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To deal with social issues caused by homelessness and youth violence in Montreal, the City has just announced the deployment of mobile mediation and social intervention teams (EMMIS) throughout all its neighbourhoods at the beginning of 2025. This decision is criticized by some community organizations. With this article, La Converse offers you an explanation of this pilot project — and its limits.
At dinner time last Friday, as the last dead leaves fell on the asphalt of Maisonneuve Boulevard in the Village district, a man drew attention. With his clothes worn out and his face irritated by the cold of the beginning of winter, he screamed incomprehensible words, stepped forward in the middle of traffic and opened his pants to urinate in plain sight. A few meters away, two police officers barely look back at this man who is clearly homeless and suffering mentally, while passers-by look away and accelerate their pace. A few hours later in Saint-Michel, two groups of young people under the age of 16 attacked each other in an alley. It is difficult to know what the reason for this altercation is. As tensions rise and swear words abound, a father who passed by with his daughter slowed down before changing streets.
Such scenes hardly ever occur in a large part of Montreal, but are happening more and more frequently in certain nerve areas. By announcing the implementation of mobile mediation and social intervention teams (EMMIS) in the city's 19 districts next year, the municipality decided to tackle the challenges of social cohabitation.
“We all witness difficult situations in public spaces. We are seeing more homelessness, more mental health crises, more marginalized groups and more poverty," said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante at a press conference on August 13, 2023. "Businesses have expressed their concerns and feel helpless in the face of delicate situations. There are also concerned citizens, we must listen to them; but we must also find solutions that are both pragmatic and benevolent.”
Some citizens and businesses complain of noise pollution, gatherings, waste or people under the influence of alcohol or drugs... It is in reaction to the discontent of some Montrealers that the City launched the EMMIS in 2021 as a pilot project in the boroughs of Ville-Marie and Sud-Ouest. Then, the services of these teams were extended last year to the metro and to a few districts particularly affected by homelessness, such as Plateau-Mont-Royal and Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, where a total of 52 workers were deployed.
Homelessness and young people in the crosshairs
When we think of homelessness, the image of someone living on the streets or in a shelter immediately comes to mind. However, far from this cliché, homelessness is diverse, as are the factors that lead to it. Financial difficulties, violence, health problems, eviction, substance use, job loss and family breakup are all causes that can change a life course. This social tragedy is affecting people who are older and older, and there is an overrepresentation of Indigenous people, men, LGBTQ+ youth, immigrants and asylum seekers among the homeless. The proportion of women has also increased in recent years to reach 29% in 2022, according to Statistics Canada.
In 2021, more than one in 10 Canadians (11.2%), or 1,690,000 people, reported having already been homeless during their lifetime, according to Statistics Canada. A reality from which Montreal is no exception. The city concentrates 47% of the homeless people identified in 2022, which represented 4,690 people at the time. This figure is largely underestimated, according to several community organizations, and does not account for hidden homelessness — which refers to the situation of people who are hosted by friends or who sleep in their car.
The City assures that the civilian squads that will be deployed throughout the island will not be limited to the issue of homelessness. “The mandate of the EMMIS is to offer a social response to social cohabitation issues related to the sharing of space. So this is not limited to issues related to homelessness. In such a context, the intended social cohabitation refers to living together between people or between groups with neither the same characteristics, nor the same needs, nor the same perspectives, provided that these differences (or disputes) are either due to social vulnerabilities — homelessness, residential instability, mental health, adictions — or to the marginalization of certain groups of individuals because of their age or their socio-economic or migratory status”, indicates the City.
Crime and armed violence have in fact increased among young Montrealers. The latter are also the main victims, with dozens of dead under the age of 17 to be deplored in recent years. This causes concern among parents, and annoyance among some residents and entrepreneurs, especially near places where young people usually meet.
On the part of the organizations, the perplexity has been obvious since the presentation of the diversification of the EMMIS target audience. “Honestly, I did not even know that they wanted to solve problems concerning youth. I'm a bit doubtful about the relevance of this project, and it's all very unclear for us. The Pozé Coalition [an organization involved in the future deployment of EMMIS squads, editor's note] has planned to come and give a presentation at our next meeting, so we hope to have answers at that time,” says Sabrina Fauteux, executive director of Concertation Saint-Léonard.
