Challenging Mission of the Freshly Appointed Commissioner
The City of Montreal has a new Commissioner for People in Situations of Homelessness, Julien David-Pelletier. His strategy and vision focus on coordinating the city's efforts in partnership with community and institutional actors to support the most vulnerable populations.
David-Pelletier's mission is fourfold: promoting actions to plan and develop services for homeless people or those at risk, creating communication and consultation frameworks, submitting information to raise awareness, and supporting the municipal administration in establishing public policies and practices that foster inclusion, citizenship, and access to services for people in homelessness.
In practical terms, this means engaging in dialogue with the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), community groups, and the Quebec government to limit the use of inappropriate spaces as shelters. Instead, the city aims to promote adequate social and medical shelter services. The city also rejects moratoriums on dismantling encampments unless feasible alternatives exist and aims to provide clear responses or alternatives to official recommendations related to homelessness management.
David-Pelletier's vision is rooted in a team-based, inclusive, and rights-focused approach. He balances immediate needs (housing and services) with long-term collaboration to shape municipal policies that promote social inclusion and respond to complex homelessness challenges in Montreal.
David-Pelletier, who has a background in law and journalism with a focus on homelessness, dreams of setting up projects that will improve the lives of homeless people. He has taken notice of a shortcoming in social dialogue regarding homelessness, as mentioned in the report by Montreal's Public Consultation Office (OCPM) on homelessness. To address this, he plans to re-establish social dialogue regarding homelessness and work on the decriminalization of people in situations of homelessness and their reintegration into society.
David-Pelletier co-founded the Juripop legal clinic and worked as a journalist in the offices of Radio-Canada before his recent appointment. He succeeds Serge Lareault and works within the Bureau of Commissioners, which includes the Commissioner for Racism and Discrimination, as well as the Commissioner for Indigenous Affairs.
Since his appointment, David-Pelletier has started a tour of the field, visiting community organizations, municipal services, and the Montreal Transit Society to better understand the challenges and opportunities for addressing homelessness in Montreal.
In his tour of community organizations and the Montreal Transit Society, David-Pelletier aims to discuss not only immediate needs but also long-term solutions, integrating political discussions on homelessness management into his lifestyle and home-and-garden plans for the city. This contemporary approach to homelessness eliminates the criminalization of people in such situations, advocating instead for their rights and societal re-integration, thereby fostering an inclusive and compassionate political landscape and improved lifestyle for all Montreal residents.
