Shirley Kushner has lived near Montreal’s Atwater Market for 13 years, where she says theft and vandalism are on the rise.
“It’s been happening more and more. And it’s very concerning,” said Kushner.
Her neighbourhood is at odds over a supervised consumption site (SCS) that residents like Kushner want shut down.
“I feel for these people, but there’s a school right next to the safe consumption site,” said Kushner.
Tuesday evening, tensions boiled over as protesters and counter–protesters squared off, with one side arguing that Maison Benoît Labre provides an essential service, while the other believes it only causes problems for the area.
Maison Benoît Labre has operated at the site since the spring of 2024, offering subsidized housing and the SCS, where people can use drugs while monitored in case of an overdose.
Operating well over capacity, the SCS turns away up to two-thirds of users, leading to open drug use, discarded paraphernalia and erratic behavior in nearby streets.
More than 2,400 residents signed a petition demanding heightened security and the removal of the SCS.
In response, Quebec passed Bill 103, banning supervised consumption sites within 150 metres of schools. The law requires Maison Benoît Labre to relocate its consumption site within four years — a process the organization estimates will cost $6.6 million.
Among those who want the site shut down is a group known as Union des payeurs de taxes foncières de Montréal (UPTFM), which organized the protest Tuesday evening. The group advocates for fair property taxes and accountability from the municipal government.
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Herman Alves, a merchant and landlord near the site, said burglary is increasing.
“Businesses, they get robbed,” he said. “I have tenants here. Everyone has been robbed. Two years ago, when they opened, I had some complaints. I put seven-foot fences of steel. They climb over the fences. The other day, they stole three electric bikes.”
Montreal police statistics have shown that crime spiked around Maison Benoît-Labre after the centre opened its SCS and day centre on Notre-Dame Street West.
While supervised consumption will move, the rest of Maison Benoît Labre’s high-demand services will remain, the organization says.
According to the site’s executive director, Andréane Désilets, naloxone was used to reverse more than 20 overdoses in the neighbourhood over the summer. Four other overdoses proved fatal.
“There are 20-year-olds among them,” she told Radio-Canada in a recent interview.
In 2025, the SCS recorded a total of 5,619 annual visits, according to the organization’s 2025-26 annual report. There were 28 overdoses documented at Maison Benoît Labre during 2025, it says.
Supervised consumption sites aim to prevent fatal overdoses and disease transmission by offering sterile equipment, immediate medical intervention, harm-reduction education and connections to health services.
Alexandre Berthelot, a board member with a local homeless advocacy group known as RAPSIM, said local opposition is unfairly scapegoating the centre for systemic government failures.
Berthelot said the crisis stems from broader issues across all government levels. He also argued that instead of solving the issue, closing facilities would worsen the situation.
“The solution to me is pretty simple: it’s more resources, not less. The idea is to open up several resources and spread them out a little bit so that people have a choice of which ones they’re going to — so that people can go and get services in their own neighbourhoods,” he said.
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Dan Murphy, a social worker, said pushing those most vulnerable away will only amplify the situation.
“I just question why they want someone else to deal with it,” he said.
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada called on citizens to show tolerance and compassion, saying the city is working “very hard” to improve social cohesion. She said showing anger toward organization staff on the front lines is not the answer.
However, she also acknowledged the other side of the debate, recognizing that people want to feel safe.
“I do think that a parent that brings his kid to school wants to make sure that his kid is safe. And I really do hope that we’re not in a society where we have to choose between the safety of a kid and the safety of a person that lives in the street,” she said.
She said she hopes a solution can be found in partnership with the Quebec government.
Montreal public health is supporting Maison Benoît Labre in developing relocation scenarios, which will be submitted in November, according to Danny Raymond, a spokesperson for the health agency.
Ultimately, Désilets, the site’s executive director, fears that co-habitation issues will be displaced elsewhere in the neighbourhood once the SCS moves. The new location will still need to be near Maison Benoît Labre, as the epicentre of the issue remains around the Lionel-Groulx Metro station, she said.
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“We recognize residents’ concerns about community relations in the neighbourhood,” she said in a statement. “The safety and well-being of local residents are important to us, as is providing support to people experiencing homelessness and other forms of significant vulnerability.”
Maison Benoît Labre has been open to relocating the SCS since the Bill 103 hearings over a year ago, but despite submitting proposals and holding ongoing government discussions, the organization is still awaiting a clear provincial plan to execute the transition, Désilets said.
