Visibly moved, the chief of Raphaël André’s Innu community stood to speak after the Quebec coroner presented her findings Thursday on the 2021 death of the 51-year-old unhoused man.
“When you knock on the door one minute before closing, and you get an answer like ‘no room’? Come on, forget the rules and come in, my friend, come in, my son. That’s a human being,” said Réal McKenzie, the chief of Matimekush–Lac John in northern Quebec.
McKenzie’s emotional reaction followed the release of coroner Stéphanie Gamache’s report into André’s death in January 2021. The Innu man was found frozen inside a portable toilet, just steps from the shelter he frequented — one that had reduced hours during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The death was avoidable, the report concluded, and it highlighted a need for more resources to combat homelessness.
“It was totally preventable,” said Nakuset, executive director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal.
At the time, the Legault government had implemented a curfew that applied to unhoused people as well. It was clear something bad was going to happen, Nakuset said.
“But I’m not quite sure we’ve learned anything, because we just had another death this winter — another homeless man froze to death,” she said. “It’s disheartening.”
There still isn’t enough shelter space, she said. People are gathering in Metro stations and on the streets. There are lineups and waiting lists, but people need services now, she said.
Nakuset said she hopes those in power who read the report will act on it.
David Chapman, executive director of Resilience Montreal, said his organization serves the Cabot Square area and is run by an all-Indigenous board and largely Indigenous staff. Despite the clear need in that area, he said his organization struggles to secure enough funding to keep its doors open.
At a time when Canada is talking about reconciliation, it’s difficult to understand why his shelter faces constant funding uncertainty, Chapman said.
Some advocates have pushed for long-term housing solutions to end homelessness, he said, but that shift in mindset is pulling resources away from short-term emergency services. He said the approach fails to meet ongoing, year-round needs that can’t only be addressed seasonally.
That’s why one recommendation in the report stood out to him. Recommendation 11 calls for “stable and recurring funding for organizations providing emergency shelter services, both day and night, to guarantee universal accessibility to these services, with a focus on harm reduction.”
Another recommendation calls for more funding for support services — including mental health, addiction and social support — to ensure professional staffing and proper care. That, too, is urgently needed, Chapman said.
“We did a memorial last summer for 37 people,” he said, referring to those who died over a few years. But in just one year’s time, he said, the number of names to remember will already be in the 20s this summer.
Chapman said he’d like to see Resilience-style organizations in every Montreal neighbourhood, offering front-line shelter and social services year-round.
“Can we at least keep people alive before we set a goal of ending homelessness?” he said in a phone interview Thursday evening. “Dead people are never going to enter housing.”
In a written statement, Santé Québec spokesperson Marianne Paquette said the agency will quickly review the coroner’s recommendations and proposed improvements “in order to implement concrete and co-ordinated actions with our network partners.”
“It is important for us to ensure effective, appropriate and humane services and care that meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness throughout Quebec,” she said.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante’s office said the coroner’s report confirms “what seems obvious to us: the death of Raphaël Napa André was preventable, and the responsibility is collective.”
The lack of shelter space is a well-known problem, the statement said.
“Despite the many measures taken by the City of Montreal, we must do more to support people experiencing homelessness.”
The mayor’s office said it is reaching out to the Quebec government to implement a provincial plan on homelessness.
“We can no longer allow this situation to continue without a solution,” the statement said.
