Covid-19: no curfew for the homeless in Quebec

Audio 01:19

A homeless camp outside a department store in Montreal, January 23, 2021. AP - Graham Hughes

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

A judge's decision earlier this week convinced the Quebec government to change the curfew regulations.

From now on, homeless people will be able to be on the streets after 8 p.m. while other citizens must stay at home.

Organizations that come to the aid of the homeless were indignant at this measure, which made an already vulnerable population vulnerable.

The current pandemic further complicates their lives.

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With our correspondent in Montreal,

Pascale Guéricolas

For the past twenty years, Martin has been walking the streets of Quebec City.

He welcomes the government's decision to allow homeless people to stay outside during curfew, even though he himself sleeps most of the time in shelters.

“ 

There are people who prefer to hide because they no longer have the right to stay outside.

They can hide anywhere, in an empty apartment where there is no one.

People try to get in there for example and hide there while waiting.

They are afraid of getting caught and having a fine.

We can't wait to get it back to where it was before, that's for sure.

 "

To read also: Covid-19: Quebec is placed under curfew, a first for a hundred years

Like Martin, street workers note that the homeless disappear at nightfall.

They are finding it increasingly difficult to take care of this fragile clientele who are wary of the patrolling police.

The director of the Auberivière, a refuge in Quebec, has even observed a drop in clientele since the start of the curfew, even if the police are showing understanding.

People who were already afraid to come, we certainly lose them,"

explains Éric Boulay. 

If you lose them, there is no way you can bond and get them off the streets.

Never never.

"

Aid organizations fear that the current climate of mistrust will cause more overdoses or crises of psychosis because the homeless have become more isolated in recent months. 

To listen and read also: Covid-19: in Quebec and Ontario, saturated hospitals

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  • Canada

  • Coronavirus

  • Poverty

  • Quebec

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