Montreal Chinatown residents no longer feel their children safe at daycare

Some Chinatown residents say they no longer feel safe in their neighbourhood and that their young children are being exposed to crime and drug use while the City of Montreal is not listening to their pleas for help.

At the Petite Palais Daycare Centre, a fence surrounding the playground is meant to keep children safe, but it hasn’t been able to keep out a growing problem in the neighbourhood.

“Just this week, they found a crack pipe,” said parent Phil Chu.

Chu walks his five-year-old to the daycare every day, and nearly every day he’s had to explain things he said no child should see.

“I stepped out of my place and with my daughter and we both got a whiff of what crack smells like,” he said. “It’s not normal.”

The daycare has cameras, and there’s a security person outside during the day.

Staff also do a sweep each morning to clear drug paraphernalia, human feces and discarded clothes outside the window wells.

The problem extends beyond the daycare.

“I found needles in front of my place. I’ve had to pick up human excrement. I’ve had to call 911 basically I don’t know how many times. One time I found someone who was overdosing in front of my door,” said Chu.

Chu said the problem started during the COVID-19 pandemic when an emergency homeless shelter was opened at Guy Favreau Complex nearby.

The shelter has since closed, but he said the situation is now so bad he’s considering leaving Montreal.

“I love the city. I’ve been living here for 25 years. I’ve never felt more at home in my life, and now I’ve reached the breaking point,” he said.

Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations director Fo Niemi said he’s heard the same story from other residents.

“That’s what people are complaining about, ‘We’re residents, we’re taxpayers, we’re voters, and our elected officials are not listening to us,'” he said.

Niemi is creating a Chinatown residents association where businesses and people can be heard and document the damage being done to their neighbourhood.

“One of the problems we have here [is that] people sometimes are intimidated and they feel the system doesn’t work for them so they don’t report,” he said. “We want the hard data.”

Old Brewery Mission CEO James Hughes agrees the problem is getting worse and that it’s more complex.

“This is no good for anybody,” he said. “The problem of what we’re now calling the conflicts of cohabitation, they’re rising and are due as a direct and immediate result in the increase in homelessness we’ve seen over the last number of years.”

He said that with an estimated 5,000 people needing homes in Montreal, all levels of government need to take more action.

“Don’t use the word crisis if you’re not really ready to actually act like it is one,” he said.

The City of Montreal told CTV News that it is taking action.

In the short term, they are working towards opening more 24/7 emergency spaces across the city to relieve the pressure from downtown.

In the long term, they are focusing on housing and social workers who can help those in need, so the streets stay safe for everyone.