[IPSM] Montreal Hour: A life of daily danger. Street life for aboriginal poor in Montreal

[nora butler burke]

Hour: A life of daily danger

by Stefan Christoff

Street life for aboriginal poor in Montreal proving more and more deadly

http://hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=13178

As night falls over Montreal, the disturbing reality facing many First Nations 
people in this city becomes apparent as the park benches, alleyways and 
stairwells surrounding Cabot Square, at Atwater metro, transform into sleeping 
dens for dozens of urban indigenous people, most originating from Northern 
Quebec.

As the winter months rest around the corner, fear of freezing deaths within 
Montreal's urban indigenous communities is on the rise.

"[E]xposure to the elements is a major concern throughout the year, especially 
in the freezing months," explains Brett Pineau, co-ordinator of the street 
patrol team for Montreal's Native Friendship Centre, a non-profit community 
organization on the corner of St-Laurent and Ontario that serves an estimated 
1,750 indigenous people in the greater Montreal area. "In January, February, as 
temperatures drop to minus 25 [Celsius] or lower, a number of Montreal's urban 
aboriginals fall asleep at night and never wake up the next morning."

"Each year the Native Friendship Centre loses community members to the 
streets," continues Annie Pisuktie, an Inuktitut-speaking outreach worker for 
the centre.

Around five indigenous people die on the streets of Montreal each year due to 
multiple factors including freezing, drug overdose and physical abuse or street 
violence, according to the centre. The majority of indigenous people who die on 
Montreal streets are from Northern Quebec's Inuit communities or from Nunavut.

"Three years ago my niece died on the streets
of Montreal," explains Pisuktie. "After the death, as we were in mourning, her 
body stayed in the morgue for two full weeks as I frantically raised the 
thousands [of dollars] involved in sending the body back to the north, without 
any assistance from the government."

Street suicide is another growing reality for urban First Nations in Montreal, 
according to the Native Friendship Centre.

"One man who was in contact with us at the centre recently committed suicide on 
the street," continues Pisuktie. "This man who took his own life had been 
beaten by the Montreal police numerous times in the past, and when a friend 
called the police in the middle of a dispute, [he] committed suicide that same 
evening."

Walking around in the early morning hours, accompanied by an outreach team from 
Montreal's only grassroots centre servicing urban indigenous people, quickly 
illustrates the striking extent of the crisis facing Montreal's homeless First 
Nations people. Alleged abuses and violence at the hands of police are widely 
discussed in conversations that crisscross between English, French and 
Inuktitut in city alleyways.

"Many people from our communities end up in Montreal for medical reasons, 
specialized medical treatment, which you can't access on the reservations," 
says Pineau. "Given that life on the reservation in Northern Quebec is 
basically Third World conditions, often people are forced to relocate to the 
city as basic needs on the reservations aren't being met in terms of health 
care, education [and] clean drinking water."

Relocating to Montreal from Northern Quebec translates into major readjustments 
in terms of language, culture and lifestyle.

"Most people in Canada don't understand the ongoing trauma facing our people 
due to colonization. Rage is still inside of our people, as many of our 
families were ripped apart by the Canadian government," continues Joey 
Saganash, a youth outreach worker at the centre, "especially in past 
generations when many children went to government residential schools and never 
returned."

Life for indigenous people on the streets of Montreal is like war. "Our people 
are on the streets, facing a hard life of drugs, alcohol, cold weather," 
explains Saganash. "You can look really good coming into the street, and five 
years later you can look like you went through a war. Every day there is danger 
coming at you."

Information on the Native Friendship Centre is at www.nfcm.org.

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