“Montréal-Nord is a bouquet of flowers”

Montréal-Nord is generally presented in the media in terms of violence. But behind the gunshots and the gangs, there is a disadvantaged neighborhood, an emptiness, a glaring lack of services. Citizens told us about it. They are tired of repeating themselves. They feel abandoned.

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The hot tears and cold sweats of moms

“Montréal-Nord is a bouquet of flowers. It is multicolored, with several types of flowers,” says citizen El Yakout Choukrat in the garden of the building where she has lived since 2003. It is the plurality and the community spirit of the neighborhood that animate it. “There is mutual support. If someone loses a family member, we go see them to console them. If someone needs money, or if someone is sick, we contribute. We're doing really great things,” explains the mother of two teenagers. She says she is tired of talking about the lack of resources in the neighborhood and the resulting violence. “The situation is well known. Violence in Montréal-Nord does exist. Everyone is in the know. We talk, but nothing changes. We wonder why we have to keep saying the same thing,” says Ms. Choukrat, who is a member of the grouping of moms in Montréal-Nord against violence, set up following the murder of Abderrahmane Hadj-Ahmed, who was shot dead on Lapierre Street, near her home. The group of mothers has carried out several actions to counter violence. In March, they launched a petition calling for more resources for community organizations as well as for young people. The provincial minister of Labor, Employment and Social Solidarity, Jean Boulet, responded to the mothers' request in a letter of which La Converse obtained a copy. In it, he states that the request is rejected and that “the resources are there” to develop the employability of young people. But nothing is progressing, says Ms. Choukrat. “We feel abandoned, abandoned,” she tells us with emotion. On August 19, the collective once again took the floor to denounce the inaction of institutions in the face of the violence and underfunding from which the neighborhood suffers. “Young people are falling. They started with delinquency to continue to crime. But what alternative to the streets were they given? she asks during the press conference in front of the crowd gathered in the garden. “We are crying hot tears, and we are sweating cold for us, and for our children. We are tired of hearing gunshots; I no longer want to see the image of a young man lying on the ground. I want shares,” she exclaims. Maria Di Angelo lives a few steps away from El Yakout Choukrat. The resident of the neighborhood is also involved in the collective of mothers. She explains that parents lack resources to help their children. This makes it difficult for young people in the neighborhood to dream of a promising future. “With the way things are here, there is no future for our children, there is only the street,” she regrets. There are drugs, prostitution, there is too much violence and we have to do something to change that. Children can't see any further than that, if that's all they're exposed to, if there's nothing for them to go any further. To go further, what are we going to do? ” she asks.

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Investing in the “bad guys”

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A few blocks away, we find ourselves in the offices of the Multicultural Youth Café. “Montréal-Nord is not a problem, it is a territory where there are people who live, and there are people who live very well in Montréal-Nord,” says Slim Hammami, the center's coordinator, right away from the start, behind a desk. He wants to point out that the neighborhood is a very pleasant living environment, like any other district. “Every family has concerns. We are all afraid that our children will do stupid things, that they will turn to drugs or delinquency. Now, on the issue of gunshots, it concerns a small minority of young people who are taking action,” he adds. He specifies that his mission consists, among other things, of correcting the falsehoods that circulate about the neighborhood. For Mr. Hammami, an entire population of young people is being left behind in the neighborhood. Marginalized young people, who have not found their place in organizations, in institutions, and who are turning to “living income” because they lack opportunities and opportunities. “In 20 years, or 30 years, or 40 years, we have not been able to change the situation; it is a real question”, says the youth worker. [caption id="attachment_1865" align="aligncenter” width="600"]

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The Multicultural Youth Café deploys street workers who help and support young people who are experiencing difficulties or who are at odds with their living environment. There are only three, sometimes two, for the whole district for more than 10 years. Faced with the lack of government investments, the organization had to ask for reinforcements from philanthropic foundations to continue to pay current street workers and hire others. This is a situation that several other community actors denounce. The organization's coordinator thinks that we must stop dehumanizing marginalized young people in the neighborhood. “I often say jokingly: “The marginalized young people of Montreal North are the Not beautiful, they're the ones we don't want to see.” We don't want to see them, we don't want to give them an existence, we don't want to allow them to have a second chance, we don't want to allow us to offer them certain opportunities.” We focus on children, and the older ones are overlooked. “It's easier with the little ones, they are more manageable, they listen. Working with guys who are coming out of prison, who have a difficult past, yes, it's hard. But it is work that is necessary if we want to restore a certain balance. These young people must be taken care of. As long as we do not make the “not beautiful” beautiful, the situation will not change.” While several citizens of Lapierre Street complain about young people who meet in the area, Mr. Hammami believes that the problem is not there. “The real story is that marginalized young people have no place to meet,” he explains. In drawing up a portrait of the situation, he says that when young people first go to the park, they are encouraged to go elsewhere. The police intervened, applying pressure. Young people from the neighborhood then went to Rue Pierre, which automatically became the meeting place. “They stayed there for a few years. Then, we said that we no longer wanted them, they left.” Pascal Street became the place for young people, before they were forced to move again, and to end up at Espace Lapierre. “We have had the same problem for 20 years, but nobody wants to solve it. We never said to ourselves: “But why are these people there? What are they doing, what do they want?” ”, Mr. Hammami is sorry

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The vicious cycle of violence