What should have been good news is indeed causing some gnashing of teeth. “The idea of having people who do not carry weapons to intervene with populations in precarious situations is interesting in itself, because today, police officers intervene, although it is a historical symbol of violence for these communities and their action is necessarily repressive,” says Jeremy Lamarche, representative of the Network for Assistance to Single and Itinerant People in Montréal (RAPSIM).
In particular, he points to the functioning of these brigades and the fact that they are placed under the institutional aegis of the City, which could, in fact, have “a bias”, he believes. “The EMMIS respond to the complaints of residents and traders, which still places them in a repressive position. We don't take into account the needs of these people, we just move the problem around,” he said.
More than 15,000 interventions in 2023
For its part, the municipality provided evidence of the effectiveness of this approach.
The City and the Ministry of Public Security of Quebec are investing $50 million over five years to deploy 90 EMMIS agents in Montreal's 19 boroughs. A 211 hotline will be set up in January for the distribution of EMMIS, and the deployment in the new districts will be gradual.
The City will collaborate with organizations “already well established in their community” to develop its EMMIS program. It specified that the Pozé Coalition, which is already carrying out actions in the north-east of the city, “will make use of its expertise in intervening with Montreal youth. The Société de développement social, which operates in the city centre, will also be involved, as will Équijustice, which is already involved in social mediation."
Concretely, these brigades are composed of two psychosocial workers who travel by car. Four conditions must be met to initiate an intervention: the situation is non-urgent, i.e. does not present any immediate danger; it concerns an issue of social cohabitation (incivility, occupation of public space, etc.); it concerns “social vulnerabilities”: homelessness, addictions, mental health, marginalization based on age; and it takes place in Montreal's public space.
The EMMIS will be sent to the field by dispatch operators who will respond to 211 hotline calls based on these criteria. The objective is to avoid the police having to travel for interventions that are not a priority. Once there, their mission is to try to find a solution to the problem. It can be a person urinating in the street, a group of people who are too noisy, a campsite, someone who uses substances in public spaces.
However, these psychosocial workers have no police power. “Concretely, the EMMIS carry out three types of intervention: social mediation, social intervention and prevention," details the City. "It is important to specify that EMMIS interventions are based on volunteering. If the person concerned does not agree to be helped, to change their behaviour, to leave the premises or to participate in a social mediation process, the team must end their intervention.”
According to the City, the pilot project would have proved its worth and obtained successful results. Montreal indicates that daily calls to EMMIS teams have doubled over the past year, with 15% of requests coming from residents and businesses. In 2023, more than 15,000 interventions were carried out in the 4 districts where EMMIS were present. Finally, from February to June, the EMMIS were called upon to intervene in the subway 1,075 times.
These figures seem to be the basis for Mayor Valérie Plante's political decision to extend the model to all of Montreal. However, beyond the number of calls and interventions, no data was provided to assess the incidence of civilian brigades or a possible reduction in social cohabitation problems.
However, last year, a report on mixed brigades and EMMIS highlighted some limitations to this initiative and mentioned several risks.
“One more layer for the surveillance of marginalized people in public spaces”
Ted Rutland, an associate professor in the Department of Geography, Urban Planning, and Environment at Concordia University, studied the EMMIS pilot project at the request of RAPSIM and published a report in September 2023. Entitled Innovation or extension of repression? Stakeholders' perspectives on mixed squads in Montreal, it is based on interviews conducted with 38 stakeholders from several Montreal community organizations.
“The objective of this report was to study the relevance of these squads. I led the research with two students, and RAPSIM helped me access stakeholders for interviews," explains Ted Rutland. "I have no interest in criticizing an initiative that helps at least a minimum to improve the situation, but these interviews revealed several problems with mixed squads, composed of civilian and police personnel, and EMMIS.”
The first limitation raised by Rutland concerns the interventions of the EMMIS, which start from complaints from citizens. “Mixed squads remain rooted in a logic of repression that aims to satisfy the interests of certain residents and traders who do not want to see poverty, at the expense of the needs of people experiencing homelessness,” explains the researcher.
An observation shared by Sabrina Fauteux, the executive director of Concertation Saint-Léonard, a roundtable that brings together several neighbourhood organizations. “This is really one more layer for the surveillance of marginalized people in public spaces, with a strategy for moving people to respond to complaints from housed citizens, who will have the impression that the City is taking concrete action. It's about politics, not mediation,” she believes.
