Montreal's Sud-Ouest borough council pushes Quebec for CLSC in Griffintown

Montreal's Sud-Ouest borough council is putting pressure on Quebec to open a CLSC in one of the city's fastest growing neighbourhoods.

The council is arguing that Griffintown is underserved and it has launched a petition. Crissy Jarvis is one of the residents who say a CLSC is needed.

"It would be great to have one here. I think it's one of the most densely populated areas in Montreal and there are so many new condos going up," she said. "Obviously, with two kids, I'd love it."

For now, they go to the CLSC in Saint-Henri or Verdun.

Laura Nguyen is originally from the West Island, so she drives there for services.

"But just to kind of save up on transportation back and forth, it would be helpful if it was near my area," she said.

The borough council tabled a motion Monday demanding the government build a CLSC in Griffintown. CLSCs offer front-line social and health services to communities across Quebec, including vaccinations for young children.

The population of Griffintown needs a range of services adapted to its needs, the online petition reads. The neighbourhood needs services for young families, local health services and accessible psycho-social support, it says.

Borough Mayor Benoit Dorais posted the petition to the social media platform X, encouraging people to sign it and "support our approach."

Tan Shan Li, a borough councillor for Griffintown, said the district aims to be a "15-min city, like to be able to walk everywhere in 15 minutes.

"If the resident can walk to a clinic or to walk to get their blood test or whatever, that's going to be very helpful," she said. "Because we have a lot of young families and quite a few retired people."

In 2016, there were just over 10,000 people in Griffintown. In 2021, Griffintown counted more than 12,000 residents. Since then, even more condos and apartments have been built, filling up with residents before they're even finished.
 
Shan Li expects the population to jump to 25,000 in the not so distant future. She said more health service options were planned, but those plans stalled.

With governments, things obviously take time, Shan Li said, and Quebec is waiting for the population to grow even more before deploying the needed services.

CBC reached out to the provincial Ministry of Health but didn't hear back.