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Ted Rutland, a professor at Concordia University and a specialist in racial profiling, sees a vicious circle in this police repression. “There are people who grow up in a world where it is very difficult to value themselves and make a living on the legal market. Some turn to illegal activities. This crime and violence are inciting more police repression, and the cycle is repeated,” he illustrates. This is a phenomenon that has persisted for years in Montréal-Nord. The researcher believes that the armed violence in the neighborhood is the result of a social problem and that the police can only be a short-term solution. He advocates long-term investments in social programs and community groups in order to tackle this issue. “The problem is that in neighborhoods like Montreal North, the long term never happens,” assesses the professor. Same story on the part of the Hoodstock organization. General Coordinator Cassandra Exumé would like decision-makers to understand that violence is the result of neglect that has lasted for more than 10 years. She mentions the demands of residents and community actors in the neighborhood. “That we address economic insecurity, that we care about young people, that we give them a living space as we see elsewhere,” she lists. We are a few minutes from neighborhoods where we see a Love and Care What's more — we just want the same thing. This youth is also big, they can also have an influence on the city, the province and the country.” The co-founder of the organization, Nargess Mustapha, agrees. “That's enough, buffer solutions,” she said at a press conference.

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The cars of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) are omnipresent on Lapierre Street where young people gather. In the middle of the afternoon, in one hour, they pass more than four times, while we are talking to the mobilization agent for Paroles d'ExLeS, Nomez Najac. “The only highly efficient service in the neighborhood is the SPVM. They have equipment, they have presence; I don't even know how many there are,” he observes about the police presence in North Montreal. He reports a severe lack of community resources to help young populations. “If we put more money into everything that is at the forefront of delinquency, the number of people who fall into it would decrease because people would go to other services that exist”, believes the social worker. He would like these services for young people to be as visible as the police presence. “It is not surprising that so many people pass through the hands of the police service, because it is the only service that exists,” he illustrates.He believes that, if you expect young people to have a certain trajectory, it is a waste of time. “It's like putting people in a maze — but we know that they will walk and always have the same path, because they are not given the opportunities that would allow them to branch off to other places,” he summarizes. What would he like to say to decision-makers? “Do they believe in these young people? ” asks the mobilization agent. At this level, he believes that the actions of politicians should speak louder than their words. “If they believe that yes, that changes are possible, we will also see it in their actions. If they don't believe it, it's because it's linked to racist reading. It's because we don't believe in these young people, because they are racialized,” he said.

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$90 million for young people

Imane Salemi, Imene Souagui, Sedat Solak, Sedat Solak, Farhat Adoum, and Revenel Geffand are community animators at Un pour tous, an organization that offers activities to young people in Montréal-Nord. They hope for a better investment of resources. “I would like governments to be on the ground with us. Because I have the impression that they sometimes invest in useless stuff and forget the basics,” says Imene Souagui. A demand that also resonates in other disadvantaged neighborhoods in Montreal. The Pozé Coalition, bringing together actors and stakeholders from black communities in various Montreal neighborhoods, is calling for an investment of $90 million for racialized black youth in the city. At a press conference on Thursday morning, the group asked mayoral candidates and elected officials to review the budget granted to young Montrealers. The coalition wants a coherent strategy to reach young people in neighborhoods north of Montreal. Last September, the Quebec government launched Operation Centaure, the Quebec strategy to combat firearm-related violence. With an investment of more than $90 million, the provincial government is proposing to strengthen police forces to stem armed violence in Quebec, mainly in the Greater Montreal Area. But for the Pozé Coalition, the same amount should be invested to support racialized youth in disadvantaged neighborhoods. “Why is it that we can have $90 million for police resources, but that, to have $90 million for young people, it's so complicated? ” is outraged Pierreson Vaval, director of the community organization Équipe RDP. He denounces “the sprinkler investments” that are given to youth. “We need our stakeholders who have experience, who are able to work with young people, who have their trust — they must be the ones who are there with them. And these interveners must be paid,” he adds, adding that we are witnessing an exodus of resources in the community environment. Mr. Vaval believes that we should invest in the problem instead of dividing the issue by neighborhood. For him, there are too few organizations that have the resources to work with young people who fall into crime or who are at risk of delinquency. “There are very few stakeholders, and they don't have enough support. So, it takes a massive and strategic investment”, proposes the coalition spokesperson.

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To go further:

• Quebec Liberal Party MP Paule Robitaille requested an initiative mandate on violence and mental health problems in Montréal-Nord to assess the needs of community services. Parliament refused the mandate on the pretext that it would do its own assessment and that it did not need to consult. When asked about this, the provincial government simply told us that it was a parliamentary decision.
• In Montréal-Nord, the unemployment rate for young people aged 29 and under is about twice as high as in Quebec as a whole. More than half of families in Montréal-Nord with a child under the age of five have a low income.
• According to a study published in 2019 by the L'Escale Youth Center, the neighborhood receives more than seven times less money from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) than the borough of Ville-Marie. According to the study, only one other Montreal borough receives less funding per MSSS organization than Montréal-Nord.
• In 2020-21, the MSSS awarded $2 million to 41 community organizations to prevent delinquency and youth crime through the Program for financing through the sharing of proceeds of crime (PFIPPC). Barely $42,224 of this sum was awarded to Montréal-Nord this year. This is the funding received by the Café-Jeunesse for street workers.
• As part of crime prevention funding programs, the MSSS invested $266,537 in 2020-21 in Montréal-Nord.
• As part of the Program for the Prevention of Delinquency through Sports, Arts and Culture, the MSSS awarded $224,313 in 2020-21 to Montréal-Nord to support three projects.