A homeless camp is shown beneath an overpass in Montreal, Friday, April 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
MONTREAL – A Quebec judge is extending an injunction until mid-June to protect a downtown homeless encampment under a Montreal highway.
The Transport Department is trying to dismantle the campsite and displace the homeless people so that it could start major repair work to the aging infrastructure.
Lawyers for the Transport Department and the people living under the highway have agreed to allow some work to begin that doesn’t affect the encampment.
Today’s ruling extends an injunction granted earlier in April to the Mobile Legal Clinic, a law firm trying to find a resolution with the provincial government on where to house the campers.
Clinic general manager Donald Tremblay told reporters today he’s hopeful the case won’t have to be decided by the courts and that the government will negotiate a human solution to put these people in lodging.
The Quebec government says the section of the Ville-Marie Expressway under which the camp is located must undergo major repair work that was scheduled to start in September 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023.
