Montreal to expand EMMIS social intervention squad to entire city
Critic says squad serves to hide homelessness from public without solutions
As of next year, Montreal will be expanding its social intervention squad, EMMIS, all over the city.
The squad, which works in tandem with police, responds to conflicts or other issues people in precarious living situations may experience. Launched as a pilot project in 2021 in the Ville-Marie and Sud-Ouest boroughs, EMMIS expanded to the Plateau-Mont-Royal and Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve last year. It also operates in the Metro.
The city and Quebec's Public Security Ministry are spending $50 million to have a total of 90 EMMIS workers deployed over Montreal's 19 boroughs. A 211 hotline will be in place as of January for EMMIS dispatch, though the rollout of EMMIS teams in new boroughs will be gradual.
"We are all witnesses to situations in public spaces that are hard to see. We see more homelessness, more mental health crises, more marginalized groups and more poverty," said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
"Businesses shared their concerns and are feeling powerless toward sensitive situations. There are also concerned citizens, and we have to hear them out but also find solutions that are pragmatic and well-meaning."
Plante said the city negotiated with the province to have more money for EMMIS alongside its police budget "because the response can't be solely repression."
According to the city, daily calls to EMMIS teams more than doubled over the last year, with 15 per cent of requests coming from residents and businesses.
Between February and June, EMMIS was called to intervene in the Metro 1,075 times.
The city says EMMIS is necessary as it's made up of front-line social workers who provide immediate responses to non-urgent issues related to the sharing of public space and "allows police to concentrate on criminal and urgent situations."
EMMIS mainly works with social organizations by offering referrals and car escorts to shelters or other resources.
Équijustice, a community mediation network, will be working with EMMIS in eight boroughs in the northeastern part of the city. Plante says it's important to collaborate with organizations that are familiar with their neighbourhoods.
Plante said the expansion of EMMIS is meant to "reassure Montrealers" and "facilitate cohabitation" and the city's powers are limited when it comes to doctors, nurses and mental health care. She says it will take all levels of government to find "systemic solutions."
"This isn't the endgame. The endgame should be that people have a roof on top of their head and there's services for them adapted to their issues," said Plante.
'We don't like to see misery'
Jérémie Lamarche, a community organizer with the Réseau d'aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM), has been a vocal critic of the EMMIS initiative. He co-authored a 2023 report showing that the mixed squad furthers the harassment of vulnerable people who often are already aware of available resources.
"If EMMIS is all over the city, it definitely doesn't mean there will be less people experiencing homelessness because it's not attacking the causes," he said.
Lamarche said though it's helpful that EMMIS is available 24/7, unlike most resources, the most the squad can do is displace people while shelters in the city are overloaded. If a person refuses to leave, he said police intervention is often the next step.
The squad serves to hide poverty from public spaces and can contribute to the criminalization of homelessness, Lamarche added.
"We don't like to see misery," he said. "EMMIS cannot try to get a compromise between a person living in an encampment and the City of Montreal because they work for the city," said Lamarche.
Lamarche would rather see public funds go to social housing, social assistance and mission-based funding for community organizations. He also says a moratorium on the dismantling of homeless encampments should be put in place until more viable alternatives are available.
In a statement sent after the announcement, Montreal's official Opposition pointed out that there has yet to be an agreement between EMMIS and any organizations in the boroughs of Montréal-Nord, Saint-Léonard and Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, "where cohabitation issues are on the rise."
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