Proposed Gatineau police HQ near homeless shelter raises eyebrows

A group of protesters gathered Monday night outside Robert-Guertin Centre in Gatineau, Que., worried by the prospect of a new city police headquarters being built near a homeless shelter, supervised injection site and soup kitchen.

The proposal would see the headquarters built on the parking lot of the centre, which will eventually be torn down after largely being replaced by another multi-use complex.

It would house officers from the Hull sector after their post is expropriated for the construction of a new regional hospital and Gatineau sector officers whose building is now considered obsolete by the police force.

The emergency shelter Gîte Ami and a supervised injection site sit across the parking lot from the proposed site, with a soup kitchen a short walk away. 

A heightened police presence in a neighbourhood frequented by people who use these services increases their risk of being fined and overly monitored and could further displace them, said a civil law professor at the University of Ottawa in a recent interview with Radio-Canada's Les matins d'ici.

Emmanuelle Bernheim signed a letter from the university's social law clinic calling for a different location for the headquarters.

Social services targeting the homeless were strategically placed in that area for a reason, Bernheim said. She also holds the Canada Research Chair in mental health and access to justice.

The clinic's lawyer co-ordinator decried what she called a lack of consultation on the proposal.

"I do still have hope in democracy. I certainly hope that the democratic process will be respected," Anne Thibault told CBC.

She also said there doesn't seem to have been any research or study on the impact of building a police headquarters where many people access resources and basic needs.

Frederick Habel, from Association des Résidants de l'Île de Hull, said a police headquarters will not make the community safer and will push struggling people elsewhere.

"It wouldn't help really … to bring the police. The security matter is strictly an illusion."

"[Police] can be anywhere else and they have cars," said protester Jacques Demers, who said he was shocked to hear of the proposal.

"[They] don't have to be [in the] centre of the city all the time."

Gatineau's city council, which will have to approve any location, is set to discuss the proposal Nov. 22. 

The city's police service said it  wouldn't comment as the proposal's before council.