According to the report, this operation would have the effect of maintaining a “one-way law enforcement approach”. He also describes as “utopian” the desire to solve problems of social cohabitation with ad hoc interventions. “These squads are supposed to provide an immediate solution within a few hours at most. This is clearly different from the time scale of street work, which is generally long-term due to the nature of the work itself, Mr Rutland believes. The short-term orientation of the squads results in indicators of success such as the number of interventions or the number of people reached — figures that do not indicate anything about the result of the intervention or the long-term effects of the work,” he adds. According to actors in the field, a long time would be a prerequisite for undertaking an intervention with the homeless.
“We really expect to be presented with clarity, because it's still very unclear. What is their power during an intervention? Two EMMIS agents go to see young people playing basketball because someone has complained about the noise for example; they ask them to leave, and then what? They're going to see a homeless person, ask them to leave, and then what? At best, they will have moved the problem to the next street,” notes Sabrina Fauteux.
“We saw a lot of people lose confidence in us”
Another point denounced by part of the community sector: the endangering of their actions. By intervening on an ad hoc basis with the same populations without being easily identifiable, EMMIS would hinder the work of street workers. “Even though this squad is entirely composed of civilians, several stakeholders say that EMMIS also create a hostile environment for people experiencing homelessness,” notes Rutland. "These people are already in a very vulnerable situation and they do not necessarily understand who the EMMIS are. They think that these teams are with the police or that they are street responders.”
A problem that the City is aware of. “Over-intervention is a concern for EMMIS, hence the efforts to coordinate with actors in the field who work with people in vulnerable situations. This approach aims to provide a complementary service to the ecosystem, either by filling gaps in services, or by strengthening joint actions or by relieving partners of certain interventions. Everything is done in accordance with the mandates of the parties”, assures the City.
But in Ville-Marie, where an EMMIS has been present since 2021 and where homelessness is a real issue, Alexandra Pontbriand, director of Spectrum de Rue, is already noticing negative effects. “Since they have intervened, we have seen a lot of people lose confidence in us, because the EMMIS present themselves as social workers, but do not do the same job at all. Moreover, they are not subject to a strict ethics of confidentiality as are street workers, who never reveal the content of the exchanges they have with users... This also creates over-solicitation, while unhoused people are already being folowed up on in public spaces, and it can take days to find them because an EMMIS made them leave. We do not know where they have settled and we cannot continue our follow-up”, describes the woman who speaks “on behalf of the Regrouping of Quebec Community Organizations for Street Work (ROCQTR)."
Community organizations fear that their mission will be replaced by that of these squads, which do not have the same approach at all. “Stakeholders refer to this replacement especially when it comes to funding issues, describing “unfair” funding that would be taken from envelopes that should go to them. Several stakeholders cite projects that have not been successful due to lack of funding and sustainability,” notes Ted Rutland. “Some stakeholders claim to have lost partners, funding shares and programs since the establishment of these squads,” adds the researcher.
Asked about these fears, the City wanted to be reassuring: “The City of Montreal recognizes and appreciates the essential work that community groups do. These organizations play a crucial role in supporting people in vulnerable situations and in promoting social cohesion. The creation of the Mobile Mediation and Social Intervention Teams (EMMIS) is not intended to replace these efforts, but rather to complement them.”
The loss of funding for organizations and the increasing difficulties they have in renewing their projects are sources of concern that come up every year. So, the announcement of the allocation of $50 million over 5 years to EMMIS has gone badly. “We are giving a colossal budget to something that has not been proven effective, instead of devoting these resources to organizations that are already active in the fields of social cohabitation and homelessness, which have decades of experience in the field and accountability that prove their impact,” denounces Sabrina Fauteux.
In other words, the City allocates financial resources to brigades whose action is limited by their nature, while the amounts devoted to projects that solve or alleviate the fundamental problems that cause social cohabitation issues are insufficient. These problems include the housing crisis, youth violence, mental and physical health disorders, lack of space in shelters, etc. In 2024, the City spent $6.5 million on homelessness, compared to $10 million for the EMMIS brigades, which it presents as “one solution among many others.”
Note: After accepting our request to report with EMMIS in the field and conducting an interview with the three organizations named to deploy the teams, the City finally postponed these two meetings to the beginning of 2025. This will therefore be the subject of a report to read on laconverse.com.