Dozens of people gathered outside Manoir Louisiane in Montreal on Thursday to express their outrage over the alleged mistreatment of residents they claim were pushed out of their homes over the past few months.
“This was a space for living for 70 elderly residents in our neighbourhood and, because of harassment and abusive tactics, it’s now completely empty,” Valerie Campanelli, a coordinator with La Table de quartier d’Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, told Global News.
Housing advocates said that now-former residents were told in October that services would soon be cut and that over the ensuing weeks a high-pressure campaign was launched to push them out the door.
Eighty-one-year-old Pierrette Cyr, who used to call the senior’s residence home, said those tactics included letting people go hungry.
“They didn’t give you meals. They don’t do nothing for your security,” she said.
Campanelli, said other tactics included “constant door knocking, constant pushing. It was not good for them.”
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In addition, Quebec’s workplace safety board has received multiple complaints about bed bugs at Manoir Louisiane as well.
The housing advocates said they had tried to access the senior’s residence but would be turned away by police.
“It’s not a prison here. People have the right to visit,” said Annie Lapalme, a community organizer with Entraide Logement Hochelaga Maisonneuve, while standing outside the building on Thursday.
The last resident moved out of the building earlier this week leaving Manoir Louisiane empty. While some found housing in neighbouring areas, Lapalme claims others ended up in a nearby homeless shelter.
“We were told that some people were brought to Maison du Père,” she said.
While generally tenants are given six months’ notice before they can be evicted, and there is also a three-year moratorium on evictions imposed by the provincial government, those rules don’t apply in this instance as it is a private senior’s home.
“Private enterprise is there to make profits,” lawyer Manuel Johnson said. “And making profits and the well-being of seniors does not go hand in hand.”
Global News reached out to the owner of the building on Thursday and did not receive a response.
Protesters are also blaming local health authorities and the Hochelaga Maisonneuve borough for their lack of action as well.
“They were warned. We asked them to do something and no one acted. This could have been prevented,” Campanelli said.
Clara Meagher, a spokesperson for Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre, told Global News that it had informed the owner that regulations surrounding ending services were not being respected and that the agency had offered to help residents find new homes.
“All residents were supported and no one was left behind,” Meagher stated.