Projets autochtones du Québec constructing shelter in Montreal for aboriginal community

A Montreal shelter specifically adapted to the needs of the aboriginal community is slated to open in March 2016 to the tune of $7 million.

Organizers of the project said that it was difficult to find a location in the city.

Radio-Canada reported that Projets Autochtones du Québec considered 37 different locations before finding a piece of land in the Ville-Marie borough. The organization is expanding a shelter that already exists.

Construction has already started at the de la Gauchetière Street location, located two steps away from the CHUM.

The project has received support from both Mayor Denis Coderre and the opposition Projet Montréal.

Centre will offer emergency support and transition space

"With this new project, men and women will be on different floors, with a communal space," said Adrienne Campbell, director of the Projets autochtones du Québec.

The centre will be able to accommodate about 70 people at a time — double the number it could previously hold.

It will offer both overnight emergency services and transition spaces for those who need time to get back on their feet.

"There will be more services adapted to their culture, to their knowledge and their way of life," Campbell said.

Homelessness on the rise

According to Matthew Pearce, head of the Old Brewery Mission, there's a growing number of homeless people who are aboriginal in Montreal.

He said Inuit people who come from the north to seek medical services in the city sometimes don't make it back to to their communities.

"We have to adapt services so that they are at their best and so that they speed up getting them off the street to rehabilitation," Pearce said.