'Answer to homelessness is not to put up walls': Metro station gate sparks criticism

Montreal's public transit authority is defending a gate that has been installed at one of its entrances to the Berri-UQAM Metro Station amid a flurry of criticism.

Inside the station is a small alcove by the entrance doors that's commonly used by homeless people seeking refuge from the snow and cold winter weather.

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) says the barrier was erected for security reasons and to curb criminal activity at that particular Metro station.

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"The measures we put in place in the stations is to safeguard our facilities," wrote STM spokeswoman Amélie Régis in an email to CBC News. "They don't target a particular group."

The barrier, located at the Berri-UQAM Metro station entrance at the corner of St-Denis Street and de Maisonneuve Boulevard, is a locked black gate that goes from the floor almost to the ceiling, blocking anyone from entering the alcove.

The Welcome Hall Mission, an organization that helps homeless people, decried the move.

"The thing that's really important is that we not send signals out to people that say, 'We don't want you here,'" said the mission's CEO, Sam Watts, in an interview with CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

"These are people who have been systematically disenfranchised over a long period of time — they are people just like you and me."

'We find ways of working together'

The barrier is in stark contrast to the city's five-year plan to get 2,000 Montrealers off the streets, including the hiring of Serge Lareault as Montreal's homeless advocate to better co-ordinate and unify services for those living in extreme poverty.

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Watts said he hopes to continue working with the city and the STM to find different solutions to helping homeless people find other warm places to go, but he insists the answer can't be to block access to those seeking shelter.

"The answer to homelessness is not to put up walls or barriers," said Watts. "I think it's not the Canadian way."

"We don't do things that way in this country, we certainly don't do things that way in Montreal. We find ways of working together as a community."