I remember the case boisterous of the homeless (SDF) French. The French Republic had once again forgotten the values of freedom, equality and fraternity is supposed to defend it ... is that the homeless had raised a huge outcry because they dared to sleep in tents provided by the organization Doctors of the World rather than sleeping in the street ... I remember very well the reaction of some arrondissements of Paris that had not wanted to see tents on their "sidewalk." It was not good for tourism, it spoiled the landscape to see small tents near the beautiful Seine: it broke the poetry, it distorted the postcard we had of the City of Light to see tents scattered throughout the highway. See thousands of small tents visibly irritated eyes more than seeing thousands of people sleeping rough.
However, there are the new homeless, those who have just arrived in the street who do not yet know the best places and there are the old standby, those who know too well the places, but who know very well that place in a center or a meal in a canteen is never won.
I'm terribly affected by the phenomenon of homelessness in Montreal, because I think she is hurt illustration of our indifference. Homelessness proves that even if we are lucky to have a roof and we are privileged to eat our fill, we are actually very poor, poor heart.
At university, I remember a man who was performing his daily rounds of trash cans. Each start afternoon, it was his turn. He greeted us kindly. One day I asked him to come sit with us and we talked a long time. He then told me that he dragged around the campus of McGill University, because he knew the area well because he had once been a distinguished professor of astronomy here and after all lost once in his life (wife, children, friends, home), he nevertheless still felt at home "at McGill," as he liked to say.
I also remember that when I went down to Peel Metro station to go to university, I had to climb stairs to exit the metro and very often I clambered out upon a man sleeping on the last step, step over, that is say "pass over an obstacle in extending the leg."
No wonder that on Oct. 11 last, an article in La Presse newspaper taught us that " [a] six Quebecers fear of becoming itinerant . I can understand why: it in vain to ignore the human suffering, distress knows we catch up. It is perhaps in this context that on October 13, the Mayor of Montreal and the new Chief of Police for the City of Montreal unveiled an action plan focused on homelessness entitled Take affirmative action to counter the Roaming
