Street, which is home to many encampments, as well as several parks such as Boisé-Jean-Milot, Parc Théodore and the area around Place Valois.
In the Sud-Ouest, the patrols will be targeted around Maison Benoît Labre, a homeless shelter and supervised drug site, the Atwater Market, Victor-Rousselot elementary school as well as several alleyways and parks.
Michael MacKenzie, a parent and a community member who lives near Maison Benoît Labre, has some concerns about the outsourcing of public security to private organizations, but welcomes the efforts to make the neighbourhood feel safer.
"To me, what stands out is the city seems to be well aware of what's happening in our community," said MacKenzie. "The security needs are acute."
He and other residents — including children — say they have witnessed drug dealing, drug use and sexual violence in the neighbourhood.
He hopes the city's data shows the surveillance in the fall resulted in a reduction in serious incidents and didn't just push the problems into other neighbourhoods.
"I would hope that there would be a decrease in violence and threat to people walking in our community," said MacKenzie.
Focusing on the wrong priorities
Sam Watts, CEO of Montreal's Welcome Hall Mission in the Saint-Henri neighbourhood, said he's in favour of secure neighbourhoods and public spaces that everybody can use, but thinks the city is focusing on the wrong priorities.
"If we actually invest in processes and solutions that help people who are living precariously or who are experiencing homelessness to get back into housing, those investments will pay off and we won't actually need extra security," said Watts.
He's also not convinced that the security patrols, who are supposed to be operating as observers, will actually lead to a reduction in unwanted behaviour.
"We haven't fixed the problem, so we just put another patch on top," said Watts.
Despars is also concerned the security patrols may push vulnerable people further away into areas they can't find.
She too understands the importance of finding a balance between residents and unhoused people, but said her organization already has teams who make rounds in the neighbourhood several times a day to make sure people are not hanging out on private property and to ensure there is no drug consumption material lying around.
Her organization also holds coffee hangouts a few times a year where residents can come and talk about the issues in the neighbourhood.
"We would have preferred [the money] be allocated to organizations that already know the people on the ground, that do day-to-day intervention and work on creating links to help people get off the street," said Despars.
Beaudry said it's true the city did not contact all of the social organizations in the targeted boroughs, but said the goal of the brigades is not to solve homelessness, but to help increase the feeling of safety and prevent escalation.
"The solution for homelessness is housing," said Beaudry, pointing to the investments the city has made in acquiring land and developing social housing.
The private security brigade project will be closely watched and the city will evaluate its effectiveness at the end of the contract.
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